The Ship Loads in Matlock ...

This walk was the third walk on the trot and still I hadn't ventured very far from home. I only travelled the three miles down to Matlock.

I had walked down Dale Road to the railway bridge. I looked over the railings into the Derwent ...

I had no intention of jumping in ...

I was standing in a small paved area between Dale Road and the river.

 

I noticed a couple of plaques at the other end which I had never seen before ... and that's how I learnt about the Ship Loads ...



I do think fieldnames were much more interesting than the numbers that were given to them subsequently.

Further along Dale Road, past the Boat House, a bridge takes you over the river and, if you're so inclined, you can turn right and follow a path beside the river ...



Be warned though ...



I have never trespassed [I winked as I typed this] so I turned left instead and followed the path towards Pic Tor ...


 
At the bottom of the tor just beyond the seat there's a memorial to a climber who died here a few years ago ...



According to an information panel hereabouts it seems that leadmining had taken place though there is nothing to see of it now.



The path runs between the river and Pic Tor ...





A hundred yards or so beyond the light there's a small park beside Knowleston Place. As it got darker [and with a dash of mist] the park looked rather charming ...



I walked into Hall Leys Park, heading back towards my car, and reached the memorial to Police Constable Arthur Wright who died on the 27th March 1911 trying to save "another" from drowning.



I see that his name is in the National Police Officers Roll of Honour.


It appears he had joined Matlock Police from Buxton only weeks
previously. He lost his life in attempting to save a young woman he was
escorting to the Police Station who, fearing the consequences of her
actions, ran and jumped into the river. It would be interesting to know more, for example, who was the young woman. What had she done ?

I walked down the park with the river to my left ...



... and Matlock Bank away to my right ...



A very fine drizzle had started to fall by the time I got back to Crown Square ...




... and then an ambulance came tazzing through town ...



... perhaps I wasn't so unfortunate after all.

The walk featured above was followed on the 30th December 2010

Length of walk ~ 1.1 miles *

Total mileage walked so far in 2010 ~ 389.6 miles

Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 30th December 2010 ~ 523.35 miles

82 of 2010

* distance calculated by OS Getamap.

Anglian Man

Since I retired I have been beset by telephone calls and knocks at the door from people who think I want to spend my life insulating my loft, putting in [even more] double glazing and suing people because I have been sold various [what they think are dodgy] insurances ...

Take yesterday ...

I was feeling fairly drained after visiting hospital to learn the results of my latest PSA bloodtest when a knock came at the door.

I answered it to be met by a young man looking very smart with a shirt and tie and gel in his hair ... though I did notice his shirt sleeves were too long.

He was from the Anglia he said ... "I see you've got double glazing but I wondered if you had any other doors that wanted doing ..."

"I've just come back from hospital to be honest and I'm not really in the mood ... I've been having chemotherapy * ... "

Did he pick up on the hint that I couldn't really give a toss ?

No ... he soldiered on ...

"Do you think there might be some work you want doing in the next six months ?"

 I let him have a barrel.

"Mate ... I could be dead in six months so double glazing is the last thing I'm thinking of ..."

That did the trick. He said he was sorry [in a bumbling sort of way] and went.

I shook my head, smiled slightly and went inside. 

* Well I have had chemotherapy ... he just didn't know it was five months ago. I do feel slightly bad about that.

A Farm Journal ~ from the 17th to the 31st January 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

"A Farm Journal" continues :~

5 - 17 Grinding

6 - 18 Thrash[e]d & Ground

7 - 19 self to Middleton & with W[illia]m to Cow Close Farm bo[ugh]t 7 pigs @ 15/- 2 cows & 3 heifers £64 - gr[oun]d cov[ere]d snow little snow most days  very hard frosty weather -

[No entry for 20th January 1867]

2 - 21 Ditto weather W[ind] S.E. B[akewe]ll market - took 35 fat ewes & wethers sold W[illia]m Bagshaw @ 50/- to go to turnips in Lincolnsh[ire] I had this price bid for these same sheep in the autumn & have kept them their [sic] for nothing ever since - made about 8 1/2d p[e]r lb

3 - 22 Thrash[e]d Cales -

4 - 23 Thaw[e]d

5 - 24 Wet morn[in]g fine after snow most gone turned young things out in daytime bro[ther] W[illia]m at Mill helped me to dress & fix stones -

6 - 25 Thrash[e]d 

7 - 26 Wet aft[ernoo]n

1 - 27 Fine day

2 - 28 Fine windy - drying oats at Cales - plough[in]g Pewet Knobs fetch[e]d 2 load sticks from Potters plant[ation ?]

3 - 29 Stormy & wet drying oats winnow[e]d etc

4 - 30 Showery Stack in S.H. winnow[e]d - drying oats etc

5 - 31 Fine day grinding at Cales - Sent cheese off to Swain Almond & Co Lester [sic] 68/- last lot - 13 Mrs. Teasdale died at Youlgreave


 The 'Mrs. Teasdale' mentioned on the 31st January 1867 is likely to be Mary Ann Teasdale who died aged 62. She was the widow of William Teasdale and had been born Mary Ann Eley in the hamlet of Alport in 1804. This is the hamlet that John Bayliff Bowman's brother, William, lived in for a number of years.

