What Happened to August – It Went

What Happened to August – It Went

The review of August is odd. We seem to have had little free time to pursue our explorations of Derbyshire.

The first set of photographs was of the building that was to become ‘Haven Church’. The purpose of the work was to document the state of the building. It was a school that was simply abandoned. More than that, the last occupiers left the junk that they did not want and removed anything of value. Included in the items removed was the control board for the alarm system.

On Sunday the church said ‘Goodbye’ to the old building.

The normal flow of life was interrupted on the following day when the scheduled installation of our new patio door to place. It was a hot dry day when man and son demolished our property. At one point the upper floor was supported on two jacks. At the end of the day, after many cups of tea, the work was done. It was then that the installers pointed out some damage to the doors and we found more damage. First the handle was replaced (and is awaiting another replacement) and the casement was taken back to the factory. This was done on Friday. There was a big hole into our living room for several hours. Just as the men finished the rain came. The door was shut as the heavens opened.

The next day there was an opportunity to complete the photographs of the new church building. Irene and I also made a start on painting the ‘Community Area’. Our painting work continued into Wednesday. And on Thursday morning the building was open for ‘Food Bank’. Then we continued with painting the area of the church.

On Friday the rain continued to pour, but it was hot. In the evening I opened the windows and the doors of our community centre. But the rain came so suddenly and we were flooded.

Sunday the 10^th was the opening of the church for worship. The rain continued to pour. We had the pleasure of collecting two ladies to take to church. Each one has disabled walkers. Before we even left the last house we were both soaked to the skin and paddled from the car over the flooded driveway.

On Monday Irene Bexton and I examined the guttering and found that the filter over the drain pipe was blocked and so we cleaned it out.

The committee meeting was on Tuesday and so shopping was on Wednesday morning. By way of a treat this was followed by our friend Phil buying us a meal at The Nurseryman. We had not been there for many years and I really appreciated the ‘stilton melt’ as a starter. Phil paid for the much appreciated meal and then we took her home. The afternoon ended with more painting in the church building.

Friday came again and so did the rain. This time we closed all the windows and doors of the hall in time. I went into the porch and was pleased to see that there was no water running down the door and that it was rushing down the drain pipe. Ten minutes later I went to look again but this time something like a bucket of water fell on my head.

The following day was dry but cold and windy when we set off for Leeds. The plan to get to the Travelodge was quite good but I made a mistake and went through the city back to the M1. Once on Stile Hill Way we found not only the Travelodge but also Macdonald’s. The coffee and muffin was actually quite nice. Then we went to park nearer the motel.

After notifying the staff of our arrival we caught the bus into the city. There were some impressive carvings on the buildings as we passed them on our way to the town hall. Our first visit was to the art gallery. Some of the paintings were dramatic but it was not the largest collection we had ever visited. However, attached to the main gallery was the Henry Moore Institute. Some of his work was on display in the main gallery also.

Next we headed up to the City Museum passing and entering the Catholic cathedral. It was quite small, as cathedrals go. There was a wedding on and so our visit was brief. Opposite the museum was ‘Millennium Square’. A seaside feature was on. Judging by the state of the museum carpets we could tell that sand was involved.

In the museum we learned that Leeds has a short history and it was named after the river which has since been renamed. We also learned that that there were few celebrities of note and few achievements. However, we did enjoy the display of competition photos. It reminded me of the advice about not becoming a professional. We had a good lunch and left in search of the Tetley Gallery.

We had already discovered that the people of Leeds were very friendly and for the second, and not the last, a passer by volunteered assistance without being asked. Getting to the gallery meant going across and along the River Aire. This took us along the back of the main offices of Asda.

The building in which the new gallery was housed was the old Tetley brewery. (This is one of the city’s best products.) Unfortunately we are spoiled by being so close to the Nottingham Contemporary, and found that the Tetley was not that exciting.

At about this time we received a text from Tim and met him at the entrance to the art gallery. Our choice for dinner was Wagamama Japanese restaurant. The food was interesting and tasty. I ended with the white chocolate and ginger cheesecake. Tim ended with the ‘mix it up mochi ice cream’.

Just before we left the gallery area we spotted a new landmark for Leeds.

