Chee Dale

22nd March 2007

We drove to Chelmorton and parked and were surprised to see that there was still snow on the hills.

We walked along the Limestone Way for quite a way until it reached the top of Deep dale, which we had to walk down very carefully as it was steep and the stones were very slippery. At the bottom we walked beside a stream on a very rocky and scree path until the stream disappeared under ground and we were walking beside a quarry. We had heard sirens and an explosion earlier in the walk as it is a working quarry. We crossed the A6 and walked along Wyedale by the river until we joined the Monsal Trail ( a disused railway). We soon left this and walked back down to the river to walk along Chee dale. We had never walked along this before as there had always been signs that it was flooded but we decided to risk it today. It was a lovely walk through a limestone gorge but was quite slippery on the stones and also very muddy. There were lots of stepping stones across the wet areas.

We saw lots of wagtails and dippers along this stretch. This bit took longer than expected as there was lots of climbing up banks and along narrow ledges. We later passed under a viaduct where a school trip was having an outdoor pursuits lesson and were abseiling off the viaduct and over the river! We finally reached Miller Dale where we had a detour off route to The Anglers Rest for lunch. As we had spent a lot of the walk climbing down into dales it should not have been much of a shock to discover that the last 2.5 miles were all uphill! near the end we went through a farm where a dog came chasing out barking at us. Luckily he didn't follow us. We finally got back to the car at about 4 pm after about 9.5 miles. This walk will be lovely in a few weeks time when the wild flowers are out.

Haxey Quay

We spent ths weekend with the Mountain Activity Section of the Camping and Caravanning Club. We arrived at Haxey Quay on Friday evening after a horrid journey up the M1. The site was nice and flat and beside a river.

On Saturday we left for a walk at Gringley on the Hill. It was a nice walk across fields and along Green lanes, a particularly nice one was Lovers lane -no more than a path through a Blackthorn wood, this was followed by Hangmans lane.

Lovers lane;

In one field we saw a nodding donkey in the distance - not sure how much it produces but presumably it is worth it with the cost of oil now!

We had lunch at the Brickmakers Arms at Walkeringham, which was very nice with flag-stone floor and open fire. The locals were playing a simple game called Bull Ring which involved swinging a Bull Ring which was attached to the ceiling on a piece of string and looping it over a hook in the wall - some of them were very good at it. Apparently the game originated from a Hotel in Scotland.

The last bit of the walk was along part of the Chesterfield Canal before returning to Gringley with another sign of Spring -the first lambs we had seen this year. About a 9 mile walk.

We returned home on Sunday with Gale force winds, snow, sleet and sunshine.

Family Weekend

We had visits from dad and Emily and Mike this weekend so redid a couple of walks that we had done recently.

On Friday we took dad to do the walk at Nanpantan. It was a bit drier than when we did it a couple of weeks ago and we were very lucky that the rain held off. We had a nice walk to Woodhouse Eaves and then after a stop at The Curzon Arms we set off to Beacon hill and then across Buck Hill -about 8 miles round.

On Saturday we walked across Bobs Closs and then over the fields to Swannington and Coleorton, we had fine views of the Swannington windmill. We finally ended up at the New Inn at Pegs Green where we all had a very nice pint of Guinness, (this walk had been at Mikes request). We were lucky again in the weather -it was quite warm and sunny. This was a shorter walk of about 6 miles. It was a very nice weekend.

Nether Langwith, Nottinghamshire

Todays walk was in Nether Langwith in Nottinghamshire. We had to drive round a bit to find the starting point which was Nether Langwith heritage centre, only to discover that we were parked outside it without realising. The weather was a mixture of blue skies and black clouds so we didn't know what to wear but decided on rain jackets and fleeces –we could probably have managed with t-shirts. The walk was across field edges and through woodland in a former mining area and so it was a surprisingly pleasant walk and not too muddy. We were too late for snowdrops but too early for bluebells although we did see lesser celandine in one of the woods. After crossing an old railway embankment we were supposed to walk past a gravel pit which was actually now a flooded lake - there was no sign of a lake on the map but the trees were standing in water and the ducks had moved in. We walked through a conifer plantation (Cuckney Hay Wood) which seemed to have suffered in the recent high winds. There were conifers down across the footpath which we had to climb over. We saw a rabbit and a hare and two buzzards soaring overhead again. The birdsong was lovely in the woods and we saw chaffinches, blue-tits and long-tailed tits. We didn't stop for lunch as the pub (which we realised we had been in before) was at the beginning of the walk. Towards the end of the walk we walked through a farm where they were building barges which seemed strange in the middle of Nottinghamshire.