Rowsley, Bakewell ,

This weekend, we decided to just do a little meander of about 7 miles. Where better than Bakewell? I started the walk at Rowsley, and just went up into Haddon woods, along the tops, then down into Bakewell for a really nice lunch at Ricci's. This is the BEST place for pizza and pasta. they make it fresh while you watch and wait, and the coffee is the BEST in Bakewell, if not Derbyshire..

This is looking forwards to Bakewell from the path in the woods. As you can se, it was another lovely Sunday. I have been so lucky with the weather this year, and this unseasonably warm December has smiled on most of my walks.

The famous arched bridge of Bakewell. I've taken this picture a thousand times, and will probably take it a thousand more. How could you EVER tire of such a lovely thing? Today the light was perfect for pictures too.

This is a view of the bridge from the other bank (where I fed the ducks). This time of year, there seem to be a LOT of seagulls about?

I just love the gnarls and twists in this old tree in one of the courtyards.

I went back to the river, and tried to catch the gulls in some of their acrobatic lunges at the bread I threw up in the air.

You can see this one with his eye on the prize!

Oh, how I'd love to live in one of these riverside apartments, but unless I win the lottery, it's just a dream.

Crossing the new (horrible) metal bridge, this is the view upstream past the weir. You can see the old (beautiful) bridge further upriver.

And that was it! We took to the fields for the steady walk back - mostly uphill. The effort kept the evening chill at bay, and a nice pint in the Grouse and Claret pub at Rowsley was my reward.

Annual Christmas walk - Chatsworth Park, Baslow.

Last sunday saw the annual Christmas walk take place. This 'event' started as a non-walk every year, inasmuch as we (my brother Colin and I, and maybe one or two extra), would do a really short walk (around 6 miles or so), and have a languisingly long lunch (sorry for the alliteration). Anyway, I took to inviting one or two customers, who were also friends, and as word spread over the years, the popularity and numbers have grown. 

The latest 'band' were twenty-one strong, and here we all are, lined up at the start of the walk. I decided on Chatsworth park, as it's only about 2.5 miles to Baslow village (and a good Italian restaurant called 'Il Lupo'), and no hills for the poor souls to climb!

Striding through the park, they all look like PROPER walkers, don't they?

Here's the band (minus me - I took the picture) standing in front of the impressive Chatsworth house. The fountain was going too, but not just as I took this picture.

Here we are in Il Lupo, waiting to get going on the Christmas lunch. We didn't have the usual turkey dinner, but opted to 'go Italian'. I always find you get enough of the turkey, so this would be a nice change. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, although the wine was a little on the expensive side for the quality. Thirty quid for a fairly ordinary bottle of Chianti is NOT my idea of how to get customers to return! Apart from the house red, which I tried and found awful, the cheapest bottle was about seventeen pounds, as I recall.

Mind you, the price didn't put SOME people off!!!!!

.....but it DID affect some others rather strangely.....

The day was deemed a success. We were lucky with the weather, as it had given a terrible forecast, but we managed to dodge the rain, being indoors at lunch when it fell quite heavily. The walk was JUST the right length, and we didn't manage to lose anyone.

Roll on 2007.

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 1

Chee dale is lovely at ANY time of the year, so i always look forward to going there. Today, we parked in the village of Taddington, just off the A6 near Buxton. It's typical of a lot of the 'cottagy' limestone villages in Derbyshire now, inasmuch as it's had a LOT of money thrown at it, and a lot of the houses are people who have moved in and restored or improved. There are the odd one or two that look to be local owned though.

This is looking back to the village from the first hill. Don't forget you can enlarge any of the pictures simply by clicking on them.

As we crested the first hill, this is wha the sky looked like! Not very promising, you might think, but the day was to be good and clear, so appearances can be deceptive.

The next village we came to was Chelmorton. Another very much in the same vein as taddington. There had been heavy rain overnight, and water was running in a rivulet down the main road, as you can see.

This is Taddington church, it is famous for what is on the spire. From this picture, it just looks like a normal weather vane, BUT...........

Up close, you can see the golden grasshopper. I can't find any information on why this is, or what, if anything, it stands for? Anyone who can, please leave a note in the comments book.

The village also has an impressive trio of troughs. This sign, above them, tells the story, (although I hardly think the 'property of' note at the end was necessary!!)

Nice troughs, though.

Please go to part two (below)

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 2

This bush at the roadside is superb. I don't know what it is, but what a lovely show of berries! This is looking back up the 'main street' of Chelmorton.

A nice 'flower' of fungi.

We went into Deep dale via this little dale, Bullhay dale. There is not strictly a path, but people have used it for years, and there are stiles in the walls. This is a rather impressive adit, or mine entrance, created by man. It's the only 'over and under' one I know of.

This is the entrance to the more impressive, and natural, cave in Deep dale. It's quite a deep one and, although I've never been right into it, I have ventured as far as I thought safe with a torch. The thing with caves is, you need the right gear, and also overalls, as they are very muddy places! We saw rare moths inside (no bats though) and humorous graffiti with obviously spurious dates. You know the sort of thing; 'JOHN SMITH 1723' (written in biro!).

