It's been a long time since I've updated my walking pages..but I'm glad to say that I'm back hiking seriously after the hiatus from lockdown (got stuck in Gran Canaria having done just one day of my planned coast to coast walk, but that's another story) and also a timeout for my change of career and nursing degree studies. That said, I did complete the Tour du Mont Blanc as a treat for my 50th in 2018 and hiked the South Downs Way (cellulitis as an added bonus!) in 2019. So not completely rusty, just out of practice.
We have just returned from a week in the glorious Peak District, staying in converted Methodist Chapel in Oker, above Matlock in the south of the limestone peaks. Everything we needed in a lovely setting with walks from the door, which was ideal as needed to rethink plans to include very local hikes and public transport due to petrol crisis......luckily we had managed to refuel on the way over from visiting Mum in St. Helens, so no worries about getting back home. We only used the car once in the week, and the buses and trains were prompt and well priced. It was a good 40 minutes walk into Matlock though, so this did add to the mileage and the leg burnage at the end of the day!!
Walk 1 - Nine Ladies Stone Circle and Stanton Moor (10 miles)
Those naughty ladies should have known better....there are so many examples of merry maidens across our Islands being turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath, but they still went and danced and got themselves petrified. Actually they are from the early Bronze Age, around 4000 years old, and there are many ancient burial mounds and no less than 4 stone circles here. Our first walk was on a sunny day, exploring from the Chapel following the Derwent Heritage Trail and Peak Steam Railway from Darley Bridge to Rowsley where we stopped for our lunch at Caudwell's Mill which is still a working flour mill. Then the climb up to Stanton Moor passing old limestone quarries with long abandoned mill stones and our funny little green man in the gatepost. Rested after a stop to say hello to the Nine Ladies, still dancing in their circle after all this time, we headed across the heather clad heath down old quarry pack-horse tracks to the Druid Inn and a welcome pint or two at Birchover. Picked up an old bye way through Clough Wood to return to Darley Bridge and back to our Chapel at Oker.
We have just returned from a week in the glorious Peak District, staying in converted Methodist Chapel in Oker, above Matlock in the south of the limestone peaks. Everything we needed in a lovely setting with walks from the door, which was ideal as needed to rethink plans to include very local hikes and public transport due to petrol crisis......luckily we had managed to refuel on the way over from visiting Mum in St. Helens, so no worries about getting back home. We only used the car once in the week, and the buses and trains were prompt and well priced. It was a good 40 minutes walk into Matlock though, so this did add to the mileage and the leg burnage at the end of the day!!
Walk 1 - Nine Ladies Stone Circle and Stanton Moor (10 miles)
Those naughty ladies should have known better....there are so many examples of merry maidens across our Islands being turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath, but they still went and danced and got themselves petrified. Actually they are from the early Bronze Age, around 4000 years old, and there are many ancient burial mounds and no less than 4 stone circles here. Our first walk was on a sunny day, exploring from the Chapel following the Derwent Heritage Trail and Peak Steam Railway from Darley Bridge to Rowsley where we stopped for our lunch at Caudwell's Mill which is still a working flour mill. Then the climb up to Stanton Moor passing old limestone quarries with long abandoned mill stones and our funny little green man in the gatepost. Rested after a stop to say hello to the Nine Ladies, still dancing in their circle after all this time, we headed across the heather clad heath down old quarry pack-horse tracks to the Druid Inn and a welcome pint or two at Birchover. Picked up an old bye way through Clough Wood to return to Darley Bridge and back to our Chapel at Oker.
Walk 2 - Whatsandwell to Crompton Mill (9 miles including to train station and back)
Steep, blustery, historical. Today we caught the train from Matlock to Whatsandwell. I was wondering where the unusual name hailed from: Peak District online website advises...It is thought that Whatstandwell dates from the end of the 14th century when the important and impressive bridge over the River Derwent was constructed and reputedly named after Walter Stonewell who lived nearby. Wat is a common abbreviation of Walter and Watstonewell’s bridge was then corrupted to Whatstandwell. We didn't see the village itself until we drove through it on the way to Derby coming home later, it is very pretty. Meantime, we crossed from the quaint railway station to the ever so steep lane to Crich where we thought we might take a tram ride....not at £38 to get in, however much I needed a pee at this point! Bushes are free.....so we carried on and walked up to the Sherwood Foresters' regimental monument 1000 ft above sea level from where you can see seven counties (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire). Then headed back down to the Cromford Canal past the Leawood Pump House which still houses a working steam pump to deliver water from the River Derwent to the canal. Rested a while at High Peak Junction with its old workshops then along to Arkwright's original cotton mill at Cromford Wharf built in 1771 and now a world heritage site. Obligatory pint in the Boat Inn at Cromford village (built to house the mill workers) and bus back to Matlock.