Now it was time for the event of the weekend. The three of us made our way to our seats in the town hall; collecting 4 large brown paper bags each on the way in. The town hall interior is just fabulous, glowing with civic pride. No one minded me taking a few snaps, but this changed when Izzie appeared on stage. Now we were under orders to take no photographs because children were on the stage.

The orchestra filed on to the platform and the warning about photography was loudly repeated to the assembled audience of admiring families and friends. For the most part this fell on deaf ears. The six pieces of music was played with absolute professionalism and at the end the audience player their part with their paper bags. The 1812 should really have had cannons, but the bags were very effective.

Having seen Tim, Izzie, double bass, large stool and other things to the car we had our hour wait for the bus. It has been a long time since we joined with the Saturday night revellers (if ever we did). We made our way passed bars and clubs to the city centre bus stop. Have you tried getting coffee on a Saturday night? We settled for two beers in the Café Chocolat.

Although we were in the city centre the bus stop was completely dark in a completely unlit place. Once more we were given the pleasure of hospitable Leeds citizens. A young couple, seeing that we could not work out when the bus was due, showed us the timetable on an app.

There really is an Arkwright's

After a good night sleep it was time to go home. The plan had been to visit a local National Trust priory. However, rain threatened and we decided that a visit to Eyam Hall would be a better plan.

The route took us over the Derbyshire moors. Through the murk of rain the purple colour of the heather was visible. Now was not a good time to stop, but later in the week might prove better.

The Hall was quite fascinating and worth the visit. The coffee and rocky road was good too. The little museum about the plague was also interesting. By the time we left the sun was shining and people were piling into the little village.

Three days later and the promised visit to the heather happened. We drove out to view the heather at one of our favourite places; Curbar Edge. Before setting off we did our usual stop for coffee. It was the first time that we had stopped in the village, but the rocky road was good here as well.

We were able to park a little below the car park and walk up to the gate into the walk. As always the views were stunning as was the heather and the stones that decorated the route. We walked as far as Frogatt Edge to find a place for lunch. At the first group of rocks a family were sitting and so we moved on to the next group of rocks. Once our lunch was opened the family came over to sit and have their lunch near our space. What does this tell you about human nature?

 The sky began to darken. We turned to go back. Behind us the valley began to show signs of rain. As we neared the end of the path the first spots of rain landed.

We went passed men in silver suites who began to put things over them and their camera. The rain came heavy as we reached the car and set off home.

On the way back I called into B and Q to collect some weather sealing strip. On Thursday I applied it, with difficulty on the community centre doors. On Friday we experienced rain again, but none managed to get through to the hall for the Friday night dance.

On Saturday morning we had to make the trip to see Nan in Milton Keynes. It was bank holiday and the traffic was horrendous. Nan is not eating well and is getting thinner.

On Sunday it was our wedding anniversary (46 years or 16,801 days). We celebrated with crispy duck for tea and chocolate from our friends.

On Monday it really rained. We removed a damaged floor tile from the kitchen and replaced it. This took some effort. In the afternoon we spent some time on the railway planting trees and in the evening sat to play some board games.

We finished off our August walks with a visit to Lathkill Dale. We first visited the Dale about 7 years ago but did not walk far. I took a number of shots of a building we saw, but was disappointed not to find it this time.

Our second visit to the dale was last August when we walked from Alport to Over Haddon. At the end of July, this year, we walked the 'Limestone Way' from Monyash, down to a bridge on the dale and up to the top of the dale at Monyash.

To finish our exploration of the dale we needed to walk from Over Haddon to the above mentioned bridge. This necessitated a stop at the 'Old Smithy' cafe in Monyash for another helping of fudge cake etc. and of course the use of the toilet. Is was then a short drive to park on a street in O. H. and walk past the 'pay and display' car park, down the hill and along the dale. We had allowed 1.5 hours to get to the bridge which was exactly the time we took. 

The river has a habit of disappearing but the waterfall, marked on the map, was in full flow. At the bridge we sat for a picnic and returned the way we came. We were dry, reasonably not cold and successful.

The following day was Jan's birthday and we went to join them for the 'Curry Club' at Weatherspoons in Ilkeston.

