Prospect Park perimeter

A wander in the sun, with a cold wind - a well-wrapped walk, but pleasant enough to stop and sit in places.
Just under 6 miles.

Photographs taken with Fujifilm point and shoot camera.

Map and details later.

A couple of street wanders in Brooklyn

First six miles or so, on Sunday, including parts of Prospect Park, then 7th Avenue and a visit to Barnes and Noble bookshop - more for the coffee and scone than the books.

The second one, on Monday, a three-mile walk round the perimeter of Greenwood Cemetery, noting the contrast between the oasis of peace for the dead and the outside bustle and general messiness of the living.


More details and pics later

Yelden - Melchbourne - Newton Bromswold - Yelden

Led by Barry. With Eddie and Maureen and me. Dry, grey - good underfoot.  9 miles.

We walked from Yelden with its motte and bailey - considered to be the finest archaeological monument in Bedfordshire, according to the information board.  They are yet to be explored and excavated, it says, and were used by the de Trailly family who were tenants, after the Norman invasion,  first of the Bishop of Coutance, then of the Earls of Gloucester.  The castle had fallen into disuse by 1360.
We walked from near the church, and turned right along the road. The castle remains were on our left, and we took the path just after them, zigzagging over fields following a way-marked path, eventually crossing the Knotting Road and into Melchbourne.


We had a look inside the church, which is fairly plain inside. It was rebuilt to a large extent in the 18th century.  The foundations and tower are all that remains of the original 13th century building.


For some time after leaving Melchbourne we were within sight of the large Melchbourne House, in Melchbourne Park.  The house was originally built for Lord St John of Bletsoe Castle in 1671.  It was rebuilt in 1741, and is now divided into separate dwellings.


From here we walked past some M o D land with a sign declaring Danger - Poison Gas. Not inviting.  This link gives a lot of info on the topic, including a clean-up operation in the 1980s.  It sounds as though there may still be some contamination, more than 60 years later.


We followed the path round the edge of the wood, eventually picking up the Three Shires Way, and walking towards Newton Bromswold with its elegant church spire clearly visible for some distance.





more follows.

Map and details

Short, but steep - High Tor in Matlock.

Matlock Bath, from station car park into Matlock, via the main road.  They really should change the place of river and road, and it would be very pleasant to sit outside the cafés! 

 We called in to the local Co-op to pick up some bread and cheese, and returned via High Tor, 390 feet high, with spectacular views over the Derwent Valley to the tower on the Heights of Abraham, and in the other direction to Riber castle. Many notices warning of sheer drop, and the need to keep children under control.  Too right.  So much so, that I'm surprised there is no pile of skeletons at the bottom. 

Then a shorter walk from the Visitor Centre at Carsington Water , after sharing a huge cream scone - and another coffee each.  

We wandered to Stones Island and back, including the modern standing stones, and Hognaston Bronze Age Barrow. 

Milldale to Tissington and back

With Harry. Cloudy and drizzly to start with, then cloud lifted.  Muddy in places. just under 8 miles.

Cross Viator's Bridge out of Milldale village, and follow the steep path up to the left, signposted Tissington.

The path climbed up quite steeply, but the usual zig-zag path wasn't too bad, nor too long!   At the top the signed route was fairly clear, though it turned muddy, and I think we may have taken a path slightly too far to the north of the route we intended. 
In any case, up a bit and down a bit, it led to the (unmarked) minor road to Tissington, just across the A515 Ashbourne to Buxton road. 
We walked into Tissington, as far as the Tissington Trial, but on a dankish Monday at 3pm nothing of interest (i.e. a coffee shop) seemed to be open, so we made our way back, following the same route mainly. The views were good, but not great - a little too misty, though the cloud did lift a little later in the walk.




Map and details

Dovedale

From Milldale along the valley to the main car park at the Ilam end, and back.  With kids etc. Mainly Dan and Rose.  6 miles. There was snow/hail on the ground early on, which melted as the day went on. Cold wind in the shade, pleasant in the sun.

Early morning view from Milldale

The day before this, we saw a dipper, in classic surroundings on the rocks beside the water, and earlier a heron, close to the bridge and very confident that we couldn't approach too closely. Guess what? No camera on that occasion! 

Gretton - Caldecott - Rockingham - Gretton

With Barry.  Fine, snow all gone, soft underfoot in places. Pleasantly warm for the time of year. ;)  8 miles.  Three hares seen near Caldecott. Buzzards, red kites. And a blue tit in a tree.




Very similar to this route from last April