Sunday, 6 September 2009

From Friden ...

After parking at Friden on the High Peak Trail we walked north along the road towards Middleton. Over the wall a dewpond [or was it a mere] glistened in the sunshine ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

We passed Long Dale and kept on along the road taking care on the roadbends. At the Middleton and Smerrill parish boundary we noticed this stone ...

 From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

This is another of Middleton and Smerrill's Sites of Meaning ~ an excellent way to mark the Millennium.



Continuing along the road for another few hundred yards we climbed the stile and, avoiding the nettles, followed the path across Ringham Low. On reaching the unclassifed county road we turned right to climb to Kenslow Knoll on the 'out and back' path ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

There used to be an analemmatic sundial here but it seems to have either disappeared beneath the grass or been removed. There's a circuit path of the knoll and a viewfinder ... and there are some fine views. Perhaps one day the path will continue out the other side of Kenslow Knoll to link up with Long Dale or perhaps pass through the old sandpits to the south of Kenslow Knoll. At present we've got the views anyway ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

We came down from Kenslow Knoll and walked along Whitfield Lane towards Middleton ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

Whitfield Lane comes out just above Middleton and, as we were exploring, we turned uphill along Rake Lane. This is open to traffic though I don't recall seeing any cars as we walked the best part of a mile along it.



We crossed the road leading back to Friden and followed Green Lane past the entrance to Mere Farm. The tarmac surface gradually deteriorated until we were walking along a stony track ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

A single 4 x 4 came along. The driver was courteous and waved to us as we stood back.



We reached Green Lane Pits which is maintained by the Peak Park and which, I assume, is open to the public to explore [there's a stile just to the left of the gate] ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

I'm not quite sure what was extracted around here but as you can see on the opposite side of the field from the gate above, the ground has been knocked about a bit ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

Green Lane then crosses the line of a Roman road which runs straight across the lane below. As far as I know there are no signs of this ancient road on the ground.

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

In the wall above there's another of the Sites of Meaning. All I need now is a translation ...

From Friden ~ 1st September 2009.

Then it was just a case of joining the High Peak Trail and walking back to the car.

Date of walk ~ 1st September 2009

Length of walk ~ 6 miles.

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