Today, Sunday is the last day of the month and, just to end on a good note, we have just had an electric-car charging point fitted. It has added £2000 to the value of the house and cost nothing. I do not think that we will ever have an electric-car. The cheapest is around £30,000.

Having said at the start about the lack of days out we did not do too badly after all.

July – New for Old

June ended with my exciting trip to the zoo and the old car which I was told would last forever died. This meant that the Corsa had became uneconomically repairable. I did find that there is value in keeping a car in good order. I got a better price than if I had not.

The second of July saw us taking delivery of the 2.5 year old Fiesta.

Also my work in building a piece of decking was completed. All this was just in time for the heat to build. There was good fortune to be had in buying a car with air-con on the day that the temperature began to rise exponentially.

However, our first drive to MK in the Fiesta was a bit wet, putting smears on the rear.

My birthday was a week after buying the car and it was Wednesday. The day was doubly important as one to be enjoyed. Some weeks ago Jenny and Francis had given me an early birthday present of a book of walks starting from stations in Derbyshire. The last one in the book (walk 20) was to start at Hurdlow where their used to a station. This was 1½ miles south of the end of the High Peak Trail. By way of convenience the walk began at the Royal Oak pub. There was a very full dinner menu, but we enjoyed the very tasty coffee and the freshly baked muffins. The propriety was visible moved and pleased by the compliments that we paid him. Doubtless, he would have preferred a tip.

The walk, for most part, was very flat and level and not too busy with human traffic. The first person that we met was a lady with a clip board. She was not doing a tourist survey. She was carrying out a butterfly survey. I could have saved her the trouble. The answer was that there were a lot of a good range of varieties. So too was the large variety of flowers along the side. We made acquaintance with one or two that we had not known before, including ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. On a later walk we were to find out something significant about it.

Jacob's Ladder

To complete our time, when we got to the end of the High Peak Trail, we turned left and went a further half mile down a bridle path to a road. On the way back we stopped for lunch but the only suitable seats were the steep steps that I said that I would not climb. The view is different. Not only were we higher, but either side was the tall foliage which looked even more magnificent.

When we got back to the car we still had time left and walked a further half mile down the track.

The last thing that we had to do was to drive to a toilet stop further back down the trail. This was at Parsely Hay. Here there were more tourists congregating around the modern toilet, shop and restaurant facilities.

This was to end the first part of the busy day. Our next stop was the ‘Cheese Cake’ shop in ‘Dodge City’. Our deceased friend Arthur always called the shops in Wollaton by this name. Our route took us by the ‘Hemlock Stone and Dragon’ pub which would be our venue for the evening meal.

At six we joined Joni and Fiona and our friends, Jan, Lawrence, Mary and Paul for a Tai meal. The eight of us sat around a large table to tuck in to the very tasty food on offer. After this we all returned home to enjoy the cheese cake.

The following Wednesday followed ‘Committee’ Tuesday. This meant that the after shopping the walk would be shorter than our other walks. It was actually quite cloudy. I wanted Irene to see the meadow that had been planted next to the walled garden in Bramcote Hills Park. After this we set off to walk some of the canal at Cossall. The problem with the Cossall walk is that of toilet facilities. Our decision was to walk for only one hour.

The heron made a brief appearance, the bulrushes were going to fluffy seed and coot chicks swam around. 

At one point I spied a couple of people with a red and white umbrella in the distance. When I got back I was surprised to find a similar couple of people under a similar red and white umbrella. It was then that I realised that our straight line had actually been a curve. Einstein predicted this effect on an inter-planetary scale.

On Monday there was change to our usual café routine. Irene decided to take the Leicester House group out for refreshments at our local garden centre. So many people were away that we could do it in two cars. We explored the aquarium area before our afternoon break. Although it was too hot everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, but we had to call a halt and take everyone back to the cooler place.

Wanting to make the most of the favourable weather we continued with our Wednesday outings. In an effort to visit some water and a desire to visit the upper reaches of a river we headed for Monyash. Our downloaded walk map was of a route from the village, down into Lathkill Dale and back round to the start. The other beauty of the walk was that there was refreshment stop at the beginning and a toilet at the end.

