A lovely winter's day Stapleford to Beeston walk and I feel on top of the world!

Life at the moment is full of contradictions. I was recently reminded by my hospital doctor that I am terminally ill (with ideopathic lung disease) and could find myself falling off a cliff without much warning, yet right now I continue to walk without any sign of breathlessness or tiredness and feel on top of the world. What one lucky bunny I am!

This morning I went to my dentist at Stapleford Health Centre and after a cup coffee I set out to walk home along public footpaths, and dead end lanes and roads. My friend Richard who lives in Beeston works in Stapleford and walks between the two towns weather permitting. You can follow my route on the three maps below, which have been created using Open Street Map thanks to all the work done by their Nottingham volunteers, who have created the base map.

This is more like a picture essay with (unusually for me!) not much text. It took me just over an hour to walk. I did not see another person from the moment I climbed the steps outside Stapleford Health Centre (pic no.2) to getting home, except for a family of four on Common Lane near Southfields Farm and two cyclists who passed me.

1. Stapleford Library

2. Turn 180º and climb the ramp. About 200 yards and you reach Nottingham Road. 

3. Cross Nottingham Road and turn right up Cliff Hill Road, which is quite narrow. 

4. About 100 yards along is this footpath to the left between a blank wall and a house. 

5. At the end of building in pic.4 are these allotments. I will come back in the high summer when the view will be very different I'm sure.

6. Stapleford Cemetery is on both sides of the footpath running towards the A52, Bramcote and Beeston. I am assuming these 'bushes' are yew. Some encase gravestones. I have not seen anything quite them before.  The building to the left is the cemetery's listed chapel and mortuary and dates from 1880. Here is a link to the Historic England listing.

7. The muddy path across a ploughed field from the cemetery towards the bridge across the A52. The farmer does not plant the footpath strip, nor is it anything but tufts of grass and earth. I had stout urban walking shoes on, but walking boots would have been better!

8. Looking back towards Stapleford Cemetery. The hedge stops about half way across and this is the state of the unsigned public footpath. It is the only section of the walk not suitable for urban walking shoes after it has been raining. Ideally, this strip needs a gravel path. It doesn't have to be wide, but if there was such a path this would make an excellent all-year walking route between Stapleford, Bramcote and Beeston. 

9. These steps (and the gates of course) are what make this a walk not suitable for wheelchair users (and buggies which cannot be folded).

!0. From the steps in pic.9 you can see the bridges across the A52. At this point the road is no more than a low rumble.

11. The A52 from the bridge.

12. Across the A52 and to the left is this sign marking 'The Erewash Trail'. The only one I saw. At this point across the bridge the lane/track  goes to the right.

12 still. Then it turns left and across the fields you catch a distant glimpse of Chilwell and Inham Nook.

13. The lane/track may actually be Common Lane at this point. Maps are unclear, but the dog-leg takes you around Southfield Farm and you just keep on walking. It was on the stretch that a cyclist and and family opf four passed me.

14. This signage is a marker of sorts and is on the right-hand side of Common Lane.

14 still. Beneath the signposts this 'pothole' has been marked up I assume for filling. There are another half-dozen like this, but many more unmarked. What makes the marked ones different I have no idea. Perhaps its the size?

15. This is just one section of what once was a serious wall, now close to collapse in parts.

16. On the other side of Common Lane, a little further down, other small buildings are being reclaimed by nature.

17. The closer Common Lane is to Chilwell Lane the more large houses there are, so the lane is clear of mud. Not a single vehicle came along Chilwell Lane as I approached it...

18. ...and once across it remained deserted. This is its junction with Peache Way opposite Common Lane.

19. A fallen tree caught my attention. I liked the detail.

20. I love signs like this — an oxymoron of sorts — is a Christian heaven as exclusive as this? Is heaven littered with signage saying 'This is God's and it's private'?

21. Between here and Bramcote Drive it is pretty much a straight walk through rich modern suburbia on the southern edge of Bramcote village and then across Beeston Fields Golf Course...

22. ...All you have to do is hold your nerve and not doubt that you are on the right footpath. There are lots of high fences and walls. You are in a world where property owners/tenants value their privacy and (in fairness) security.

