Belper Lane End

4 miles Leader John M.

Weather 10°C. good

No on walk 20

The weather was a little overcast to start, but soon brightened up into a nice day for walking. Soon after the start we were down to twenty due to some unwellness, decided not to continue. The rest of us climbed the steep hill to the lovely Beech wood, up on Hillside. From the ridge here, we made our way down, through the Gorse bushes, many now displaying bright yellow flowers on their prickly stems. We continued on westwards crossing over Wilder Brook on a smart new footbridge. Gone are the days when we used to have to cross on some dubious looking rocks, not always possible when the brook ran deep. We passed by Handley Farm, then to take a diagonal over to The Sycamores, heading south to Dannah Farm. A narrow stile gave many a problem, but we all made it through, including the dogs and continued across the fields to take our break near to the ‘moat’ marked on the map. John our leader gave us to grand talk on the moat and earthworks.

We now headed northeast, to eventually join and walk along the Mid-shires Way. Some great views along this higher part of the way, but soon we were descending to join Wilderbrook Lane. Then to leave it to take the much-walked path down to the Bulls Head car park. We stopped in the road just before the car park to look at an iron hole in the wall of the adjacent house, John pointing out that this was once a turn pike and a chain was put across the Toll Road, so revenue could be collected from travellers using it. We entered the car park at twelve twenty, thanking John for a great walk, several of us making our way into the Bulls Head for some refreshment and as a thank you for the use of their car park.