Smeltingmill Wood, Rowsley ...

After all the snow we'd had it was good to get out and walk on the ground, rather than the snow upon the ground.

Parking at Rowsley, I walked up to the Rowsley Bar road (marked as Chesterfield Lane on the OS White Peak map) and took the bridleway leading into Rowsley Wood, just below Toll Bar Cottage ...

The bridleway leads further into the wood and forms part of the Derbyshire Gritstone Way which I walked, what, 20 or 25 years ago. At that time the bridleway was hard to follow with a lot of people taking the private driveway on the hillside above ... and getting into trouble as they walked into Fallinge (or Fallange depending on what map you're looking at).

Now though the bridleway is very clear ...



Even on the wettest of days it is delightful ...



I don't know that I would fancy riding a bike along it ... and I certainly wouldn't want to ride a horse down here because of the long drop into Smeltingmill Brook below.

Across the other side of the brook is the spoil from Burntwood Quarry ...



 Another hundred yards further on a bridleway bridge leads over the brook ...



I can remember Derbyshire County Council telling me in or about the year 2000 that this bridge cost £13,000. When I used to show slides of it (when I did slideshows for the W.I. etc.) there were often gasps of horror from the audience ... spending that sort of money on something like this !  Haven't they got more important things to spend money on ?

Every time, this was the reaction.

Still, without the bridge, horses and cyclist in particular would find the crossing of the brook difficult ... though it has to be said there never used to be a bridge over the brook here ...



In Burntwood Quarry there are the remains of an old stone building slowly falling apart ...



I would love to go back say a century (if that's far enough) and see what happened during a day in the quarry. Why did the quarry close ? Where did the quarrymen go once it had closed ? So many questions and so few answers ...

The bridleway continues up to Fallinge and then onto the lane leading from Beeley to the moor.

I followed the footpath that leads through the wood and through here ...



This is where I believe a small 'rail way' ran ... from the quarry on the right to the spoil heap (it's a big heap) pictured above and which is to the left ....

The stones at the bottom of these two stone supports are starting to crumble and I wonder how long it will be before they too become ruinous ...



Out of the wood and following the path downhill towards Beeley I could see that the moles had been out and about ...



It was at the other side of this field that I met a couple of women on mountain bikes trying to lift them over a stile. I didn't point out that they shouldn't be riding bikes on a footpath.

They were spending the weekend at Darwin Forest and had come out for a ride without a map and wanted to know the quickest way back. I tried to describe how to get back without the use of a map ... I had one ... they didn't.

I turned left on the outskirts of Beeley and followed one of the footpaths to walk down beside Smeltingmill Brook to the Beeley/Rowsley road. There used to be some good steps on the steep slope down to the road.

There isn't at present ...



I'm only three miles or so from Smeltingmill Wood and I have probably been through here more than just about anywhere else.

Length of walk ~ 2 3/4 miles (it was more of a stroll than a walk)

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 29 3/4 miles

Total walked since records began (1st September 2009) ~ 159 3/4 miles

7 of 2010

Do Birds still make Instant Whip ?

Here we are in May ... and I'm still posting blogs about February.

I obviously hadn't got myself organised on the 21st February 2010 but the sun and the snow drew me outside and I ended up just three miles away from Darley Dale in Old Matlock. 

This is St. Giles Church. I lived just two hundred yards up the road from here for 4 or 5 years of my life ...  

I used to hear the church bell ring every quarter of an hour ...



I wonder whether it still does ?

I got married at St. Giles and I suppose if any church is 'my' church, St. Giles is the one. 

Riber Castle stands on the hill above St. Giles. It isn't that old, being built in the 19th century, and late-ish on in the 19th century, by John Smedley who obviously wanted a good view from the top of a hill.



  In the churchyard there are a number of Wildgoose graves though none of them are likely to be related to me. We came from eight or ten miles upstream from Matlock ...



Climb a little higher and just beyond the churchyard is the War Memorial on top of a small hillock with wide views of Matlock beyond ...



On the War Memorial it is clear that some 'Matlock' Wildgooses paid the ultimate price ...



There's even a C.Wildgoose but none of them are likely to be related to me unless the link is more than 250 years old.

I crossed the River Derwent and walked up St. John's Road so that I was skirting the lower slopes of Masson Hill. Across the valley there were more views of Riber Castle ...