23. Keep on walking...

24. This a public footpath equivalent of a dog-leg junction. Go to the right and you get close to Cator Lane on the Chilwell side of Beeston...

25. ...At the other end follow the sign to Bramcote. I wonder why one public footpath junction has signage and the other one doesn't? In truth, the signage marking public footpaths is often absent and when it is there, at times, confusing!

26. Turn 180º at pic.25 and you are walking across Beeston Fields Golf Course.

27. The whole route to Bramcote Drive has a high wire mesh fence on either side. I like this no more than the footpath across the farmer's filed in Stapleford. I got the clear view by poking my camera through a gate lock opening. 

28. The same with this view of an up-to-date Tardis which is used to teleport golfers between greens and the Club House.

29. Bramcote Drive and Beeston comes into view. At this point I'm 10 minutes from home. Those of you walking onto Beeston have another 20 minutes ahead of you, and another map to look at.

30. The footpath's end (or beginning if you're going the other way) and Bramcote Road will take you into Beeston (see map below).

31. For me, it's a left turn and straight on. No more corners to turn, my home is dead ahead (as good as literally). I know the road well. I deliver 160+ newsletters and leaflets along it and off it for Beeston West Branch Labour Party.

32. Beeston Town Hall and bell tower close-up, the latter my favourite part of the building. It is difficult to appreciate with all the electronic gob-ons which surround it. The Conservatives who control Broxtowe Borough Council want to sell the Town Hall with little or no idea what might happen to it, beyond wild, optimistic, speculation. Beeston Civic Society is leading a campaign to keep the building as part of the council or transfer ownership to a Beeston based social enterprise, although as yet there appears to be no agreed vision as to its future. The Conservatives claim that it costs c.£500,000 in management and maintenance costs. Perhaps I will write a separate blog on the issue before too long.

 33. Beeston Library entrance, opposite Beeston Town Hall. The Library was refurbished in 2017.

34. Next to the Town Hall is a fine looking Roman Catholic church (The Church of the Assumption) with its square tower (above) and  this side door onto Foster Avenue which you cannot miss. If the church is open then it's worth a few minutes of your time. Modern Roman Catholic churches always seem appealing than their older counterparts (eg. the RC cathedral on Derby Road in Nottingham City City, although it does have a fine garden).

35. Beeston Square on a market day. There is no regular fixed market day, but most Saturdays there is something going on and, increasingly, on other days of the week too.

36. For the next few days this is a holding pic of a Trent Barton 18 bus, waiting to leave Beastmarket Hill in Nottingham City Centre on a short working to Beeston. There are 2 per hour to Beeston, one of which continues onto Stapleford during Monday–Saturday daytime. For this walk this is the perfect link service (click here to see timetable).

I willreplace with a pic of an 18 at the Interchange going to Stapleford.

Coming soon a new (or is replacement?) café and bus map imitation.

The signage is up and through the windows there is a glimpse of what is coming. Until 2 December 2016 this location on Beeston High Road was occupied by Gourmet Delights. I did a posting to mark its demise.

At the time of Gourmet's closure the staff thought it was going to become another estate agent. In the event it has stood empty for nearly 15 months before becoming a café again, this time called Coffee & Cream. No opening date as yet, but  in the meantime one has to admire those responsible for their confidence. Others struggle, but you cannot visit them all and we do have our favourites.

On Friday I will be going to one of my favourites to enjoy a rare Stilton Roll with some coleslaw made on the premises. A picture I promise. Last  Thursday it was the best egg bacon & sausage roll you can buy in Beeston for a snip (£5) at Rosie Lea's on Wilkinson Street, off Wollaton Road and within yards of the entrance to Broxtowe Borough Council offices (the July 2017 blog post I have linked you includes a map).

Talking of maps, I have only recently noticed that Nottingham City Transport's September 2017 edition of their bus map (as impressive as always despite the fact that it stopped showing the tram and 'L' LocalLink bus routes a couple of years ago) includes student halls of residence across the city. It seems too much of a coincidence not to be linked to my inclusion of student accommodation on my Beeston map. I may be wrong of course, but it I praise NCT for doing it all the same:

Finally a reference back to my last post about my ideopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and thank you to those who have contacted me. The post has actually breathed new life into BeestonWeek. Life goes on and people like me are very much part of Beeston. I have never been happy in 'exclusive' groups of any kind, despite joining them, so I am not about to dash off and spend my time exclusively in the company of fellow sufferers — which is why continuing a regular post here takes on a new importance.

