Sunday 24 March 2013

A reminder of what the weather should be like at this time of year ...

A couple of years ago on the 1st April 2011 my grandson Benjamin and I did a short walk beside the River Derwent ten miles or so north of Darley Dale. The 1st April is just eight days away and two years ago this is what we saw. Note: there was no snow.

When I park near Curbar School and head north the first thing that invariably catches my eye is this 1930s roadsign ... 

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin
  
How do I know it's a 1930s roadsign ? Am I an expert on roadsigns I hear you say ... well, no, the date is on the post ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin  

The River Derwent is always interesting hereabouts ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin  

Benjamin was fascinated ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin  

No, really ... he was.

One of the rewarding aspects of walking in this area is seeing the work that has been done on Calver Mill Weir during the last few years ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin
  

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

The view downstream from New Bridge towards Curbar and Baslow Edges ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin   

After carefully crossing the road at New Bridge we continued up the eastern side of the River Derwent ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

... where the daffodils were in flower ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin  

We reached Froggatt Bridge with its distinctive arch ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin  

 Froggatt Edge rises above the village of Froggatt.

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  We stopped for a coffee here ... me and my cool grandson ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  Duly satisfied we started walking back to New Bridge and Calver ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  The steps down off the bridge have had a lot of use over the years.

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  We were now on the western side of the River Derwent ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  On this side of the river there are open fields rather than a series of long gardens leading up to the pricey houses of Curbar ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

 Then we encountered a mystery, a small mystery, but a mystery all the same. It looks like some sort of fungus on a tree ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  Any ideas what it is anyone ?

A Canada Goose swam towards us ...

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust had been cutting willow and creating a number of habitat piles ...


The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

  Having done a bit of voluntary work in the countryside over the years it gives me quite a thrill to see a habitat pile.

As we walked alongside the Derwent on our left a sign brought us back to earth ... "Better watch ourselves in this field Benjamin ..."

The Calver/Froggatt Bridge walk ... with Benjamin

This walk was followed on the 1st April 2011
 
Length of stroll ~ 2.60 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 93.09 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 21st March 2011 ~ 621.14 miles

  21 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging just 4.43 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

7 comments:

  1. Another lovely walk Charlie,we did it with a friend a few years ago.I think the fungi is a Hericium.Ann ( Have you seen the rubbish on your other blog.)

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    1. I think you could be right about the fungus Ann ~ it's certainly unusual. Yes I've seen the rubbish that is on my other blog but only after you and Mitch mentioned it. I haven't been on Blogger for a day or two.

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  2. A really nice scenic walk along the river, Charlie. No idea what that growth on the tree is. I see your previous post got hit by a bunch of rather unpleasant spammers.

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    1. I think Ann is right Mitch ~ it looks like a form of Hericium. There are quite a few images on Google. Thanks for mentioning the spam. What a waste of time and space.

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  3. Just think ... the road sign pre-dates World War II. Imagine the stories it could tell ...

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    1. Yes Pet, the world has been passing by for 75 years. It's probably one of the oldest roadsigns of which I have taken note.

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  4. Having typed a reply to all three of you I see that the spammers have disappeared ~ Blogger must have nobbled them. Good !

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