Is there anything lovelier than walking in an inch or so of snow on a sunny afternoon ?  [As I type this, for some reason, a bowl of Angel Delight has come to mind. I really must get some this afternoon.]



Which leads me to ask the question ~ do Birds still make Instant Whip ?

The sun was sinking lower ...



One of my favourite views is from the lower slopes of Masson Hill ... looking down into Matlock across the valley ...



From here it was a short walk to Snitterton Road and just before the sun slid down behind Masson Hill a final photograph ~ 'Tree With Sun Behind' ...



Not so much a walk, more of a short stroll ...

Length of walk ~ 2 1/2 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 27 miles

Total walked since records began [1st September 2009 ~ 157 miles]

6 of 2010

Grade 'A' grey day ...

It was one of those grey days we get in the UK. Even when there's some blue in the sky the overall impression is of grey ... unless it was my mood perhaps.

Look behind this image of Toll Bar Cottage, a few hundred yards west of Hassop Station. There are bits of blue sky ... but no sunshine ...



I certainly wouldn't fancy opening my front door to have a main road slapbang outside.

Leaving the road behind me I followed the field path towards Great Longstone and reached Buskey Cottage where I noticed a planning application for the proposed conversion of an open barn to a garden room.



I'm showing my ignorance again ... but, pray tell me, what exactly is a garden room ?

A quiet lane runs from Buskey Cottage into Great Longstone itself.



On the way I passed Arma Meadow ... at least that's what it seemed to say on the millstone next to the stocks ...



One of the reasons I had decided to walk into Great Longstone was that I had seen my cousin Richard a couple of days earlier and he had mentioned he'd got another butcher's shop. Here it is ...



I hope it will go well.

Within a few years I wonder how many red telephone boxes will be left in the UK. Images like this are likely to get rarer and rarer ...



I think the old village cross will last a lot longer.

Crossing the path over the Monsal Trail, not far from Thornbridge Hall, this dressed stone gatepost caught my eye. How long it would take to dress a slab of stone like this ?  Who did the job ?  Presumably some stonemason who got paid a pittance.



Back on the Monsal Trail, heading back to the car at Hassop Station, there were signs of what a hard winter it had been. The bark at the bottom of this tree had been fetched off by a hungry rabbit ...



I'm assuming it was a rabbit what done it.

It was beyond here where I sat on a bench beside the Monsal Trail and had a piece of our Christmas cake. There's nothing like it ... it tastes much better out in the open.



All that remained was to walk another mile along the Monsal Trail to reach Hassop Station.



Length of walk 3 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 24 1/2 miles

Total walked since records began [er, 1st September 2009] ~ 154 1/2 miles

5 of 2010

I walk through the ruins of North America ...

Late January. The sun shines but the air is cold and thin. I walk out of the back of the car park at Langsett and follow the path along the top of Langsett Bank.





I trudge through a mile or so of trees before reaching a crossroads of bridleways ...



 I took the bridleway for Swinden and soon reached it ... in the process disturbing the sheep as they tucked into some hay.





 The sheep ignored me.

I followed the path through Crooklands Wood with the sun shining through the trees.



At the bridge at the tip of the reservoir I studied the interpretation panel ~  it indicated that if you switched on Bluetooth at certain points you would learn something about the spot you're standing at ... technology eh ?



There's a Peak and Northern footpath signpost there too ...



Then I walked south towards Hingcliff Common. I didn't get to the highest ground though as I turned east for North America. On my way the waters of Langsett Reservoir were visible. 



 Then I reached North America ...



Yes, it had been a farm. I assume it was demolished when the reservoir was built.

The waters of Langsett Reservoir looked really ominous ... black and forbidding.



 It was good to get to the Bank View Cafe on the northern side of the A616 in Langsett itself.



I'd not had a coffee stop on my walk for some reason and so I was hungry and thirsty. I ordered a cheese and onion toastie and a one pint mug of tea !  Would I be able to finish it ? You betcha !



... and they say the English can't cook, eh ?

 Date of walk ~ 30th January 2010

Length of walk ~ 4 1/4 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 21 1/2 miles

Total walked since records began [er, 1st September 2009] ~ 151 1/2 miles

4 of 2010