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!

Cromford & Alderwasley (part 1)

This Sundays walk was along the Cromford canal, which is near to Matlock Bath, and up through Ambergate woods to Alderwasley for a light lunch at the Bear pub. The day started very well, a typical early winter day, but VERY mild. Later on, it turned to drizzle but overall, it was a lovely walk. I really enjoy walking along Cromford canal. I also like to ride my bike along it. It's an interesting place at any time of year, as there's always something to see. It looked a bit drab, what with most of the leaves on the ground due to recent high winds, but there was still the odd 'resident' around to photograph.

This is the Cromford end of the canal. The canal was built to supply power and transport for the local cotton mills, built by sir Richard Arkwright. If you click the link (above), you can read all about Cromford and link to sir Richard from there. Don't forget, click on any of the pictures to get a bigger version.

I love the way the light reflects in the still canal water. The stark reflections of the almost leafless branches has something about it as well. It's usually quite busy on this stretch on sunday afternoons but, apart from the odd one or two people, today it was quiet.

There were still water birds about. This one looked very young, and kept bobbing under to try and thwart me taking a picture.

But I GOT 'IM!!!

Further on, below Lea, the canal gets quieter and seems to take on an even more serene mantle. This really is a 'sigh and look' place. Although the road isn't far away from the canal, it never seems to impinge on the quiet.

(Please go to next part below - part 2)

Cromford & Alderwasley (Part 2)

This stretch of the canal is covered in duckweed. It takes on a whole different look, doesn't it?

After the walk along the canal, the path wends up through Ambergate woods. This stile takes you into the woods.

I really was staggered to see this new flower! It's what I call cow parsley, but the name's not important - what IS important, is that it's growing like it should in APRIL, but it's the middle of NOVEMBER????? All around it were it's brothers and sisters - dead - brown after a month or more without nourishment?

This was the destination for lunch - the Bear Inn, at Alderwasley. It's a lovely looking pub, but I think it's very expensive. However, it gets packed every weekend, so they must be doing something right!

The final part of the walk was down through the beautifull copper woods. It was a delight to walk over the carpet of leaves. We heard a few birds, but saw no wildlife to speak of, not even a squirrel!

This is Mavis & Steven, walking ahead in the woods.

I thought this path looked just about the best of the day. What do you think? I couldn't wait to walk on it and kick the leaves up.

At the end of the day, we were treated to this lovely sky. We'd had a little drizzle but, hey - this is England in November, it COULD be SNOWING!!!!!

Winter draws on, part one

Bonfire night! I like fireworks, but as they've been going off around where I live for the past month or so, I am getting a little fed up with them! I decided a nice, long walk was in order and, as I hadn't been to the Longnor area for a while, that was my choice location. I had a nice, ten mile circle mapped out but, untypically, I've not been well for a couple of days, having mysterious stomach pains in the night. This left me weaker than I thought, so even though I set off in good spirits (and shorts!), I had to cut the walk short to about 5 miles after I found myself literally trudging along. Anyway, I did get a few pictures, but it wasn't the most photogenic of days, there being a bit of mist about and the light wasn't good either. This is a cobbled alleyway in Longnor. The black square you see on the wall on the right is the old Bull inn sign. Longnor used to be a VERY important place, before the coming of the train, and still to this day, boasts FOUR pubs. As you will see from last weeks blog entry, most villages are struggling to support the ONE pub these days.

The area, like most of the Peak district, was once the floor of a vast ocean. The limestone has been sculpted in the upper Dove valley and the result is what are known as the 'reef knolls'. This chain of hills are quite spectacular on a clear day with the sun on them. Not much chance of that today, but I still think they look good, in a more broody way! They look far bigger than they actually are, but they still make you grunt when you walk up them. Today, with me not feeling so good, I skirted around them. This is looking across to Chrome hill, from near Stoop farm.

The recent 'right of way act' (hooray!) has opened up yet more of our wild places for walkers. This is a view of Chrome hill that couldn't be taken before without 'trespassing'. Now, Hollins hill has been opened up. It wasn't on the agenda today, but we found the draw of 'new pastures' too great to ignore.
Please go to next part of blog entry (below).

Winter draws on, part two.

Here I am, on top of Hollins hill for the first time. I think, judging by the path, it has been open for a while now, but it felt good to finally be able to go up there, and it afforded some wondeful, new views of the Hollinsclough area.

This is looking back along Hollins hill.

These are the reef knolls. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, I have named them.
This is the upper Dove valley, last week (posting below), I walked in the middle section beyond Hartington.

There is an old wives tale that says if the holly bears a lot of berries, we will have a hard winter. Better batten down the hatches then, according to this!

This is a nice view with the brown bracken and the reef knolls.

This rather OTT ornate metal gate is in the valley near Hollinsclough village. Quite why it was deemed neccessary to have such a thing is a mystery?

I had a little visitor while I ate my lunch in the village. I gave her a few crumbs, but didn't get an egg in return! It was here that I ran out of steam and made my way back to the car. Hopefully, I'll be better for next week, and get a few more pictures.