Two weeks ago a GPS mix up took us into the village and confirmed the presence of the pub. However, when we arrived and parked we spotted a café next to the pub. 

It was small in appearance but once inside there was a lot of space. I have to say that the fudge cake was one of the best that I had tasted. Even the presentation was of a high quality with the white porcelain plate decorated by a swirl of chocolate sauce.

At the car we met another couple who were ‘booting up’ and after a word we set off first. From the village centre the ‘Limestone Way’ was well marked, but we nearly lost it in a field when the other couple caught up with us. 

They had a better description of the route. They then sped off and we continued our leisurely pace. The path through the farm was as described and the pig sties were interesting with feeding troughs built into the wall. What was not described was the grotto containing figures from the Nativity scene.

At the bottom of the steps I found a piece of limestone with a clear fossil. Having shown it to Irene I turned and threw it back. Did you know that if you swing an arm a camera on a strap swings into line-of-fire? There was a clonk and the lens began to behave badly. From then on I was not able to go to maximum wide angle without marks in the corner of the screen. However, the complicated mechanisms within the lens seem to now have corrected the problem.

On leaving the farm there was steep drop that the guide warned us about. At the bottom the scenery was so different with a shaded wooded area, a stile and paths coming in from various directions. We continued to follow the ‘Limestone Way’ until the woods gave way to the amazing vistas of limestone country. 

At last we sighted the River Lath. Well at least the puddle that lay under the footbridge. There was no way that we, or anyone else, was going to disobey the signs and bathe in it. We continued following the path along the river bed.

At this point let me share the little knowledge we have of the river. At the Alport end a strong stone bridge is needed for traffic to cross. Further upstream there is a similar bridge. Beyond that the river is still quite wide. A significant grass area, suitable for picnickers, lines the river. After this it becomes more of a brook and at Over Haddon the river disappears. We were also told that on our walk today we would come across a cave where water gushes out.

Further along the path we found a convenient stone to sit on and have lunch. From here the path alternated between smooth and very rocky. Then we came to the cave. But look as hard as we could we could only see damp.

Leaving the river behind we began to leave the valley. To our surprise, in view of the very dry weather, there was a muddy section which we concluded was due to the fact that the path along the limestone wall was in perpetual shade.

Along the path at some point Irene came across an interpretation board which told us about ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, which we had seen two weeks ago. This was not far from where we now stood and it grew in only a few places. Each place where it could be found was quite limited in size. It was now too late in the season to see it in Lathkill Dale.

At the exit of the dale was the small car park and toilet facility. Then we walked back into the village. By now the temperature was high and so after consuming a can of coke on the village green we switched on the air con and we left.

The following week the weather was not quite so bright as we headed to the village of Bonsall, near Matlock. The object was to see another 'Well Dressing' and have a walk in the area.

Bonsall is a pretty village with narrow and steep streets. All the gardens seemed to be built on rocky slopes and steep rock wall gave a backdrop to many.

First we walked the streets seeking out the dressed wells.

 The village was festooned with bunting and one line in honour of the war commemorations  was particularly special.

Refreshments were now needed and we headed back to the cafe near to our car. We are getting used to consuming superior food on our travel. I refrained from the cake and went for the tea for two and scones. Good choice.

Then we set of on our six mile walk. First we had to go back up to the church and on to a farm track. Mr Postie asked us to wait while he went up first. He said that he would watch for us on the way back. He did. The walk took us very upwards. The guide said that it would be steep but not too strenuous. The guide sheet writer was probably 28 not .. We walked past the Heights of Abraham attraction and for a while we had a good view of Riber Castle over the gorge in which sits the tourist high spot of Matlock Bath.

The walk went well. We had our picnic and set off keeping a stone wall on our right. Here things went downhill. There were two styles and two paths. Actually we finished up on a road which went up. But eventually we went back down into the village.

A drink and toilet was required but the village convenience was locked (say nothing about in...). This meant an ice-cream back at the cafe. I chose the one with honeycomb in while Irene had the salted caramel. The owner of the cafe came to talk with us and she decided that I must try the salted caramel for myself. She bought out half a tub; saying 'Don't say that we don't look after you'. It was delicious.

The sun came out and we set off home.