Following the Cromford Canal ~ 2

You're probably wondering why start the second section of my walk with a photo of a rhododendron. Well, we parked near to Lea Rhododendron Gardens and even from the road there were plenty of beautiful flowers to see ...

We walked down the path on the northern side of the gardens where the overhanging rhodies meant we had to keep our heads low ...
   

We got down to the main road running through Holloway and passed the church ...



I don't know that I have ever walked all the way along the main street of Holloway, past Little London and the art gallery. Then we passed the Yew Tree pub, closed for a few years now. We descended the path with Lea Hurst, Florence Nightingale's Derbyshire home, away to our right and with the canal, out of sight, in the valley below ...



On reaching the canal at Gregory Tunnel we turned left and headed towards Whatstandwell, passing the handful of properties known as Robin Hood ...



Why Robin Hood I always ask myself.

We continued with the canal alongside us, on our left ...







The canal, in the photo immediately above, looks strange because the surface of the water was covered in thousands and thousands of tiny leaves.

After just a couple of miles [if that] we had to leave the canal to get back to Long Lane, Lea. We were just a few days too early to see the wild garlic in flower.





When we reached Wakebridge we walked along the edge of the valley looking down at the views. We got onto Long Lane, the lane leading to the Rhododendron Gardens. There were dark clouds overhead ...



... and then we were in the middle of a hailstorm ...



and the hailstones hurt.

Good walk though.

You can see the route I followed on the OS Explore website, here :~ http://explore.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/os_routes/show/19674

Date of walk ~ 3rd May 2010

Length of walk ~ 4 1/4 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 129 miles

Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 259 miles

24 of 2010

Following the Cromford Canal ~ 1

I have decided to walk the whole of the Cromford Canal ... or what remains of it as it is disused and unusable in some parts. The first few miles are fine though ...

Starting at Cromford Wharf car park [where a fee is payble] there's a tearoom here and toilets ...

... and some of the original buildings ...



 Within, what, half a mile of the start of the canal there's an attractive stone bridge where some of my schoolfriends used to miss out a lap during cross country runs ...



I could name names ...

These photographs were taken right at the beginning of May and the leaves still have that springtime freshness ...



I reached the buildngs of High Peak Junction but unfortunately some of them were shrouded in sheeting but looking back you can see how quiet the canal was that day ...



 I reached Leawood Pump House which still works and which opens so many weekends a year.



There's plenty of information about it, here ... http://www.middleton-leawood.org.uk/

I'm being lazy, I know. However, I can confirm it is an interesting place to visit, though I would hate to keep all the machinery clean and polished.



Just beyond the pump house the Nightingale arm of the canal runs away towards John Smedley's factory. Just beyond the junction of the Nightingale arm and the canal proper there are signs of the canal getting silted up ...



 In the photo above you can see the bluebells in Lea Wood. On my side of the canal other plants were in flower, such as wild garlic ...



and butterbur ...



 As I came to Gregory Tunnel I spotted a long tailed tit's nest in a bramble at head height right beside the canal. I have a photograph but it's not a good one. It seemed strange that the nest had been built just literally out of arm's reach in such a busy place. Perhaps when the leaves came out a bit more then the nest wouldn't be so visible.

I walked through the tunnel ...





Primroses were out too ...



 I left the canal at the tunnel and crossed the River Derwent and passed under the railway line to come out on the A6 at Homesford Cottage. The pub there has now closed and I dare say it will never open again ...

Just beyond the pub I turned sharp left up a path that rises towards Longway Bank and from there [using a concessionary path in the wood] I reached Intake Lane.

It was thereabouts that I spotted a Midshires Way waymark ...



Intake Lane passes under the High Peak Trail on the edge of Cromford village ...



From there I descended into the village, crossed the A6 and got back to my car.

You can see the route I followed on the OS Explore website, here :~ http://explore.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/os_routes/show/19521

Date of walk ~ 2nd May 2010

Length of walk ~ 5 1/2 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 124.75 miles

Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 254.75 miles

23 of 2010