Living with lung disease: When life catches up with reality and I'm overwhelmed by déjà vu.

On 21 May 2015 I did a post about being told the day before that I had 'established fibrosis of the lungs'. The news came as a shock, especially when I read that the average life expectancy after diagnosis is '3 years'. Since then I have done occasional posts about my condition. In early-June 2015, during my visit to the City Hospital, I was asked how long I had had a heart problem? In the space of 3 weeks I learnt that I had an incurable lung condition and a heart problem. Scans of my lungs and my heart in the weeks after resulted in my heart condition taking priority and I blogged about that as well (2017 looks good). On 23 February 2017 I blogged about life going on hold as I prepared for open heart surgery four days later. I did a post-op blog on 6 April 2017. I left my health alone until November just gone, when a chest infection hit me hard, which I blogged about on 9 November (link here).


What I have is Ideopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), no symptoms as yet but my lung capacity measure has fallen from 90% in 2015 and 2016 to 86% post heart op in 2017, then on Thursday I learned that I am down to 81% and have been referred to a local twice weekly 6 week exercise and assessment programme (dates awaited and which my consultant says 'will be hard work') and in May I will be prescribed one of two medications which might help delay further scarring of my lungs. I have had nearly 3 years to come to terms with my fate, but I was told very early on that progression can occur rapidly, so I have to hope that it will slow down. 

The point of telling you this is because logic says identifying potential lung problems should be routinely part of examining all chest x-rays (if it was then so many would not be going unnoticed). There may be no cure or guaranteed methods of stabilisation as yet for ILD etc. but the longer sufferers are aware of the condition (like me) the better, and, and it must be better for medical teams too.  More data should lead to better outcomes - which is why screening really matters!

I should add that I have never smoked and my heart problem was one I had lived with from birth. My surgeon said, jokingly, it was a good job I'd never run for a bus. Today I feel as if I have been here before, but this time I know it will pass and I will get things into perspective again.

The medication I will almost certainly be prescribed in May is rationed by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). Your lung capacity has to be between 50 and 80% to receive the medication. The British Ling Foundation has objected more than once to the ban, pointing out that PLF sufferers have a prognosis worse than many cancers. You can read the BLF press release here  dated 9 June 2017. Being on the prescribed the medication will, at best, extend my life a couple of years before I die like my fellow sufferers from suffocation.

In September 2017 BLF published a 56 page report — A map for better care: making effective care pathways for people with interstitial lung disease (Click here for link). It is plain common sense. The report catalogues NHS and other shortcomings in the health and care system. It takes me back to a 1976 consultative document prepared jointly by health departments across Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

As a report and a set of recommendations it has never been bettered in my view. Its signatories included Barabara Castle and Merlyn Rees. Need I say more. At the time I was chair of East Birmingham Community Health Council and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service's Development Officer (1971–1983) and our focus was very much on prevention. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's Labour governments poured money into the NHS and welfare without a plan and they abolished CHCs! Tories and Liberals, in contrast, have doggedly pursued cutting and privatising services (nor can Labour escape its active role in the latter). Time and again prevention policies have been ignored (flu jabs are an exception).

I have described myself in almost every post about my healthcare as 'one lucky bunny'. Listening to people and hearing their stories I wonder how people with lung disease manage to go undiagnosed for so long? 

The truth is that in the absence of a 'prevention culture' in the NHS people will not present with their cough or breathlessness soon enough and even if they do it may go undiagnosed. A conversation 30 minutes ago with my brother's wife provided a good example. How can a man who has suffered 3 heart attacks have his lung condition undiagnosed until the point when he can walk no more than a few steps?

PLF is not a gentle slope down which one falls until you can no longer breathe. It can come within weeks even with the best of care. Luckily Nottingham is a good place to live with PLF and I am grateful for that, but the time has come when one of the best ways I can help myself and fellow sufferers is to write about it, for make no mistake even in the absence of pain and discomfort (at the moment) I am a sufferer and so are those who love me!