W/C 21st September 2013 - Codnor Castle & Wingfield Manor

This week's long walk saw me cross the Erewash Valley into the edge of the Peak District, calling at Wingfield Manor before turning back through Alfreton and home. The walk gives some really impressive views across the countryside. It was a very clear, hot day. 

I set out around 7:30am. The moon was clearly visible to the west for some time. This view of it was taken whilst I was walking through Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

 I took the road to Selston. This was the view north just before I reached the bridge over the M1 motorway. The motorway and the new Cooperative warehouse are very prominent.

The route through Selston and on to Jacksdale followed the line of an old colliery waggonway, long gone. There are signs explaining its history along the way. About halfway to Jacksdale, I took this view across the Erewash valley. The flat top of Jessop's Monument is just visible in the trees in the far distance.

 The waggonway ran to a wharf on the Cromford canal at Jacksdale. This is now partly a children's playground, full of wooden monsters.

 Beyond the park, the line of the Cromford canal is clearly visible here, though further on it has been filled in for some of the way. Some parts are heavily covered in weeds.

 This is a view looking back towards Jacksdale.

 Shortly, I turned west through woodland towards a footbridge over the railway line from Chesterfield to Nottingham and Trent Junction. Coming out of the woodland on the far side of the railway, I caught a glimpse of Codnor Castle ruins and Castle Farm in the far distance - though at this time of year they are largely obscured by trees. Much of this area was subjected to opencast mining a few years ago, so it has a very unnatural feel - like the grass in the foreground..

 The castle itself was featured on Time Team a couple of years ago. There is little left of what must have been quite a landmark in earlier times.

 The view back across the Erewash Valley is really beautiful. Underwood Church is just visible on the horizon, towards the right of the photo..

 Here is another view of part of the castle ruins.

 I then turned north along a recently-replaced track towards Ironville. Jessop's Monument was clearly visible in the trees.

 I followed a lane along the back of Jessop's Monument down to Ironville. There was a fantastic panoramic view across to the west over Golden Valley.

 Ironville was a planned village, built during the Industrial Revolution. At one time, it was busy with transport. Colliery railways crossed the main street. It was also the junction of the Pinxton and Cromford canals. There is a large reservoir here called Codnorpark Reservoir, built to feed the Cromford Canal.

 The Cromford Canal heads west towards Ambergate and Cromford. All sections are either derelict or completely obliterated east of Ambergate. West of Ironville, the route is visible, with the more open sections filled with weed.

 The shady sections still show signs of water.

 About a mile west of Ironville, the canal disappears into a tunnel. It is nearly 2 miles long. This is the eastern portal. The tunnel was seriously affected by subsidence. It closed in 1900 after a serious collapse and was never reopened.

 From the tunnel mouth, I made my way along the Old Coach Road past the Derbyshire Police HQ to Buttlerley. This road follows the course of the tunnel pretty closely. The tunnel passes under the famous Butterley Works - an iron foundry that supplied the arches for the London St Pancras station roof, amongst other things. It is now almost derelict or demolished. The canal tunnel was connected to the works by a vertical shaft, allowing items to be loaded and unloaded for the works..

 Just beyond the works is Butterley Reservoir. This is crossed on a stone embankment by a preserved railway line.

 This is the terminus of the line, at Hammersmith, looking sadly neglected.

 The canal reappears just to the west of the A38, though the original tunnel mouth has long disappeared.

 I turned northwest towards Pentrich, which soon came into view.

 The church is reached up some steep stone steps.

 I carried straight on along a farm lane to the north. This offered fine views west and north west towards Crich and South Wingfield.

 Wingfield Manor, my next destination, is just visible amongst the trees in the centre of the photograph, here.

 I climbed the path up to the main building of Wingfield Manor. This only has very restricted openings to the public. Decent photos from the outside are difficult to get when the whole area around the outside is covered in trees and shrubs. Here is the main gatehouse.

 and another view, further round to the north. This shows the buildings between the south and north courtyards.

 This is the great hall and other buildings in the main range at the north end of the site..

 and a final view showing the western end of the main range.

 The site gives a commanding view to the north.

 I walked on through South Wingfield village. This is the church.

 This is the sadly-neglected railway station building. It dates back to the very early days of public railways in this country. It was designed by Francis Thompson and built in 1840.

 I headed east towards Alfreton church. This is the panoramic view west over Oakerthorpe, along the way.

 and here is Alfreton Parish Church.

