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 ... 

  
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 River Derwent is always interesting hereabouts ...

 

Benjamin was fascinated ...

 

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

  

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



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

 

We reached Froggatt Bridge with its distinctive arch ...

 

 Froggatt Edge rises above the village of Froggatt.



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



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



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



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



  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 ...



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



  Any ideas what it is anyone ?

A Canada Goose swam towards us ...



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




  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 ..."



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

It's funny what you find in the middle of nowhere ...

How many times have I photographed Burbage Brook as it passes under the bridge near Grindleford Station ? Every time I've passed over it with a camera in my hand I should think. Well, here's another ...

 It was going to be a good walk ... I was feeling lucky ...

 

I crossed the bridge over the railway line to enter Coppice Wood  ...



 Once I reached the River Derwent I did a sharp left turn and walked downstream ...

 




I left the wood and entered the fields before Grindleford ... and found a fire extinguisher ...



  At the bridge in Grindleford I stopped to admire the old Peak & Northern footpath sign. Is this really over 100 years old ? It's beautiful ...

 

The path behind the Peak & Northern sign led into Horse Hay Coppice ...

 

The paved path leads through the woodland ...

 

... until you reach a pond ...



... where, as I have mentioned more than once, I once swung across, Tarzan-style, on a rope. There is a photo ... somewhere.

The paved path continued ...



 ... beyond the trees there are two or three fields before you pick up the northern end of Spooner Lane with its paved path ...



 By the time you reach the southern end of the lane there is a tarmac surface and some typical Derbyshire cottages ...



A couple of hundred yards later there's a distant view of Stoke Hall [built for the Reverend John Simpson] across the Derwent ...





   There's more about the hall here.

A testing walk up Moorlands Lane brings you back into the woodland ...



 Woodland that was given by Lady Riverdale in memory of her parents, Charles and Josephine Bingham ...



 The path proceeds through the middle of the wood, across the hillside ...



   

 It's called Horse Hay Coppice and lo and behold someone had been coppicing ...



 I walked towards the edge of the wood ...



 ... before walking along Tedgness Road back to the car.

This walk was followed on the 21st March 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 5.06 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 74.72 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 21st March 2011 ~ 602.77 miles
 
18 of 2011
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap