9 March 2016

Tramping

Tissington Hall
No wonder we English talk about the weather a lot. We never know what we are going to get. This morning, as I sit here in my fluffy designer dressing gown it's grey and miserable outside. Raindrops on the windows and wind whistling down the chimney. But on Monday - oh Monday. How lovely was that?  A clear cobalt blue sky and sharp sunshine that made the whole world vibrant and  photogenic.

Yesterday's post concerning Wigber Low was but a glimpse of my circular ramble. I parked in Tissington near Tissington Hall and after a mosey around the old church I headed northwards along The Tissington Trail, a former railway track, for half a mile before striking out east to Wibben Hill. Then along the lane to Bradbourne Mill before ascending to Wigber Low. Onwards to Kniveton where I sat on a bench and guzzled my bottle of water with a fine lunch that consisted of a banana and a juicy apple.
Wibben Hill
The ford crossing Bradbourne Brook
Kniveton Church
Across slippery fields that had been decimated by horses' hooves to Rowfields Hall Farm where an entire flock of sheep came to greet me. On to Bank Top Farm where I chatted with a solitary farmer trimming hawthorn hedgerows. Then down into the valley and the curiously named village of Fenny Bentley. St Edmund's Church was open and there I snapped a picture of The Beresford Tomb. Two medieval figures carved in marble, but bizarrely covered entirely by their funeral shrouds. I have never seen a tomb like it before.
Sheep attack at Rowfields Hall Farm
Bentley Brook Valley
The strange Beresford Tomb, Fenny Bentley
Ever onwards. across more slippery fields. Gingerly, I edged down the grassy  bank to Wash Brook but in spite of my caution I slipped over - as Mr J. Gray of Trelawnyd, Wales  might say - "arse over tit". And now, as a result,  my right hip remains sore. Damn! I must have walked a few hundred miles since I last fell down like that. Any fall can have activity changing consequences. That's why I tend to be very careful. Naturally, I got up with muddy trews and a few curses.

On to Thorpe and then along The Tissington Trail over the A515 trunk road and back to Tissington, reaching my car five hours after I had set off. How good it was to be alive, tramping over the surface of the earth on such a diamond day.
Back in Tissington - St Mary's Church

35 comments:

  1. If all of your wandering a had been in a straight line, you probably would be in Mandalay by now, or Timbuktu, or Macchu Picchu, or Capetown, instead of sitting in your room in Sheffield in your fluffy and probably very drafty designer dressing gown. But then we would never have been treated to the Beresford Tomb in Fenny Bentley, would we?

    Do you remember an old television series called The Millionaire? The unseen benefactor who preferred to remain anonymous to every recipient of his largesse in every episode was named John Beresford Tipton as I recall. Your photo made me think of him and that series for the first time in years.

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    1. I don't remember "The Millionaire" Bob but I am happy that my post accidentally sparked that memory. I wonder how far people do walk in a lifetime. Some chubby Americans (not you of course) probably manage about eleven miles.

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  2. Something very weird going on with my computer at present. I wrote a comment and it just disappeared. My computer tower is getting old...just like I am! We might both have to be put out to pasture.

    Talking about "pastures" - I hope your hip is okay. I know what sore hips are like as mine give me grief regularly. If I was horse they would've shot me ages ago. The wear and tear of growing older!! Fun! Fun! Fun!

    These are a lovely group of photos, once again.

    We've had some nice showers off and on over the past few days. It's all good! I love the rain.

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    1. Hello again Lee. Sorry to hear that your trusty old computer is starting to creak. Perhaps it is time to check out new computer deals. After all, it would be very disagreeable if you suddenly disappeared from the blogosphere.

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    2. I keep checking out computer deals almost every day, Yorkie...but I'm trying my best to hang onto the old for as long as I can. I'm not yet quite ready, mentally, to do the leap forward to Windows 10!! I know I'm going to have to do so sooner, rather than later...but......

      It'd be more disagreeable to me if I disappeared not only from blogosphere, but the internet as a whole. I can assure you. What was life like before the internet??? I go crazy if I lose it for only a minute! lol

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    3. Perhaps you should pay for a computer geek to come out to clean up and maintain Old Compo before you take the plunge and bring in New Compo.

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    4. Lee it's great to hear someone who not only admits to a horror at losing internet contact with the outside world but actually states it publicly. Hallelujah!!

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  3. What beautiful sheep!! Wow! It was a beautiful day. Just look at the sunshine on those wonderful fields and hedgerows.

    Careful there, Mr. Pudding. I don't want to have to send you my crutches and/or knee brace. We are both too old to be falling down even on the soft earth.

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    1. Like you I was always a bit of a hippy Mama Bear. Now I am a hippy with a sore hip. Maybe I should have just stayed home - safe in my armchair.

