Passing the pike ...

... not a Victorian parlour game but what I did when taking a walk a couple of years ago in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. 

You see there's a pike that lies in the water at the Cromford end of the Cromford Canal that must be over  two feet long ... no, really ... just look at him or her ...

 

I know it would have helped if there had been something else in the water to help you compare but take my word ... this pike is over two feet long.

Sir Richard Arkwright's Cromford Mills were my starting point for a springtime walk in 2011. After passing the pike I walked past this rather attractive old redbrick building set amongst the even older stone-built ones of the Cromford Mills set-up ...



  I passed the old Primitive Methodist Chapel at Scarthin, now a private house, with this engraving above the front door ...



 I have shown this engraving before but I still think it is one of the most poignant ones I have ever seen.

Almost immediately I took the paved path up towards Hillside on my way towards Matlock Bath ...



 ... and, in particular, Upperwood. Isn't it beautiful ?



  The path runs along the private drive hereabouts on the hillside above the busy village of Matlock Bath ...



 ... from where you can get a distant view of Riber Castle across the other side of the valley ...



 The lane up to Upperwood has its drawbacks as you can see but it is a lane open to all vehicles. Imagine driving up here in any sort of car ...



 After a while I took a narrow, overgrown path leading downhill towards Matlock Bath ...







On reaching the main road, the A6, as it passes through Matlock Bath, I turned right back towards the start, passing this trough belonging to the Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association where it stands not so far from the church ...



 Then I was walking beneath another of Arkwright's amazing mills. This time Masson Mill built in 1783 but 'established' in 1769 ...







  A riverside path between the River Derwent on the left and the limestone tor of Scarthin Rock on the right leads to Cromford Church where you can turn right back to the canal ...

 

... and that enormous pike.

This walk was followed on the 27th May 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 2.82 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 198.98 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 27th May 2011 ~ 720.72 miles

  44 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was still averaging just over 4.5 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

On Instagram ...

Sign on one of the buildings at the Cromford end of the Cromford Canal posted on Instagram earlier today ...

Walking from Wheatcroft's Wharf

Last day of the year and the sorting out of walks for a revamp of Teashop Walks in the Peak District continued ...

Parking at the Cromford Wharf car park, which should perhaps be renamed Wheatcrofts Wharf, I walked back onto the road and passed the church nearby. On the right just beyond the church is a fishing temple with the words 'Piscatoribus Sacrum' [sanctuary for fishermen] above the door ...

 What I didn't know is that just over the wall to the left of the temple in the photo are the remains of an earlier fishing chapel ...



One of the stones in the wall of the old road bridge here commemorates the leap of one Benjamin Heywood [or is it Hayward ?] on his mare in 1697 ...



Walking across the hillside I reached Castle Top Farm and beside that Sunnybank where Ron and Elizabeth live ...



 Beyond Sunnybank the path enters Bow Wood.

In the cool air the shadows of the trees cut across the path.





 I followed a convoluted course to Cromford Canal and had a coffee at High Peak Junction hoping I might see a water vole but today I wasn't so lucky.

Then it was along the canal back towards Wheatcrofts Wharf ...





Wheatcrofts Wharf is now a tearoom and shop run by the Arkwright Society. It's a good place for a stop ...



Date of walk ~ 31st December 2009

Length of walk ~ 3 1/2 miles

Total since 1st September 2009 ~ 130 miles.