Benjamin and I head to Grindleford ...

I need to catch up with my walking blogs ...

So back to early 2011 and Benjamin and I drove ten miles or so up the Derwent Valley to Grindleford Station. We resisted the temptation to have a bacon butty at the cafe and walked along the path leading to Padley Mill ...

Before that though we had to cross the bridge over Burbage Brook ...

 

As we got near to Padley Chapel one of the locals came out to make my acquaintance ...



My new found friend then took me for a tour of the old stones of Padley Manor behind Padley Chapel ...



He [or is it she] even opened his eyes ...

 

As soon as we'd got past the last of the houses Benjamin started clambering on some of the large rocks ...

 

We left the main and more popular path here and walked through Rough Wood ...







Near Kettle House the view opens out towards Hathersage with Win Hill rising beyond ...



We passed under the railway line ...



Just beyond a watercourse pours out of the hillside ...

 

One of the great things about walking with your grandson is that you realise you've probably become a bit jaded in your outlook. I see old carved stones and wonder where they came from ... Benjamin sees them as a something to jump from ...

 

I've asked it before and I may ask it again, where are these stones from ? The stones that lie on the ground near Harper Lees ...



  

As we left the stones behind to follow the River Derwent southwards I looked back towards Harper Lees and Hathersage ...

 

The spring sunshine sparkled on the River Derwent as we walked south ...



... into the wood ...

 

Part way through the wood we forked left uphill to retrace our steps back to the car. On the way we passed Padley Chapel. No cat this time ...

 

Could those old stones a mile or so away come from Padley Manor, the ruins behind the chapel shown above ?

This walk was followed on the 6th March 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 3.13 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 50.1 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 6th March 2011 ~ 578.15 miles
 
13 of 2011
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

 

Up Winyard's Nick ...

My Beloved felt well enough on Saturday to go for her first walk in over a month. The Peak District is what she favoured, rather than Nottinghamshire, and I was pleased to accommodate her.

We started from the car park behind Longshaw Lodge and walked in front of the lodge, with Higger Tor and Carl Wark to our right ...

We walked down the path where we'd uprooted some rhododendrons a few years ago with the National Trust. Sheep were grazing in the [fairly] early morning sunshine ...



 Padley Gorge was busy with as many photographers as walkers ... well, nearly. Twisted and misshapen oak trees push through discarded rocks ...



Some of the oak trees were more misshapen than others ...



  A millstone lies in the path, though how many notice is debateable ...



Downhill of the millstone a fallen tree lies against another ...



From a few yards away we noticed it wasn't as smooth as it should have been ...



Hundreds of coins had been hammered into it ~ it's a wishing tree. Offer up a coin and make a wish ...



This is where I could make some reference to going from one extreme to the other, from pagans to Roman Catholics, but I won't.

Padley Chapel has a connection with the Catholic martyrs Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlam [or Ludlum] who were hanged, drawn and quartered in Derby near St. Mary's Bridge. There's more here ... http://padley.catholicweb.com/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=196768&From=Home ~ I wish people would stop saying 'hung, drawn and quartered' though. 



 If I've ever looked at the ruins of Padley Manor, it must have been a long time ago. I don't remember seeing them before ...



We were following the track from Padley Chapel towards Greenwood Farm and the A6187 beyond that ...



We were tempted to have a coffee stop at these discarded, unfinished, millstones ...



There are some good views from this track across the Derwent valley, towards Offerton Moor and Hathersage ...





We turned right on the A6187, forking left on the B road after 60 or 70 yards walking up the road beside Whim Wood [shown as Whim Plantation on the OS Map]. Then we entered the wood before we turned northward towards Winyard's Nick ...



That's the nick, above, between the two outcrops. We had a coffee stop on a rock just this side of the nick ... beside a couple of small plastic bags full of dog muck. Why do people do that ? They collect the crap in a bag then they leave the bag on the moor !

We moved on.

In the nick we got a view over the other side ... of Burbage Edge and the moorland stretching down to Toad's Mouth ...



Walking down the path towards Toad's Mouth another path joins from Carl Wark. At that point there's a plain wooden seat with this plaque on it ...



We re-crossed the A6187 and crossed Burbage Brook [assuming that's what it's called, once it's off the moor] ...



Beside the path leading back in the direction of Longshaw Lodge there's a newish seat, starting to fade now, which a passing walker was pleased to pose on for me ...



All that remained was to get back to the tearoom at Longshaw.

As we went the sun was slightly more prominent ...



There was some disappointment when we got to the tearoom ~ they had just sold the last of the homity pie. Still, they were selling five of my books ... and they were still available.

Date of walk ~ 17th October 2009

Length of walk ~ 5 1/2 miles.


Total since 1st September 2009 ~ 49 1/4 miles