Steep, blustery, historical. Today we caught the train from Matlock to Whatsandwell. I was wondering where the unusual name hailed from: Peak District online website advises...It is thought that Whatstandwell dates from the end of the 14th century when the important and impressive bridge over the River Derwent was constructed and reputedly named after Walter Stonewell who lived nearby. Wat is a common abbreviation of Walter and Watstonewell’s bridge was then corrupted to Whatstandwell. We didn't see the village itself until we drove through it on the way to Derby coming home later, it is very pretty. Meantime, we crossed from the quaint railway station to the ever so steep lane to Crich where we thought we might take a tram ride....not at £38 to get in, however much I needed a pee at this point! Bushes are free.....so we carried on and walked up to the Sherwood Foresters' regimental monument 1000 ft above sea level from where you can see seven counties (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire). Then headed back down to the Cromford Canal past the Leawood Pump House which still houses a working steam pump to deliver water from the River Derwent to the canal. Rested a while at High Peak Junction with its old workshops then along to Arkwright's original cotton mill at Cromford Wharf built in 1771 and now a world heritage site. Obligatory pint in the Boat Inn at Cromford village (built to house the mill workers) and bus back to Matlock.
Walk 3 - Wensley Dale and the Limestone Way (11 miles)
Slippery when wet. Pete decided not to walk today as the rain was set for the day. He had a point, it was pretty relentless. Today I started off from the chapel up the secluded but very beautiful Wensley Dale (not the one where the cheese comes from, that's in the Yorkshire Dales) then down and across to Winster, a traditional Peak village with old market hall. I would have taken more pictures but a) it was raining and b) there were lumping great range rovers parked in front of everything. So I carried on up the hill to the Miners Standard and had a coffee there to get out of the rain and into the warm for a bit. The standard refers to a measure for lead mined in the area and there were some interesting photos in the (haunted, of course) pub. There were once 25,000 mine shafts in the Peak District and the little hillocks are visible along the Limestone Way which dropped me into Bonsall with its village cross. Ate lunch in the church porch - always a favourite stop for me, then up hill again to go over Matlock Dale and drop down into town where I met Pete for a couple in the Remarkable Hare before walking back up to Oker....happy hour, in the pub, a soggy Yay!! Found the squeeze stiles a bit tricky, I'm thinking there must be some special manoeuvre that needs mastering or else one's leg gets stuck and it's potentially a long hack through with a swiss army knife blade.
Slippery when wet. Pete decided not to walk today as the rain was set for the day. He had a point, it was pretty relentless. Today I started off from the chapel up the secluded but very beautiful Wensley Dale (not the one where the cheese comes from, that's in the Yorkshire Dales) then down and across to Winster, a traditional Peak village with old market hall. I would have taken more pictures but a) it was raining and b) there were lumping great range rovers parked in front of everything. So I carried on up the hill to the Miners Standard and had a coffee there to get out of the rain and into the warm for a bit. The standard refers to a measure for lead mined in the area and there were some interesting photos in the (haunted, of course) pub. There were once 25,000 mine shafts in the Peak District and the little hillocks are visible along the Limestone Way which dropped me into Bonsall with its village cross. Ate lunch in the church porch - always a favourite stop for me, then up hill again to go over Matlock Dale and drop down into town where I met Pete for a couple in the Remarkable Hare before walking back up to Oker....happy hour, in the pub, a soggy Yay!! Found the squeeze stiles a bit tricky, I'm thinking there must be some special manoeuvre that needs mastering or else one's leg gets stuck and it's potentially a long hack through with a swiss army knife blade.
Walk 4 - Bakewell and the Monsal Trail (14 miles cycle and 6 miles walking)
Bicycles and viaducts. Usual drop into Matlock to catch the bus to old market town of Bakewell and from there a walk to Hassop Station where we hired our bikes and set off along the Monsal Trail, a disused railway line with tunnels, old stations, lime kilns and views across to places like the amazingly named Water-cum-Jolly Dale. And another one of Arkwright's mills at Cressbrook, where orphans were brought from cities to be apprenticed to work there. Although the mill owners were generally philanthropic, and conditions were better than the workhouse, it was still child labour. But he did construct some beautiful buildings.
Bicycles and viaducts. Usual drop into Matlock to catch the bus to old market town of Bakewell and from there a walk to Hassop Station where we hired our bikes and set off along the Monsal Trail, a disused railway line with tunnels, old stations, lime kilns and views across to places like the amazingly named Water-cum-Jolly Dale. And another one of Arkwright's mills at Cressbrook, where orphans were brought from cities to be apprenticed to work there. Although the mill owners were generally philanthropic, and conditions were better than the workhouse, it was still child labour. But he did construct some beautiful buildings.