The sky had cleared by now, and a lovely blue sky and warm sun was ours.

Deep dale is scree sided for a lot of the way, and negociating it is a careful affair.

The warm temperatures had some fooled - this was one of many ladybird, and other insects, that were abroad that day.

Please go to part three (below)

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 3

Fabulous blue skies now - it this REALLY December?????

SO warm, in fact, I was overcome! Lying on the warm limestone, it felt just like a late spring, or early summer's day.

The HUGE limestone cliffs above Wye Dale are some of the highest in the country, I believe?

I have stood on the top that you can see there, and the view is amazing. Not today though, today we were headed for 'the wetlands'!

After the recent rains, this is what the riverside path looks like. Looking at it, I'd say it was under water as recently as yesterday.

The stepping stones were STILL under water, but thankfully, due to being raised, were still passable - JUST!

Looking back along them, it was a close call as to if we could negociate the stepping stones. Good job we're intrepid!

A close study of the moss in Chee dale. it's a deep and damp dale, so moss grows in abundance.

The steep and wet sides of Chee dale produce some VERY impressive icicles in winter, so if we get a good one, which, if the holly berries are anything to go by, we will, I'll go back and get some photo's. I hope you've enjoyed this walk, see you next week. :-)

The Goyt valley & Errwood hall

NO shorts today!!!!!

We got to the Cat & fiddle pub, above Buxton, and it was FREEZING cold! It looks like the end of shorts for this year anyway. Our goal today was Errwood hall, in the Goyt valley. If you click on the title of this entry you can get reams of information, and a few nice pictures. Also, if you search on 'errwood hall' in Google, there's more there.

I bet it was a bleak night up here on the tops, but the mist was just beginning to clear as we booted up. Here you can see the dish of Jodrell bank radio telescope reflecting the morning sun as it breaks through the mist.

It was a surprise to see a light covering of snow, but also very welcome. There were two sets of footprints, and two sets of tyre tracks from earlier risers than us.

That mist was burning off nicely, and by the time I had dropped into the Goyt valley, the sun was caressing us with warm fingers.

Here is Derbyshire bridge. Not very inspiring, or impressive, but as it has its own road sign, I decided it warranted its own picture too.

You can see it brightening significantly now and the colours, albeit mainly brown, are starting to become more vibrant.

There you go - perfection! All the sunshine you can handle, AND a bit of blue sky to boot. We crossed the small river Goyt by a little packhorse bridge, and continued on that path you see in the bracken .

Please go to part two (below)

The Goyt valley & Errwood hall part 2

I call this one 'natures pearls'. In real life, they were glistening fit to grace any lady's throat. No photograph can do them justice. The sun was behind them, and wherever the sun kissed, the frost melted, leaving these 'pearls' dangling from the blades of grass.

There's our path across the other side, and there's our reward for coming today - views and sun in abundance!

This is one of many packhorse bridges in the valley. They have low walls to facilitate the crossing of packhorses laden with goods slung low over their back. These packhorse men were also known as 'jaggers', and that's why you see so many 'jaggers cloughs' in Derbyshire.

North west water flooded this valley to supply a need for water. It IS beautiful now, but if you read the story of Errwood hall (don't forget, click on the link above - or here; http://www.grimshaworigin.org/Webpages2/ErrwoodGoyt.htm to get all the info) you will see how tragic it all was. Men of VERY limited sight knocked the comparitively young building down. It would have made a super study centre, hotel or youth hostel.

Being well above the floodwater of the reservoirs, I still can't see why it was neccessary to demolish it?

The souce of so many nice views and pictures today and in previous weeks, the humble fallen leaf.

I saw this fungi growing on a branch above me, so I shot up at it with this result.

The sun was REALLY trying now, making me almost too warm in it's rays, but the harsh north wind kept a chill in the air. This track up to the ruins of Errwood hall was so lovely in this light. It's just a shame the shadows were on the part I walked on.

Please go to part three (below)

The Goyt valley and Errwood hall, part 3

This grand line of arches is, apart from the footings and odd outbuildings, is all that remains of the manor house of Errwood hall. The man who signed the papers to demolish this should have been horsewhipped, in my opinion.

The Grimshawes even had their very own graveyard. The stone crosses are 'masters', the simple iron ones, 'servants'.

In the woods on the way up to Pym chair, there's this little shrine. It was for 'Miss Dolores', who you can read ALL about in the link.

Inside the shrine. There's a notice board on wall on the left, which has some VERY poignant messages to loved ones who have passed on. There is even one to 'bracken', a faithful dog.

Candles burn on the 'altar'.

The national park are doing sterling work to try to regenerate the lost vegetation. This stone path has been painstakingly laid to offset damage by feet (and tyres, from what marks I saw). The sacking at the side is to encourage new grass and heather growth.

Walking the stone path along Shining Tor. As you can see, the day stayed lovely and sunny, although cold. This is PERFECT weather for walking.

The last shot - the trig' point at the end of Shining Tor. This is a fine example of a ladder stile (the trig' point is just over the wall). All that remained was a brisk walk back to the car, and a well earned pint in the Cat & fiddle - cheers!