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  4. Fabulous post YP...sorry about the slip though. Those tombstones are curious aren't they?. We used to take the kids to Tissington and cycle along the trail ... many years ago now...how time flies.

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    1. I am pleased to have accidentally elicited those happy memories of family times gone by Libby.

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  5. What glorious countryside YP - enhanced by the equally glorious blue sky of course.

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    1. Glad to have taken you there Mrs Weaver.

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  6. Thank you YP, another glimpse at beautiful Britain - what stunning places you find ! Rest that hip, because we want you fit and well, so that we can enjoy your next adventure.
    Mmmm.. not sure about the fluffy designer dressing gown, it doesn't sound like "you". I imagine you as more of a corduroy sort of chap. Perhaps you could post it off to John and he could wrap the gorgeous Winnie in it !

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    1. Winnie in MY dressing gown! Outrageous! The very thought of it! Also, I doubt that it is even possible to purchase a corduroy dressing gown.. but now I come to think of it, an olive green one would be handsome with a generous top pocket for my pipe, "Swan" vestas and pouch of Old Shag.

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    2. Yes, olive green would be fine - but I suppose it will have to be a towelling one? We can just picture you with your pipe, "Swan" vestas and Old Shag...very Sherlock Holmes.....

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    3. Elementary my dear CG.

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  7. You are most fortunate to have trails that take you across the country. I know I've said this before but I'm always impressed.

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    1. Yes we are lucky Red. I know that this is not the case in North America.

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  8. Yes, olive green and a pipe. That's more like I picture a proper Englishman. NOT in a 'fluffy' dressing gown. LOVE this post...all that stunning countryside! The majestic trees (oak?) the rolling green pastures & shack, vicious attack sheep. Oh! I get it. You were trying to be trampled so as to have your carcass left somewhere you mentioned in your last post! Glad to hear you're drinking water & snacking on your jaunts nowadays! What IS a trunk road? And WHY is that truck driving in the creek?

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    1. You are a funny lady! Washington State's answer to Joan Rivers!
      The truck (lorry) is in the creek (brook) because there is no bridge. Instead the road is paved beneath the passing water. He is crossing what is called a "ford". A trunk road is simply a major through road that connects significant towns. Is is NOT a road for elephant travel!

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  9. I hope you feel less sore today and can venture out again as soon as the rain stops. That really was a brilliant day, and it is great that you had the chance (and took it!) to make the most of it. Five hours' worth of walking in such beautiful countryside - I do so long for a long walk, but it is too cold for me to stay out long (I know, I'm so spoiled).
    Good to know you stopped long enough for water and fruit!

    Those sheep must be very well trained, they look perfectly coreographed there. And the mysterious tomb - now that is well worth investigating, I think.
    Is Tissington Hall open to the public?

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    1. Tissington Hall is sometimes open to the public but usually in the form of pre-arranged group visits.
      See http://tissingtonhall.co.uk/
      Thanks for calling by once more Meike. The hip is still sore three days later but not painful. I walked to and from my Oxfam job yesterday.

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  10. YP, reading Hilltop's comments and questions...it makes you realise that we have some strange customs in Britain...and vicious sheep. I look forward to your explanations....!

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    1. The vicious attack sheep have been on social media - conversing with Kylie the Killer Chicken who resides in Hope. I think I will have to get one of our American friends to mail me a handgun for protection.

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  11. I have just re-read your comment YP on the pubs of Lincolnshire. The Tyrrwhitt arms is indeed near Bardney - my mother actually came from Bardney and I had Uncles and my Grandfather there throughout my childhood (only eight miles from Washingborough where I lived).

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    1. Did you attend "The Great Western Express" pop festival at Tupholme Manor in the summer of 1971? I can imagine you barefoot in your ethnic beads, swaying to The Beach Boys and Slade.

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  12. Those tombs are very unusual. I've never seen any like that, either.

    Love the sheep photo! Didn't you feel a bit intimidated?

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    1. Yes I did feel intimidated Steve. Normally sheep run a mile when they see me.

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  13. Fenny Bentley! - I remember it from my youth hostelling days as a teenager, nearly forty years ago now....blimey....now I feel old...

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    1. Glad to have rung a bell for you Wanda. Is it just me or does Fenny Bentley sound slightly rude?

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  14. As always a lovely post with good pics. I particularly love number 6 with the lonely building.

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    1. Me too, Graham!

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    2. Thank you. I really liked that one too - that's why I made it extra large. I love abandoned buildings like that and wanted to get down into the valley to check it out.

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    3. Thank you. I really liked that one too - that's why I made it extra large. I love abandoned buildings like that and wanted to get down into the valley to check it out.

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