May Blog

It has to have been one of the coldest but one of the driest May months that I can remember. Odd spells of warm sunny weather were surrounded by longer spells of duller, colder weather. Irene has been in a continuous cycle of bringing seedlings out in the day and back at night; regularly asking me to find out what the overnight temperature would be. One day the temperature was predicted to be greater than 10⁰ and the plants were left out.

Our first visit was to Paul and Mary to admire the new drive and garden work.

On the Friday night it was the VE day celebration, which we shared with our friends in the community centre. This was a ‘Red, White and Blue’ night, dancing to music from the forties.

 The next occasion to be celebrated was Joni’s 27^th birthday. We gave him a power drill as he seems to be getting heavily into DIY.

For some unaccountable reason the sun shone on the 13^th. We needed to make a trip to McArthur Glenn for shopping. Therefore we chose to walk around the village of Ashover in East Derbyshire. This was after a trip to B & Q. The last time we walked around Ashover Tim was 5 years old and mum was in terror as he peered down a hole.

Ashover is a quiet, out of the way place. There were no coffee shops, but there was a brilliant public loo. The walk we chose was said to be short and fairly easy. It took us through paths surrounded by wild garlic. The quarry pond was interesting and I discovered that my polarising filter was set to reduce reflections. I carried my tripod and this enabled me to photograph a waterfall having a milky effect. It also enabled me to takes pictures with a great depth of field.

Eventually the walk became less easy as we made the trek up a muddy path to the top of ‘Cocking Tor’. Here there were good views across the countryside and a pleasant spot for a picnic. The journey down was easier as we followed an old mule trail which was made of slabs of gritstone. We passed a hill side where bluebells grew in large patches. Normally they grow in the woods. The steps out of the meadow were special. The image has already been framed and put up on a wall. It has also been used as a birthday card.

Since there was no café in the village we were obliged to travel to McArthur Glenn and indulge in coffee and cake at ‘Thorntons’. Mum found her shoes and I bought three novels for £5.

One of the jobs that I did in May was to glue the head back on ‘David the Gnome’ and repaint him.

Just to prove that May was exceptionally bad we set off for Stanton Moor. This time we were to find the ‘Cork Stone’. We did not think that it was as impressive as our own ‘Hemlock Stone’. Despite the damp we did make a circuit of the moor. One of the images shows the bleakness of the place.

From the moor we went down to Bonsall and started with coffee/tea and cake at one of our favourite cafés. And then we drove down to ‘Cascade Gardens’. This is a long garden with the cliffs along one side and a river on the other. Water supposedly cascaded down from the river into water features below before finding is way back to the river. They even had their own lead mine.

On the penultimate Saturday of the month we made our first walk of exploration into our own local area. After a brief walk to the edge of town we dropped down a path off the road and found ourselves walking through fields of buttercups, surrounded by white blossomed hedges. The path took us under the M1 and along the River Erewash. At times it was easy to forget that the motorway and houses were around us.

The River Erewash

The river under the M1

This Tuesday Tim, Isla and girls arrived to stay for a day or two.They wanted to climb a hill so we decided to climb the highest hill in the Peak District. It is known as Kinder Scout. For information see (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Scout)

We met up in the Edale car park and after the usual rituals we all set off up the hill. The walk starts easily, over a paved section. Then, once through a stile and over a water fall it becomes much more rugged. Irene and I walked for just over an hour and got to a pile of stones which was handy for a picnic stop.

What to do with old boots

Strange Things to Knit

After the picnic Tim and family went on and we made the journey back down. Tim told us that just around the bend from where we had sat the path became a rocky scramble.

As we went down they went up and when we met them later they reported reaching the top.

In the village we stopped for coffee and I had the best piece of ‘Rocky Road’ ever.

Back home, we were joined by Joni and Fiona for tea and a chat.

On Thursday I left at 6.45 am to take Tim to a 'brewing experience' at a place in Colwick. http://www.flipsidebrewery.co.uk/ It seems to have been hard work for him, but he said that he enjoyed it.

I got home from that trip to say goodbye to Mum, Isla and Izzy. They set off to visit the Emma Bridgewater pottery in Stoke. They also visited Sudbury Hall. Iona stayed behind to revise. I did some work in the community centre and sorted out the play list for the dance on Friday night.

My job was then to collect Tim from the brewery. We got back just after the girls to have a final meal together before Tim and family set off home.

The month was not quite at an end. Another photographic opportunity awaited. Someone guessed that the next photograph was taken in Dovedale.

