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

Castleton and Mam Tor ...

I got to Castleton before the car park was full. Always get to Castleton early in the morning.

The sun was shining as I walked up Hollowford Road ...



Continuing up the road, which was a track by now [and assuming it doesn't have another name by this point] I walked past a stone field barn. Good to see it in reasonable condition.



Mam Tor was in the clouds [or perhaps it was a line of mist].



As you climb higher the track becomes a sunken bridleway. Tell me ... does a bridleway or packhorse route really 'sink' because it has been used so much over the years ?



 By the time I'd got a bit higher the cloud or mist partly screening Mam Tor had gone.



Looking back with Castleton in the valley and Hope cement works visible too.



 I reached Hollins Cross much more easily than I thought I might. The last time I'd been up here it was a hot, sunny day so perhaps that had taken it out of me.

The view of Edale, with Kinder Scout behind, was as good as ever.



From the path to Mam Tor I turned round to see the view along the ridge. OK, I was having a rest ...



I had another rest a bit later ...



A walker coming down from Mam Tor provided a bit of foreground interest ...

... and scale I suppose.



The path surface is made up of old flagstones from mills in the north, airlifted in by helicopter ...



There was a paraglider paragliding around the slopes of Mam Tor when I got there.



On the ground around the trig point on Mam Tor there are a number of artefacts embedded in the stones. The first one appears to be a small part of a piece of machinery. Quite what I'm not sure ...



It's obvious the second piece is a piece of pottery that, presumably, the inhabitants of Mam Tor would have used 2000 years or more ago.



I didn't fancy the steps down from Mam Tor but I somehow managed to get down them [and the ones beyond that] without falling on my backside.

I crossed Windy Knoll ...



I had to clamber over the National Trust gate to get onto the road. The 'PLEASE CLOSE GATE' notice proving unnecessary ...



Across the road a driveway had been cleared and there were still piles of snow beside the drive ...



After walking down the right hand side of 4 or 5 fields I had to turn left towards Castleton. The snow had drifted here and though most of it was frozen solid every nowand again my foot went right through the frozen surface ...



As I walked along the Limestone Way, low cloud was moving parallel to me across Old Moor ...



As I turned left again, with a view to walking down Cave Dale, I could step over the top bar of a five bar gate.



Then I was descending into Cave Dale.



Further down the dale the path was like a stream with water running down it. As I picked my way carefully amongst the stones a runner came up the slope without stopping ... and even managed to say 'hello' as he ran past.



Peveril Castle came into sight.





 I passed through the nick in the rocks at the bottom of the dale and, of a sudden, I was back in Castleton [and the crowds of people].



Date of walk ~ 23rd January 2010

Length of walk ~ 6 1/4 miles

Total walked [so far] in 2010 ~ 17 1/4 miles

Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 147 1/4 miles

3 of 2010