The third walk along the Cromford Canal as I progress away from Cromford itself.
I parked next to The Birches at Ambergate and crossed the River Derwent ...
I passed the cricket pitch and the Hurt Arms before turning up Chase Road to cross the canal. On the far side of the canal is this well ...
A few hundred yards later and I was walking up through Crich Chase with the sun coming through the leaves overhead ...
I climbed the hill out of the valley and came out on the path to the west of Chadwick Nick, Crich. Turning left I entered the small woodland beside the road and followed the path through the wood. There's a good view from here away towards Masson Hill above Matlock ...
Walking down the lane towards Whatstandwell I noticed an old milestone which is one of the roadside features that we ignore or take for granted ....
I find them fascinating, what with their quaint lettering and misspellings ~ doesn't the one above read 'ASHBOURE' rather than 'ASHBOURNE' ?
Rather than go all the way down to the A6 and pick up the canal, I wandered along some of the more obscure paths of Whatstandwell and ended up in the wood on the east side of the Whatstandwell/Holloway road ...
Then I was nearly down to the canal near Robin Hood and looking along the path we'd walked a few days ago ... and still the wild garlic wasn't in full bloom !
Then I was down by the canal and continuing along my journey, initially towards Whatstandwell bridge ...
I passed under the bridge and noticed the water level was quite low.
The unusual thing about the house on the right in the photo above is that it is built above a tunnel ...
Further along the canal some clearance work had been done on the far side of the canal and the bluebells were in flower ...
There were some small wooden 'rafts' floating on the water ...
... and close inspection revealed what they were.
'DWT' stands for 'Derbyshire Wildlife Trust'.
The greenery was lush and plentiful ...
... and by now I was getting nearer to Ambergate ...
Earlier in the day I had walked over the bridge I now went under ...
I assume the marks under the bridge were where the rope of the horse walking along the towpath slowly rubbed into the stone ...
Then I walked under a rather rusty old bridge ...
... to reach the end of the canal, at least at this point ...
The canal used to run through here but now there is, or at least there was, some large 'gas' buildings ... but more of that another day.
All that remained was for me to backtrack at this point all the way back to the car.
I parked next to The Birches at Ambergate and crossed the River Derwent ...
I passed the cricket pitch and the Hurt Arms before turning up Chase Road to cross the canal. On the far side of the canal is this well ...
A few hundred yards later and I was walking up through Crich Chase with the sun coming through the leaves overhead ...
I climbed the hill out of the valley and came out on the path to the west of Chadwick Nick, Crich. Turning left I entered the small woodland beside the road and followed the path through the wood. There's a good view from here away towards Masson Hill above Matlock ...
Walking down the lane towards Whatstandwell I noticed an old milestone which is one of the roadside features that we ignore or take for granted ....
I find them fascinating, what with their quaint lettering and misspellings ~ doesn't the one above read 'ASHBOURE' rather than 'ASHBOURNE' ?
Rather than go all the way down to the A6 and pick up the canal, I wandered along some of the more obscure paths of Whatstandwell and ended up in the wood on the east side of the Whatstandwell/Holloway road ...
Then I was nearly down to the canal near Robin Hood and looking along the path we'd walked a few days ago ... and still the wild garlic wasn't in full bloom !
Then I was down by the canal and continuing along my journey, initially towards Whatstandwell bridge ...
I passed under the bridge and noticed the water level was quite low.
The unusual thing about the house on the right in the photo above is that it is built above a tunnel ...
Further along the canal some clearance work had been done on the far side of the canal and the bluebells were in flower ...
There were some small wooden 'rafts' floating on the water ...
... and close inspection revealed what they were.
'DWT' stands for 'Derbyshire Wildlife Trust'.
The greenery was lush and plentiful ...
... and by now I was getting nearer to Ambergate ...
Earlier in the day I had walked over the bridge I now went under ...
I assume the marks under the bridge were where the rope of the horse walking along the towpath slowly rubbed into the stone ...
Then I walked under a rather rusty old bridge ...
... to reach the end of the canal, at least at this point ...
The canal used to run through here but now there is, or at least there was, some large 'gas' buildings ... but more of that another day.
All that remained was for me to backtrack at this point all the way back to the car.
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 ~ 9th May 2010
Length of walk ~ 6 miles
Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 135 miles
Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 265 miles
25 of 2010
