Walk Number 2,324:-
Thursday saw me parking at "The Red Lion" by Stone Edge, three miles to the south east of Chesterfield. Just outside the Peak District National Park, this is an area that doesn't attract many ramblers. The walk took me three hours and included the oldest industrial chimney in England and the evocative stone ruins of an abandoned farm on Hunger Hill. The air was chilly with a brisk breeze from the north west. When I got back to "The Red Lion", the friendly barmaid directed me to a roaring log fire and told me she'd bring my drink and potato crisps over to me while I thumbed through the current copy of "Derbyshire Life" - sitting in a wing-backed armchair like the lord of the manor but with cow-shit on my trews thanks to the bovine quagmire I had waded through at Dryhurst Farm. Yeeuch!
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| Sandhill Farm at Stone Edge |
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| The ruined farm on Hunger Hill |
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| Ruins of the old farmhouse...if only they could speak. |
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| View from the ruins to Cathole Farm |
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| Feeling horny - a highland cow at Peasunhurst |
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| The entrance to Alicehead Farm |
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| Sugar beet at Alicehead |
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| The lead-smelting chimney at Stone Edge. The oldest standing industrial chimney in England though the smelting works closed as long ago as 1860. |
YP, my overall impression from Walk #2324 is abandonment. Now, it just occurred to me that I have never seen photos of bridges from you? Do you do bridges? If my memory serves me well I think there is a stone bridge at the Red Lion??
ReplyDeleteThere are currently over 650 pubs in England called "The Red Lion". It's the most common pub name. I didn't see a bridge near Thursday's "Red Lion" but may I assure you that I have nothing against bridges. In fact I think they invariably serve a most useful function. After all, one wouldn't want to have to swim across streams and rivers - much easier to have a bridge I always think.
DeleteHaha ~ thanks YP ~ there is even a Red Lion pub (hotel) in my hometown here in Oz :) ~ I will work out where I have seen the stone bridge
DeleteLovely shots - I particularly like -wait- is that a satellite dish on Sandhill farm cottage? Looks incongruous. And how on Earth do the Alice Head people who live in that little cottage, get their door up? I suppose they have a pulley system inside. Poor little things. Running a farm must be a challenge for them too.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen sugar beet, so that was interesting. Is it fed to the stock, or processed into sugar? It looks like long white turnips.
If you had to swim regularly on your walks, at least you'd arrive at your Red Lions with less kak on yer trews.
The Alicehead picture showed the residents' postbox. The real house (normal size) was several metres away. Sorry for the confusion Kate. Sugar beet is used in both the ways you pondered. I am afraid my picture doesn't give an idea of how big those roots were. Finally, "kak" is a great word but I wouldn't want to swim it off my stylish apparel.
DeleteAnother relaxing walk in beautiful weather.
ReplyDeleteHave you compared the pictures with the new camera to those before. they look much better to me.
Yes Adrian. The new camera is much more flexible and that's what I wanted. The zoom range is brilliant. Unlike you, I can be a bit lazy about camera technology and I have only touched the surface of what this new camera can do.
DeleteSuper photographs. I love the one with the ruined doorway (window?) and the view to the farm.
ReplyDelete