The River Cole ran behind our house in Wake Green Road, between us and Sarehole Road. We'd climb over the garden fence, cross the field and we'd find the original route of Wake Green Road before they diverted it. The river was just beyond it.
The river occasionally flooded and sometimes, cars would have to be diverted on reaching the bottom of Brook Lane before they could continue on to Robin Hood Lane. Pedestrians had a long walk to get around it, unless they used our orange boxes as stepping stones - for a small fee!
We'd follow the river along Coleside Avenue into The Dingles and into Tritiford Park. If I recall, a branch of the river had been cut off in the Dingles to head towards Sarehole Mill although that had dried up in my day.
I remember the four arch bridge across the river off Coleside Avenue quite plainly and why some vandals would want to destroy it was beyond me.
The river wasn't the cleanest around and rats and voles were always around. It smelled quite badly in the summer. The only fish we caught were sticklebacks. There was plenty of frogspawn though!