23 September 2013

Yesterday

In northern England, autumn was stopped in its tracks yesterday. Cobalt blue skies and sharp sunshine with a balmy temperature that meant coats were once again redundant. The last rallying cry of summer. And naturally I had to get out with a map, walking boots and Shirley's little Nikon Coolpix camera.

I headed for the hamlet of Pomeroy which is on the old Roman road that leads from Ashbourne to Buxton. Parking opposite "The Duke of York" pub, I was soon marching along the High Peak Trail to Dowlow and then onwards past the voracious limestone works to Sterndale Moor. The afternoon light was gorgeous and the meadows were thick with lush green grass - testament to the wonderful summer we have enjoyed this year. A summer of summers.
"The Duke of York" at Pomeroy
Then up towards Nether Low. In Derbyshire, the word "low" often indicates an ancient burial mound and indeed when Nether Low was excavated rather amateurishly in the middle of the nineteenth century, Bronze Age bones, metal implements and jewellery were discovered here. It is a place that sings quietly of past times and how we used to be.
The path to Nether Low - on the horizon
The view over Chelmorton was dreamlike. Sleeping beneath Chelmorton Low, the limestone village is redolent with echoes of its medieval significance - a small market town made wealthy by the wool industry. But yesterday I turned at the nearby crossroads and headed up across fields to Highstool Lane. Evidence of former lead mine workings could be seen in the land's bumps and hollows. I paused to take several pictures of a simple wooden signpost that has endured endless seasons of changing weather high on those uplands.
Old wooden signpost on the path to Flagg
Onwards to beautiful Flagg and then across more thick meadows towards Pasture Barn. I hoped to find it sitting sweetly behind a small copse but in spite of what my map said,  it wasn't there! In recent times it must have been demolished - probably by the landowner. It is a sad loss. I love the isolated limestone barns and farm buildings of the Peak District. They speak to us of distant times and deserve to be preserved as long as possible - not crushed to bits.

Back at Pomeroy, "The Duke of York" was now closed because of a mysterious "problem in the kitchen". I drove on to another isolated roadside pub that is over five hundred years old and called rather sweetly - "The Bull-i'-th'-Thorn" but by then it was past five o'clock and time  to head back to Sheffield via Monyash, Bakewell and Calver - a journey illuminated in brilliant technicolour. I couldn't have wasted an afternoon like that. Such beauty.
Old field barn near Dowlow
Chelmorton
Inquisitive Zwartble sheep at High Stool Farm, Flagg
The village of Flagg is ahead
"The Bull-i'-th'-Thorn" public house

13 comments:

  1. What a grand way to spend an afternoon.

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  2. I should have shouted your name yesterday. I was up at Five Wells and ate at the Church in Chelmorton.
    Grand scenes. I took a camera out but forgot the memory card..

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    1. What a co-incidence Adrian! I would have loved to arm wrestle you in The Church Inn. The locals would have been chanting and placing bets on the outcome before roasting an ox in our honour.

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  3. Lovely pix. I've had th' odd bout o' trouble in th' kitchen too, on occasion. Didn't stop me drinking. 'tho. In fact, it's probably a good idea to drink more than usual, flush th' trouble owt.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by Katherine and it's nice to see you are starting to talk like a Yorkshire woman with 'tho, th' and owt etc.. Marvellous! I keep visiting your place but it remains frozen over. Let me know when or if you come back to the blogging religion.

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  4. Very nice article, Sir Pud o' The North. The quality of the photographs is testament to the fact it is never the camera, it is the man behind it. I have an expensive DSLR yet take rubbish photographs.

    The fact that you use as navigation waypoints fine old English pubs fills me with a desire to accompany you on one of your perambulations!

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    1. Cap'n Gowans - If ever you are back in Blighty and you still possess both big toes, I shall be happy to walk with you - four or five miles - and finish with a foaming quart in a quaint Derbyshire tavern...Private Pudding

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  5. Lovely as usual YP. You've had a great summer haven't you. Autumn seems to be starting well too.

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    1. I am lovely as usual Helen...but what do you think of the pictures? Ha! Ha! And yes, since I returned from Thailand, the English summer has been superb. Nature has responded well with burgeoning crops and a massive increase in butterfly numbers for example.

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  6. Magnificent post and photographs, YP ( I would add "as usual" but your head might swell.

    I too am redolent with echoes of medieval significance. And I certainly have bumps and hollows.

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