SNOW Again!

After yet more snow, I spent the morning digging out our cars. You can have too much of a good thing!

SNOW

It began to snow in the early hours for Friday morning and was forecast to continue to this afternoon. I wasn't going to be able to drive safely to work but as the site was closed anyway due to the weather, there would have been no point anyway.

This morning, there was even more snow and despite regular trips by the gritting/snow-ploughing lorry, the road was bad as the snow continued to settle.

We decided to go for a short walk locally.

So we walked down Main Street here in Winster then up East Bank passing the Old Bowling Green pub and through a gap between two housed where a public footpath leads across fields to join the route of the Limestone Way.

Karen decided to take the shorter option and walked uphill to the green lane leading back to the Bakewell road near the Miners Standard pub while I continued following the route of the Limestone Way.

It was not very easy walking with the drifted snow sometimes knee-deep and sometimes a little deeper.

When I reached Bonsall Lane, I decided to also keep the walk short, so I headed along this minor road which was partially covered in snow drifts.

Not far from the junction with the Bakewell road, I popped through a squeeze stile and waded through thigh-deep snow and followed a public path across several fields to join the same green lane which Karen had followed.

I followed the lane to the Bakewell Road and dropped back down to Main Street by following a very snowy West Bank.

Main Street, Winster

Looking up East Bank, Winster

The Old Bowling Green, Winster

A Stile on the Limestone Way

Bonsall Lane

A snow-drifted squeeze stile

The Miners Standard, Winster

Top of West Bank, Winster

Lower East Bank, Winster

Winster Church Churchyard

A Walk Near Winster

Last night it had snowed and we woke up to find several inches of snow had settled so rather then drive somewhere we had a walk from home.

After walking down most of Main Street towards Wensley, we followed the public footpath at Painters Lane then across farmland and through a section of Clough Wood to again cross some pastureland where a number of ponies were trying to find grazing beneath the layer of snow.

After crossing a style in a barbed wire fence where there were loads of animal tracks in the snow: mainly rabbit and deer, the path led steeply up a wooded slope then contoured along a further section of Clough Wood in a large arc arriving at an unsurfaced track of Clough Lane.

Following Clough Lane westwards passing some farm buildings where there were surprisingly old lambs for the time of year, we arrived at the narrow minor road leading from the nearby village of Birchover where there are an old set of stocks interestingly by the side of the road by a house wall.

Our route now followed across more fields near Birchover then at a path junction turned southwards crossing more fields to arrive again at Birchover Lane near the the road from Wensley to Winster.

All that remained we to follow the road back to Winster and after passing through the churchyard, we were back in Main Street.

Keeping the Lawn Short

Looking across to Winster

Birchover

Stocks outside a house near Birchover

A Walk Around Winster

There was an Orpheus Caving Club trip in Peak Cavern arranged today which would require a relatively early start.

The alarm went off at 0745 and I had one look out the window at the miserable weather and announced to Karen that I was staying in bed. “Sundayitis” had struck!

The weather cleared up later in the day and we decided on a short walk around Winster during which we saw the first snowdrops of the year at Winster Cemetery.

We heard a few days later that the trip in Peak Cavern had been abandoned due to high water lavels anyway.

A Walk Around Some Mining Sites in Winster

Karen, Keith and I joined a walk led by Tony Wood around Winster seeing various sites connected with the Lead Mining industry.

A Walk Around Old Mining Sites in Winster

Karen and I joined about a dozen others on a walk around areas of mining history interest in Winster area organised by PDMHS and led by Tony Wood. We visited mainly the Winster Pitts area.

A Walk around some Old Lead Mines near Elton

Karen and I joined a group of around 15 on a very interesting walk led by Tony Wood around the fields surrounding the nearby village of Elton.
Tony pointed out many features including many sadly now lost such as spoil heaps from led mining activities which had been removed by either farming activity or by later working for Flourspar.

Winster Carnival

It was the day of Winster Carnival at the end of Wakes week and we had Steve and Becca staying for the weekend.
Luckily the weather was excellent and after Steve and Becca arrived and we'd had lunch, we had a wander around Main Street, which was closed from 13:30 to 17:30 for the Carnival. There were various stalls, a brass band (Ashbourne Town Band) and, of course, Morris Men dancing.
Then after having a walk around the village via the church, Oddo and the Portway track, where we bumped into Brian Woodall and his wife in his camper having sandwiches. We dropped back down past Wyns Tor and then after walking down East Bank as we approached the Old Bowling Green we watched the Morris Men for a while and had a pint in the pub.

Winster Christmas Tree

After returning home, we walked down Main Street to the Market House to see the Winster Village Christmas Tree Lights switched on. There were many villagers there drinking mulled wine and listing to the Darley Dale Brass Band playing Christmas Carols until the time came to switch the lights on. After a countdown “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1” the switch was pressed, the lights came on, everyone cheered – and the lights went off again!
After few minutes fiddling behind the scenes, again the Winster Christmas Tree lights were shining!