Walk 5 - Lumsdale Falls and Riber Castle (9 miles)
Another walk from the door today. Pete's legs had stopped working, so I headed off into Matlock and picked up the trail out of town towards the old cotton bleaching mills at Lumsdale. They are mostly in ruins now, but what is left, including the mill pond and waterfalls, is maintained by the Arkwright Society. They do a great job in keeping the history of our industrial past alive. Another wet walk....from the mills I headed across to Tansley then up to the ancient hamlet of Riber with its 16th century manor house and Riber Castle, which can be seen perched above Matlock for miles around. This was built in 1862 from local gritstone pulled up the 660 ft (200m) hill by a series of pulleys. After the death of the rich landowner and his wife, it was a prep school, then an MOD food store in WW2. In the 1960's it was a zoo with lynx being bred there until it closed in 2000. Plans to turn it into apartments failed. Now empty it is apparently being made into a hotel. There were workmen there when I walked past and it looks to be coming along, with windows back in and a roof back on. Lord knows how the traffic will get up the narrow lanes to it, but English Heritage apparently gave the go-ahead for the 'sensitive' restoration as the only way to prevent it from completely falling down. There is a very steep stone path (treacherously slippy in the rain, I took my time going down it) which dropped me back into Matlock and....you guessed it...happy hour with Pete in the Remarkable Hare!
Another walk from the door today. Pete's legs had stopped working, so I headed off into Matlock and picked up the trail out of town towards the old cotton bleaching mills at Lumsdale. They are mostly in ruins now, but what is left, including the mill pond and waterfalls, is maintained by the Arkwright Society. They do a great job in keeping the history of our industrial past alive. Another wet walk....from the mills I headed across to Tansley then up to the ancient hamlet of Riber with its 16th century manor house and Riber Castle, which can be seen perched above Matlock for miles around. This was built in 1862 from local gritstone pulled up the 660 ft (200m) hill by a series of pulleys. After the death of the rich landowner and his wife, it was a prep school, then an MOD food store in WW2. In the 1960's it was a zoo with lynx being bred there until it closed in 2000. Plans to turn it into apartments failed. Now empty it is apparently being made into a hotel. There were workmen there when I walked past and it looks to be coming along, with windows back in and a roof back on. Lord knows how the traffic will get up the narrow lanes to it, but English Heritage apparently gave the go-ahead for the 'sensitive' restoration as the only way to prevent it from completely falling down. There is a very steep stone path (treacherously slippy in the rain, I took my time going down it) which dropped me back into Matlock and....you guessed it...happy hour with Pete in the Remarkable Hare!
Walk 6 - Ilam and Dovedale (8 miles)
We were obliged to drive to our walk today but it was the only day out of six that we used the car, so not bad! A scenic drive to the beautiful village of Ilam. It was built in the Swiss Alpine style in the 1850's by a wealthy industrialist. When Jesse Watts Russell was remodelling Ilam Hall, the old village was in his eyeline and so he had it rebuilt out if sight of the hall. Not sure if that could happen today, but then again we did move families out of terraces and into skyscrapers in the name of progress. Nonetheless, the village and hall are charming and we walked along the river Manifold to Castern Hall and climbed across to Stanshope passing two very well maintained dewponds before dropping down into Milldale. From there we followed the river Dove all the way back through the stunning limestone ravine guarded by the twin peaks of Bunster Hill and Thorpe Cloud. Then across the stepping stones back to where we started. Spotted a dipper on the river which really pleased me as it has actually been several years since I last saw this lovely little bird. Last day, home tomorrow. Farewell to the Peaks and hope to be back soon. Meanwhile - planning next adventure....I'm thinking about the Dales Way next spring.
We were obliged to drive to our walk today but it was the only day out of six that we used the car, so not bad! A scenic drive to the beautiful village of Ilam. It was built in the Swiss Alpine style in the 1850's by a wealthy industrialist. When Jesse Watts Russell was remodelling Ilam Hall, the old village was in his eyeline and so he had it rebuilt out if sight of the hall. Not sure if that could happen today, but then again we did move families out of terraces and into skyscrapers in the name of progress. Nonetheless, the village and hall are charming and we walked along the river Manifold to Castern Hall and climbed across to Stanshope passing two very well maintained dewponds before dropping down into Milldale. From there we followed the river Dove all the way back through the stunning limestone ravine guarded by the twin peaks of Bunster Hill and Thorpe Cloud. Then across the stepping stones back to where we started. Spotted a dipper on the river which really pleased me as it has actually been several years since I last saw this lovely little bird. Last day, home tomorrow. Farewell to the Peaks and hope to be back soon. Meanwhile - planning next adventure....I'm thinking about the Dales Way next spring.