It was actually taken in the meadows between Stapleford and the M1. The whole area around the River Erewash is quite lovely.

Today, Sunday 31^st, the month ends pretty much as it started and finished; un-seasonally cold. We are promised that it will be more summery by the end of next week.

Stanton Moor

As promised we took up the Rowsley walk almost where we left off.

By way of a change we thought that we would start with refreshments at Darley Station.

1. Mistake 1 - The SATNav had this idea to take us into the station by the back route. However, the route was marked 'No Through Road'. There were posts across it.
2. Mistake 2 - Darley Station were no longer serving refreshments and a train was not due for 30 minutes.

And so on ward to Rowsley Station. The steam engine to Darley and then Matlock was just filling up. It was the identical engine and carriages that I photographed and subsequently painted a picture of.

After the train left the station went quiet and we had our refreshment and comfort stop.

Perhaps we wouldn't have dined here had we noticed the sign above us.

My cake had a chick on it.

And so it was on and up to Stanton Moor, this time by car. We started in the wrong place and we possibly did the walk back to front. There were information signs (There is a proper term for signs which tell you about the place.) all over the place with a map. It would have helped if the signs has 'You are here' markers. But, Derbyshire is for real men who do orienteering through peat bogs in the moonlight.

We did get to the 'Nine Ladies' stone circle. Following the path though a field with a sign saying 'This way' did it. The stones are quite small, but evidence of prehistory in the area.

We walked on across the moor getting confused at one point, thinking that we were going to see the 'Cork Stone'. We found a different rock looking over the valley to have our lunch.

Going on we eventually came across what we thought was the 'Cork Stone' It had the 'easily recognisable ... footholds and hand grips'. But I am uneasy about the identification when I compare it to the photo in the guide.

Cork Stone - as guide

Cork Stone - my photo

We were very sure that we had found Earl Grey's Tower.

And so back to the 'Nine Ladies' then along the panoramic edge,

back though the dandelion covered field to the car (at the edge of the picture). And so to home.

We really will have to return if only to satisfy ourselves as to which is the true 'Cork Stone'.

Rowsley Walk

This has to be one of our better walks. Firstly it has the right degree of challenge, it was varied despite the shortness of it, it was quiet for a Derbyshire beauty spot, it is circular, the parking was free, and best of their was a 'pit-stop' at the start and the end.

Rowsley is a village along the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell. The walk starts at Cauldwell working flour mill. We did not arrive particularly early, but the mill was not yet running. After tea and cake I returned to the car. I had to photograph the powerful gush of water coming from under the mill.

It created a powerful spray just a little further down stream.

Had I not have taken the photographs at the this time I could not have done so later. Once the mill was running the powerful force was converted to the energy needed to turn the mill and only a weak outlet was visible on our return in the middle of the afternoon.

This was also one of the better documented walks. The author of the walk's description made only one error. It was reasonably clear which was the private road to start on. However, the road was marked as going to Woodhouse Eaves rather than Stanton Lees.

Off we set. A nice gentle start followed by a sudden climb which continued for miles.

Stanton Lees was quite a pretty village. Its hard to believe that you can get a sense of remoteness and still see the A6.

The top of the village

The top of the lower part of the village

Leaving the village. Note the lower pool.

Not far through the village we exited onto a road which we followed until we reached the stile to enter Stanton Moor. We had decided that the path around the moor would be too much for us so we went over the stile and only as far as a log to sit and have lunch. This was another plus of the walk as we sat looking over the Derwent valley.

The Nine Ladies stone circle would have to wait for another day.

Back to the road and another up hill trudge to the start of Stanton in Peak village. Just before the village the path left of the road and down through the woods, back onto a road which had a view point before we left the road on the left.

From the view point

Foot path entrance stile

And so on back down the hill; giving us a view of the River Wye.

Back down to Cauldwell Mill. It was now running. This was quite nostalgic. As I looked through the door I could see the boxed in belt lifting grain to the start of its journey as I had done as a boy in thewater powered flour mill that my dad worked in. The same clanking noises. King's Mill where he worked stood on the site of a Medieval water mill, but by the time my dad was working there the mill wheel had been replaced by turbines that generated electricity to turn the massive grinding machines.

Mill entrance

So to the final 'pit stop' and collect one each of the local ice-creams. These we enjoyed sitting on a rough wooden seat looking up to the mill weir. The ducks were disappointed by our purchase, but happily followed us up to edge of the weir before we left for home.

Unlucky duck

Ducks on the mill pond

There will be another episode when we return to Stanton Moor and the Nine Ladies.