 Beyond Alfreton, I turned briefy north along a footpath to the east of the railway line, towards Westhouses. This brought me to a fairly new path following the line of the old mineral railway east from Westhouses to Blackwell Colliery and beyond. The site was a pit tip until land reclamation took place in the last year or two.

This path took me much of the way home.

W/C 14th September 2013 - Hayfield to Hope via Edale

Once again, I went out walking with the Sutton in Ashfield Rambling Club on one of their excellent fortnightly walks. 

The weather forecasts were pretty awful, so we all looked forward to this one with a bit of trepidation. In the event, the morning was quite pleasant. Really bad rain appeared in the afternoon though, soaking us to the skin. 

I was not going to miss the first half of the walk from Hayfield across to Edale, no matter what the weather. It was very unfamiliar territory for me. Despite getting very wet, I really enjoyed the day out.  For the afternoon I did my own little diversion from the itinerary, taking a different route to the rest of the group from Edale to Hope.

My only worry was that I had done a fast and furious walk to Beauvale Priory and back, only 2 days previously. I needn't have worried though - I felt really great once I got going and still ended the day with energy to spare.

We began at Hayfield, shortly after giving the coach driver a few nervous moments passing under a low bridge.

 We headed past the church and over the bridge in the middle of the village, following the narrow valley up towards Kinder Reservoir. This is a view of the dam wall, with the bleak mass of Kinder Scout beyond.

 We were heading south, around the south side of Kinder Scout, via Kinderlow End. This is a glimpse of the terrain to the south east of the reservoir.

 From the south, we got a reasonable view of the reservoir, with Leygatehead Moor behind.

 We climber higher and higher.........

 .........whilst to the west there was still sunshine and a glimpse of the hills and valleys in the distance. Just right of this shot, we could make out the skyscrapers of central Manchester, but they were too distant to photograph well.

 The wind was really strong by now. Up above, it was blowing the waters of the Kinder Waterfall up in the air - it looked almost like a campfire on the hillside!

 .and here is our final glimpse of the Kinder Reservoir before we went around Kinderlow End

 We got a distant glimpse of Hayfield a little further on.

 The pass over to Edale then came into view.

 .....guarded by ferocious sheep..........;)

 Here is a magnified view of the thick peat that lies on the moors.

As we crossed the summit of the pass, the weather behind us was getting wet and very windy. Over the summit things were more sheltered - at least for a while. Our first glimpse of Edale soon followed. It looked very green compared to Kinder Scout and the hills around us.

 We descended towards Jacob's Ladder (a steep footpath) and Edale.

 Standing stones on the edge of Kinder Scout were clearly visible until the weather suddenly closed in. This one is Noe's Stool

 Further east along the same ridge is Pym's Chair.

 Soon Edale came into clear view. In the middle distance is Mam Tor

 This was a steep side valley, with Horsehead Tor on the left, just before we reached Upper Booth.

 Looking back, the weather was really looking very threatening.

 The side valley around Edale village was quite sheltered though. This led me into a false sense of optimism as I headed off on my own towards Mam Tor after a brief lunch break.

 Looking ahead I could see that the higher ground around Mam Tor was being drenched with sheet after sheet of very heavy rain, blowing in from the west. How different to when I ascended this hill in May, in bright, warm sunshine.

 At the top it was so wet and windy I could hardly hold the camera steady. This is the top of Mam Tor.

 I only saw 6 people along the top. As I followed the ridge eastwards, the wind and rain was coming from behind, so it helped me along. Castleton is down there somewhere on the middle right of the shot.

By coincidence, I arrived at Hollins Cross just as the first of the main group got there, well ahead of the rest. They were taking the direct route up to Hollins Cross from Edale and then down the other side of the ridge to Hope via Castleton. I carried straight on along the ridge. Looking ahead, I could make out Black Tor and Lose Hill.

My original hope had been to climb Lose Hill and see the fantastic panorama it offers of the valleys and hills around. It was not to be though. It really was just too windy and wet to make the climb worthwhile. I would have seen very little from the summit. I simply followed the footpath past the south side of the hill and down to Hope village.

I got there well before anyone from the main group. The first arrived about 20 minutes after me - though I suspect their route was slower than mine. I added a couple of layers of clothing under my jacket to try and keep warm, whilst I waited for them and the coach that was to take us home.

By the time the coach arrived, the area was bathed in sunshine, which lasted all the way home!

Despite the bad weather, I was really glad I did the walk. It was worth it, just for the morning session alone.

Many thanks again to the Sutton in Ashfield Rambling Club for an excellent walk!