Vale of Belvoir Ramblers

Lawrence Country, Eastwood, 12th July 2015

Thanks Gordon for the photographs of Phil's walk near D H Lawrence's birthplace.


Coffee stop

Lawrence's school

Lunch in the rain

Rain on the horizon

Melbourne and Swarkestone, July 5th 2015

Today's walk started in Melbourne,a village dating back to the Doomsday Book and birthplace of Thomas Cook (see inset) ...

Rod fills us in

... and over a rather gloomy River Trent ...

... to the Trent and Mersey Canal, where we had to share the route with those pesky cyclists.

The towpath is excellent all the way back to Shardlow and then onto Nottingham but soon deteriorates beyond Swarkestone Lock towards Burton, surely a lost opportunity for a long distance cycle route along the Trent Valley.

Coffee at Swarkestone Lock

Then we followed the Trent downstream to cross Swarkstone Bridge, formerly the only bridge between Burton and Nottingham.

This 13th century bridge and causeway is still the longest inland bridge in England and used to be the main route between Derby and Coventry. Its other claim to fame is that in 1745 it was the southernmost point of Bonny Prince Charlie's advance on London in his attempt to claim the British throne.

Some of the seventeen arches of this one-mile bridge and causeway

Lunchtime - St Michael's Church, Stanton-by-Bridge

Then uphill and away from the river valley with sweeping views of the distant hills of the Peak District ...

...until we encountered the Keuper sandstone escarpment near Ingleby close to the famous Anchor Church caves just round the corner.

Rock feature close to the Anchor Church caves

Then it was a simple stroll across fields ...

... and woods ...

Robin Wood near Ticknall

... and back to Melbourne, 12 miles in all.

Tugby, 28th June 2015

Paul's walk took the 16 of us south of Tugby in rolling Leicestershire countryside 10km west of Uppingham. Wet at first but drying out eventually. Here are some images taken on not the best day for photography.

Edale Valley Syline, 3rd June 2015

Due to closure of the Snake Pass, John J's original Bleaklow walk had to be replaced by one we had tried to do last August but were beaten back by bad weather. We only learned about the closure, due to embankment repair, a few days ago and let members on our email list know. For those who we cannot contact, this is a reminder that it is important to check with the Ramblers website which will have the definitive description of the walk and, in particular, details of the Walk Leader's contact details and any late changes to the route.

And so to the Edale Valley Skyline walk, which started in the National Trust car park near Mam Tor. In fine but windy weather, we climbed to the top of Mam Tor ...

Mary, Gordon, Stewart and John J

... before heading along the ridge towards Hollins Cross.

Hollins Cross, Back Tor and Lose Hill in the distance

After a coffee stop in Edale Village near Edale's Holy & Undivided Trinity Church ...

... we took the old Pennine Way route up Grindsbrook ...

... and the tricky scramble up Grindsbrook Clough.

Kinder Plateau - top of Grindsbook

We then followed the southern edges of Kinder, lunching in the shelter of some of its many eroded gritstone monuments ...

... before diverting to Kinder Low, (almost) the highest spot in the Peak District at 633m.

Following the watershed (east to the North Sea, west to the Irish Sea), we descended to Edale Cross ...

... probably erected by the Cistercian monks of Basingwerk Abbey at the southern boundary of land which they received from Henry II in 1157. The Cross is on the ancient packhorse route from Hayfield to Edale which we followed to the top of Jacobs Ladder, the revised and improved route of the Pennine Way.

To avoid losing height, we headed across Brown Knoll, over the line of the Cowburn Tunnel, route of the Sheffield to Manchester railway, towards Rushop Edge and the track back to Mam Tor.

Rushop Edge, Castleton in the distance

Scalford, 31st May 2015

Today's walk in the area south of the Eastwell ridge started (in the rain again) opposite St Egelwin's Church in Scalford ...

... before joining the Jubilee Way towards Goadby Marwood ...

... for coffee at the Village Hall.

The Hall at Goadby Marwood - 17th-century country house and a Grade II listed building

After lunch at Eastwell's brand new village hall, the way back took us along well marked paths through fields of spring flowers.

Shireoaks, May 24th 2015

Starting in the rain in Shirebrook on the Nottinghamshire / Yorkshire border ...

... this surprisingly varied walk took us north and east along a canal, alongside railways, through narrow gorges and across meadows to within 300m of where the Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire boundaries converge just south of Netherthorpe (see map). Thanks to Anny for a well researched walk.

A first view of the Chesterfield Canal

The canal, completed in 1777, runs for 32 miles from the Trent at West Stockwith, through Retford and Worksop to the now-collapsed 1.5 mile Norwood Tunnel near the M1. There is a clearly signposted route though all the way into Chesterfield, the Cuckoo Way, named after the old horse-drawn boats unique to this canal.

A walk in the woods - Anston Stones Wood

Orchids on Lindrick Golf Course - most of us missed them

Extreme intruder deterrent - image from an extremely tall photographer at an extremely large angle

Descending towards Anston Brook and Anston Stones Wood

Anston Stones Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve. There is a geological trail through the woods where you can see 260 million years of geology dating back to the Permian period. During the last Ice Age, which only ended about 10 thousand years ago, this part of Britain was not glaciated but meltwater flowed off the glaciers further north. These rivers cut the gorge that forms Anston Stones Wood (and Lindrick Dale) today. As in Creswell Crags, the caves in the exposed magnesian limestone have deposits which show that men used them after the Ice Age retreated.