Sunday walk in Derbyshire

 

Cromford canal near Ambergate

...through woods and up these steps...

over fields...

... towards Crich village and Crich Stand on the cliff...

Crich village

lunch break on the road to Crich Carr

Victorian railway bridge at Whatstandwell

 

Today was warm (24-25 degrees)and sunny so we went for a walk in Derbyshire.  The border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is about 1/2 mile from mum's house.  There is a difference between the areas, Nottinghamshire has small fields with hedges, woods, brick buildings etc and is fairly flat, Derbyshire has stone buildings and higher ground with high moors in the north and west and dales in the south and east.

We parked the car at a place called Ambergate and walked first along part of the Cromford Canal built in the 1700's.  Then we walked through some woods called Crich Chase, first documented use 1212 when the Norman lord used them for hunting.  The adjacent meadows are of special scientific interest as they have never been sprayed or had artificial fertiliser on them.  The woods were a mix of trees, oak, birch, holly...I don't know them all, with areas of bracken.  In the dark depths we heard human howling sounds.  'oh oh' I thought, 'must be druids preparing for Autumn solstice with ritual murder or something'.  Then out of the undergrowth bounded a bloke juggling an armful of green balls, his eyes watering.  'Oh' I said to him, 'crab apples!' 

We decided not to forage but continued uphill out of the woods, across some fields, along a lane, up some stone steps, along a ridge and down into the village of Crich.  (This is where the tv series Peak Practice was sometimes filmed).

We were looking up at the lighthouse-like monument called Crich Stand, a memorial to the soldiers of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment killed in the World wars.  But we decided against going up the cliff and monument - although apparently you can see 8 counties from the top!- and walked along a little lane that took us to the hamlet of Crich Carr.  We followed it's winding lanes down to Whatstandwell in the Derwent valley.  We walked the last 2 miles back along the Cromford Canal. 

We didn't get a pub lunch for once.  The amusingly named 'Hurt Arms' was full of people having Sunday roast dinners so we came home and had a sandwich here instead.  Tomorrow we're off 'up North' on another adventure...