I wonder what sort of cheese JBB made ? Does anyone know whether they were 'classified' in 1867 ?

Below is a photo of the first page of this particular journal [I have four more] ~ it gives you some idea of its layout and of JBB's handwriting.

 

Ticking away ... Day 675 ~ watching the clock ...

So it was back to the Cavendish Suite at Calow Hospital today for the first visit in eight weeks. I slept well but awoke with a slight uneasy feeling in my tummy.

Jamie picked me up and we arrived five minutes early with an "I've not seen you two for a while ..." from Sue the receptionist.

The waiting room was nearly empty and after ten minutes my name was called out and we were ushered into a side room where we waited a few minutes for the doctor. It was Dr. S. and my immediate thought was it's not going to be bad news ...  we usually have something to smile about with her. Today she seemed particularly concerned about Jamie's infected eye ...

We got down to business and after asking how I felt [which is not too bad] she revealed that my PSA [Prostate-specific antigen] level has risen from 1 point something to 5 point something ... not enough to get worried about [though I was told in the past that once it is in double figures we can worry a bit more].

I still have to keep taking one Prednisolone [a steroid] each day and to cut down the chance of stomach bleeds [that doesn't sound nice] Lansoprazole has been added to the list of tablets to take every day. I will soon have to make a list of what I've got to take ... and when.

Still, they're going to be guided by how I feel rather than my PSA level and as a result my next appointment [at least at the Cavendish Suite] is not until the beginning of December. Some people at this stage might go Whoot ...

I asked whether she could give me any idea how things might go ... but no. I must make the most of life until that time is past.

Overall though it was a fairly positive 10 or 15 minutes ... and she did laugh when I told her it was much easier to cock my leg over step-over stiles now I wear a stocking ... 
  

The day after the Winster walk ...

The day after wandering around on Bonsall Moor ... in the dark ... you would have thought I would have gone out earlier wouldn't you.

Well, hang on ... I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Back in December 2010 I wasn't straying too far for some reason so I just drove three miles or so along the A6 and parked up in Matlock. I had a look at the old bridge crossing the Derwent ...

Then I was following the misty riverside path towards Darley Bridge ...

 



The railway bridge that crosses the Derwent is just used by Peak Rail nowadays. They run steam trains which seem popular with visitors to the area [and which I have never ever been on] ...

 

You can walk over the railway bridge ... but it's just a concessionary path ...



... but an interesting one for all that ...

 

On the other side of the bridge the path [the concessionary path remember] stretched away into the mist ...

 

Mist isn't a bad thing. It can make for atmospheric photographs ...

 

Photographs that would be better if there wasn't some fluff or something in the camera !



The local farmers have been troubled by their sheep leaving the farmgates open ... 

 

The path still headed into the mist, as did the railway line.



By the side of the line there was an old 'MR' post ~ I assume 'MR' represents Midland Railways. 

 

I came to one of the original signals ...



I turned left a few yards beyond this and headed through the fields towards Darley Bridge ...


  
Darley Bridge dates back to at least the 16th century and as I crossed the River Derwent the mist was still hanging around ...



On the far side of the bridge I turned left along the gated road [as it's called]. This is open to all traffic but few people use it in vehicles. Part way along I recorded this ...



 You could probably see signs of a tiny hair and what have you in the video.

The Derwent Valley Heritage Way makes use of the narrow tarmac lane hereabouts and it must be eight or nine years ago that a group of Derbyshire Dales Ramblers secured the appropriate waymarks to wooden posts between Darley and Matlock ... and some of them haven't been vandalised !



The path continues into the attractive village of Oker [or Oaker if you prefer] ...

 

A few hundred yards later and I was heading back alongside the river towards Matlock ... and that isn't the setting sun ... just security lighting ...

 

It was getting dark [where've you heard this before ?] ...

 

I passed under the railway bridge I'd gone under earlier that afternoon ...



The street lights added a certain piquancy to the view across the river towards the A6 ...

 

 The walk featured above was followed on the 29th December 2010

Length of walk ~ 4.5 miles

Total mileage walked so far in 2010 ~ 388.5 miles

Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 29th December 2010 ~ 522.25 miles

81 of 2010

Staying alive ...

This caught my eye on the back of a bus yesterday ...

 

 ... hope it gets well supported. 

It is part of a scheme in the East Midlands called No More Lives Wasted ...

Beyond Limits ~ Chatsworth ~ 2012

You know how I love the sculptures featured every year at Chatsworth in the 'Beyond Limits' exhibition.

This year it starts on the 7th September and runs until the 28th October. It just features the artwork of Barry Flanagan who died in 2009.

I like hares and I like Barry Flanagan's work [see below] but I liked the variety in previous exhibitions.

Will I enjoy this 'Beyond Limits' as much as the others ? I'm not sure I will ... I hope I will.