Last Sunday in the late afternoon, Shirley fancied a little country walk so I whizzed her up to the little car park at Dennis Knoll. We donned our boots and headed for Stanage Edge at the only point where it is traversed by an old track. The track is called Long Causeway and in past times it was used by Romans and later by jaggers and drovers moving goods or animals across the country. The Romans were in this area mostly because there was lead in the Derbyshire hills. A lot of it was shipped back to Rome and some was even discovered in the ruins of Pompeii.
Nowadays the track is mostly used by ramblers and mountain bikers but occasionally vehicular access is needed - especially when rock climbers have had painful trysts with gravity but also when the grouse shooting brigade are lusting after those cackling and unsuspecting moorland birds.
We walked for about an hour, up The Long Causeway and then northwards along the millstone escarpment. The light kept changing as clouds passed and evening approached and on the way back home for a late Sunday roast, I snapped the sun setting over the southern bulge of Stanage Edge. It was all a nice memory of the outdoors for Shirley to take into her working week at the medical centre. And that is all this little post is about. Full stop or - as Americans say - period.
Beautiful ramble! I'm glad Shirley got to go along for it.
ReplyDeleteI wrote something on my blog for you today. I hope you find it interesting! Enjoy the rest of your day (or maybe evening).
I went round to your place Jennifer and I did find the post interesting. Thank you.
DeleteThat must have been a wonderful trip, and lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteThese sights are just a ten minute drive from our house Mr B. Thanks for calling by again.
DeleteThank you YP, lovely photos, and that walk sounds ideal - just the sort of thing we should all do once in a while. That sunset is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHappy to take you there CG but next time don't say "Hang on I need to rest for a while and catch my breath!" It would help if you gave up those Cuban cigars!
DeleteAnd a nice little post it is, too.
ReplyDeleteMy hip and I are having painful trysts with gravity just thinking about climbing that long and winding road.
I hope you don't mind if it wait down here at the start of the climb....I've sandwiches, fruit and water in abundance for your enjoyment upon your return.
Wonderful photos, Yorkie. :)
I will also require a traditional aboriginal massage Mistress Lee. I know you learnt their special techniques in Queensland's back country.
DeleteI doubt that very much, Yorkie I don't know where you get your information (or imagination) from! lol
DeleteIt looks like a beautiful walk.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it was Leishy.
DeleteI envy you your country's long and verifiable history. Everything is relatively new here. Florida got St. Augustin in 1565, North Carolina got the Roanoke colony in 1587, and Virginia got Jamestown in 1607, and the pilgrims didn't land on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts until 1620. Georgia was the last of the 13 English colonies to be founded, in 1733 when General Oglethorpe arrived and started Savannah. The northwestern part of Georgia where I live was not opened to settlement by Europeans until after President Andrew Jackson removed most of the Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma in the 1830's along what is now referred to as The Trail of Tears. No Roman roads, no lead in Pompeii, nothing.
ReplyDeleteIn 1881 the surname Oglethorpe was concentrated in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire in the north west of England. You might not have a lot of human history in America but at least you have got plenty of Dairy Queens and Wendy's!
DeleteI'd say you had a very pleasant walk. We don't have walks in the country that go through fields.
ReplyDeleteWell that's a shame Red! I guess the landowners might blast you with a shotgun but here our paths go back - often to medieval times.
DeleteIn our last house we had a public right of way between the outer fence in the back garden and the adjoining field. It was reputed to have been "mentioned" in the Domesday Book, no doubt along with the people who put a layer of tarmac over it at around the same time !!
DeleteI just checked The Domesday Book and it is indeed mentioned as a shortcut for peeping toms.
DeleteOoh, thank goodness we kept the curtains closed !
DeleteThere are a few people out on that walking path, it seems to be well paved.
ReplyDeleteWho knew the Romans were into import/export that long ago?
Ms Soup
Well-observed Alphie! It was relaid with compacted sandstone a couple of years ago.
DeletePretty fascinating that Romans were roaming around up there back in the day. I love that walking trail!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that Romans roamed. Their long walks tended to be purposeful and quite robotic.
DeleteIt is not just a great place to go walking because of the beautiful landscape and wide open space, but also intriguing to walk on a trail so rich in history.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the path you once wrote a short piece of prose from the perspective of a boy whose father was a jagger?
That was a different path Librarian - about a mile south of The Long Causeway but thanks for reminding me of that Dec 2013 post. I just went back and read it. It was like reading a stranger's work. I was quite impressed!
DeleteI used to have relatives in this area and walked there often. I always used to think it was 'Stanage' but read somewhere the other day that it is actually Standedge - 9s this right? Or are they different places.
ReplyDeleteOn maps the labelling usually shows the spelling "Stanage" but close by there is an old hunting lodge called Stanedge Lodge which I blogged about here> http://beefgravy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/stanedge.html
DeleteThis area is not to be confused with Standedge near Marsden where there is an amazing Victorian canal tunnel.