Walk From Alstonefield Along Wolfescote Dale

Today started very mild and sunny as I drove through Hartington across into Staffordshire and parked at Alstonefield. I headed through a stile across the road into fields with their drystone wall boundaries. The route followed across the fields via styles until the top of Narrowdale was reached. From here the route was no longer obvious but I could see a couple of open gates and a small gate in the distance with a small sign on it. It was the correct direction so I stepped over a wire fence running along the wall and after walking between the fence and wall for a few metres I passed through a gap in the wall into the adjacent field.
Following down the Dale, I passed an old Lister engine which had obviously not run for many years as parts were missing and the engine completely sized with rust. Soon I arrive at a path junction and followed the right-hand path leading to Wolfescote Dale and the river Dove. Ahead I could see the small opening of Frank i'th Rocks Cave with a path leading up to it across a grassy slope. I followed this path and sat outside in the sun next to the cave entrance in just a shirt as it was that warm today unlike yesterday. Here I had my lunch and then continued on along the riverside path.
Near the junction there was a heron fishing in the river and several Mallard ducks. I followed the river until I reached the road to Milldale at a hump-backed bridge and a house. Across the road was a style which lead to the ascending road away from Milldale and I followed this until I reached a steeper continuation uphill to the top of Shining Cliff. This lead to a path parallel with the road leading to Milldale but quite a lot higher with views both along Wolfescote Dale where I had come from and along Dovedale in the front. The path continued along the top if the Dale until after crossing a style it lead in zig-zags down to the Viators Bridge at Milldale. The hamlet was quiet with few tourists unlike the weekends - unfortunately the small snack shop was closed so I just finished my coffee sat on the wall near the old sheep-wash. Once I had finished, I followed the road up from Milldale for the mile or so uphill to return to Alstonefield.

Walk on Kinder Scout

I had two days holiday from work to use up before the end of March so I decided to take today and tomorrow off from work. Today I drove to Edale, actually Grindsbrook Booth as the village is really named and parked in the public car park which now costs £5 for more than four hours. I walked up the road to the village centre and turned left pas Cooper's Farm camp site onto the beginning of the Pennine Way. Before the path dropped downwards I followed the path which contours around towards Crowden Brook. It was cloudy but dry and quite cool and windy as I followed the stream until I arrived at the lovely short scramble up to the head of the Brook and its valley.
When I reached the path following the edge of the Kinder Scout plateau, I turned right and after a short distance found a sheltered spot behind a boulder with views back down the valley, when the mist cleared! I was now in the mist as the cloud level was about the height of the plateau. I had a short lunch and continued on along the path following the edge until I eventually reached the top of Ringing Roger. This is a small gritstone outcrop running for a short distance down from the plateau edge. I sat on the leeward side and finished my flask of coffee before dropping down to the path leading from Edale up Grindsbrook Valley, and followed this for the short distance back to Edale and back to the car park.

Weekend in Norfolk

This weekend Karen and I stayed with her friends Becca and Steve in Docking, Norfolk. We arrived on Saturday morning and later in the afternoon had a look at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's centre at Cley Marshes . This is a bird-watching location where you can sit indoors in a cafe and look across the marshes towards the sea and see many different species of birds. We had arrived fairly late and only had five minutes before the cafe closed so we had to rush to get some cakes!

Walk in the Staffordshire Moorlands

It was the first day of Spring but still windy and quite cold. Karen and I drove through Hartington and Hulme End over the River Dove into Staffordshire. We parked at a viewpoint which has a memorial to Paul Rey (1925-1977) which has the text "A rambler and world traveller who inspired so many with his love of the countryside", not far from Upper Elkstone. Apparently there were views to be seen from here, but these were hidden by mist!
We headed a short way along the road and then onto a track until we went through a gate into fields. This dropped down to some farm buildings with an old lime kiln nearby which was used in the past to heat up local limestone to produce Quick Lime which was spread on the fields. We followed onwards and crossed a narrow River Hamps on a short bridge and then a hollowed-out path; hollowed out from so many years of traffic in the past centuries. We arrived at a trig point apparently built on a Tumulus (bronze age barrow) and then dropped steeply to another set of farm buildings. There was a track leading us from the farm to the village of Upper Elkstone.
Leaving the village we crossed moorland until we arrived at a road which we followed and runs next to MOD land where we saw some soldiers on training exercise. We left the road and followed more moorland passing another trig point and again arrived on a road near "The Mermaid" pub. We followed the last mile or so to return back to the car and Karen got in boots and all to get out of the cold wind!

Walk around Ecton Hill, Peak District

After a quick trip to the Orpheus hut to wait for Pete Collins to arrive as arranged, we realised he wasn't coming by half past ten so the three of us: Karen , Keith and myself headed for the cafe in Monyash for breakfast. Once we were finished Keith headed for home while Karen and I drove the short distance to Hulme End and parked. After getting our walking boots on we joined the start of the track following the old Leek and Manifold Light Railway which was converted to a walking and cycling route back in 1937.



After a bit over a mile we left the track and followed a rough road leading to a folly built in the 1930's called Radcliffe's Castle. We passed this and after crossing a stile followed a narrow track gradually gaining height along the steep slope above the Manifold Valley with the old Leek and Manifold Light Railway and River Manifold far below and lovely views to the hills in the distance. Once we reached the crest of the slope, we could see a large house below (Swansley) with a lovely old stone dovecote nearby. Soon we headed a short way uphill and crossed another stile into a large field and then followed the route marked by a "Public Footpath" sign leading to near a farm with an old limekiln next to it. We then dropped down a field following a wall to a track leading to another nearby farm where we saw a small tree with a hole at ground level and small heap of soil dug out by some animal which had burrowed into the ground under the tree.
A nearby gate led to the top of a dale which gradually dropped to a quite steep and rocky section finally leading to a much less steep slope to another stile into a farmyard. Following the track from the farmyard for a short distance, we arrived at the cafe and crowds at Wetton Mill where we had a drink and some food while sitting next to the river. After the food-break, we followed the old road leading back to Hulme End and where we had parked.

Oxlow Cavern, Peak District

Karen and I had arranged to meet new prospective member Martin Selfe at the Orpheus hut in the morning and along with Keith and Boyd, we drove over to Oxlow Farm to park at the farm and get changed in the barn. This was useful as although it was dry and mild, it was very windy so the shelter was very much appreciated. The plan was to have a trip down Oxlow Cavern. Keith rigged and we followed on down to the final pitch which drops into the sump at the bottom of the Oxlow Cavern/Maskhill Mine system. Keith and Martin dropped down this final pitch but Boyd, myself and Karen didn't bother. We started making our way back to the surface and were back at the top of the entrance pitch just after 15:30 after being underground about 3 hours.