Chatsworth under wraps ... and of staddle stones, toads and Dryad's Saddle.

In the car park at Calton Lees there's a block of [what I hope is] Derbyshire stone in memory of the 11th Duke of Devonshire ...

  The stone acknowledges his "wish that all should enjoy Chatsworth".

From the car park a short stretch of path leads to the bridge over the Derwent ...



 Once you've walked along the short stretch of road beyond the bridge, whilst trying to avoid the traffic, you can bear left and follow the old lane that climbs steadily uphill to Beeley Hilltop ...



 Tucked against the wall of Beeley Hilltop [which paradoxically isn't at the top of the hill] are at least eight staddle stones. These were used as support for small barns or hayricks to keep the rats out ...



  A short distance beyond this old farmhouse we forked left following a concessionary which isn't marked on the OS Map in front of me ~ it's an old map ~ it might be on a newer one ... there was a tall gate that opened onto the moorland [to keep the deer in ... or out ?].



  The path beyond climbs up to Rabbit Warren Edge ...



 I think I can say I have never seen a rabbit hereabouts. 

Once we'd negotiated the very high step stiles, we followed the gravel track through Bunker's Hill Wood ...



There are two Robin Hoods in Derbyshire, one ten or twelve miles away near Whatstandwell and the other one near Baslow on the far side of Chatsworth ...



 We were aiming in the general direction of the latter. The track through the wood continued ...



 We reached Swiss Lake ... and you can just make out Swiss Cottage on the far side in a couple of the photographs below ...







  The track we were on then leads to the Emperor Lake, so named as it provides the water for the Emperor Fountain in the gardens of Chatsworth House, far below. We walked around the edge of Emperor Lake ...



 I'd never been this way before and so was surprised to find that the path brought us out next to a pond overlooking the gardens ...



 As I stepped around the stones at the side of the pond, looking to get a better photo of the gardens below, I stopped just before taking the next step ...



  I had to go down to a lower level to get a shot of the water falling off the end of the stone garden feature ...



 A rotting tree stump provided a home for some Dryad's Saddle [Polyporus Squamosus] ...


  
It seems these may be edible [but don't take my word for it] ... see here ...

 A couple of years ago anyone making a special trip to see Chatsworth House would have been disappointed. Heck, we only live five miles away and we were ...



  We crossed the still waters of the River Derwent again ...



 ... and got another view of Chatsworth House. There were two sides covered in sheeting !



  The path sticks very close to the river in some places ...



 The weir was really noisy ... you've been warned !
 


   I always enjoy watching herons ... usually they take off. 



 We passed the old sawmill ...



 ... and finished with a look at the road bridge we crossed a few hours earlier. I have always believed that the metal grille hanging below the bridge is to keep the deer in ...



 This walk was followed on the 24th April 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 4.86 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 135.91 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 24th April 2011 ~ 663.96 miles

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

The Cuckoo Way ~ the ninth day ... I have company and we walk up the middle of the A1 ! No ... really.

Some two and a half years ago, a walk similar to this was going to be included in my next pub walks books ... the pub walks book that never was. The walk had one major drawback ~ crossing the A1. Now I don't mind crossing roads personally but the thought of a stream of my readers negotiating such a busy road would probably not have done much good for my sleep patterns.

Let me show you ...

  

This was only half the crossing ! We'd already crossed the southbound carriageway and then you see us walking along the footpath that runs between crash barriers between both carriageways. An interesting experience ~ goodness knows what motorists and lorry drivers thought when they saw Jamie and me walking up the centre of such a busy road.

The main thing is we made it ... the book didn't.

We started off parked near the pub in Ranby a few miles to the east of Worksop in Nottinghamshire. After crossing the A1 things got a lot quieter. In the lovely Spring sunshine we saw Thievesdale Lane stretching away in front of us for a mile or more ...






 

After a mile we had Coachroad Plantation on our left ...



 As we turned the corner, now heading southwards, I looked back along Thievesdale Lane as the sun tried to push its way through the trees ...



Unlike the area I come from, Nottinghamshire had quite a few RAF airfields during World War II and RAF Worksop was one of them. There's an excellent and interesting website here ... worth looking at for the photographs alone.

Jamie suggested I imitate a plane coming into land as we passed over where RAF Worksop had been ... I'm not too sure about my aerodynamics. Too much underbelly.



  Once we'd reached the hamlet of Scofton we turned right heading westwards towards Worksop. The sun still shone. It was a beautiful day. Another straight Nottinghamshire footpath stretched out ahead of us ...



Some of the cattle were taking advantage of the shelter provided by a large tree in front of Osberton Hall ...



 The gravel path continued ...



Then 'almost' before we knew it we were walking beside the Chesterfield Canal again and passing Bracebridge pumping station ...


 

  
Ahead of us, in the reeds, we espied a master fisher ...



 Not all was beauty and light ...



 We reached milestone 22, 22 miles from Chesterfield ...



  You know what I said above about this walk not being all beauty and light ...



 

 We reached Bridge 45. The further we got from Worksop the 'quieter' things became ...



 

The white flowers of the Blackthorn were in bloom. A shrub that flowers before its leaves are out.

 

We passed under a new road. Jamie's is just over 6 feet tall. He just managed not to scalp himself ...



 Milestone 23 was next ...



 ... the half way point !



 We were getting near Osberton ...



 At Osberton Lock you can cross the canal and head back to Scofton but we stayed beside the canal ...



 There were no hills on this walk. It was all pretty easy going, easy walking ...



 On the edge of Ranby the canal passes under the A1. This time negotiating the dual carriageway was much safer ...



 Soon after this we were back in Ranby and able to cross the canal back to our car ...

 

This walk was followed on the 18th April 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 9.58 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 122.89 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 18th April 2011 ~ 650.94 miles

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