Friday 13 December 2024
5.5 miles Leader John M.
Weather 7°C. Murky
No on walk 17
A good turnout on a day that was overcast, with a damp mist that just clung to clothing, morning dew style. The walk longer than advertised, for which I apologise. It also took us longer to walk it, as there were many stiles, all of which had to be climbed cautiously, because of their slippery condition. In the end we were back at the car park by one fifteen, so an extra thirty minutes. As John said, at the start, this was going to be a walk with several good viewing points and splendid views, but sadly the misty conditions intervened. We did however, garner a good bit of information, delivered by John, about the history of quarrying, Lead and Limestone, in the area, over the centuries. There is even a Lead court building (Moot Hall), set up in 1814 to oversee the rights of lead mining and related trades. The Barmote courtroom is the only one still in existence and sits once a year. The picture below shows the courthouse and has the miners coat of arms emblazoned in stone on the front of the building.
After the safety talk, we left the rather neglected pub car park, entering onto the Middleton Road, walking a few yards, up to the first footpath on the left. This we took and almost immediately started on the first of many climbs encountered during the day, 895 feet of ascent in total for the whole walk. This path was on the southern edge of Stoney Park and on reaching the summit of this path we turned right to then climb the western edge, eventually reaching the famed Star Disc, where we paused to catch a breath. From here we walked through Middle Peak Quarry on a well-made track, then turned to walk a field path, going north to parallel the B5035, which we crossed over, by way of the High Peak Trail bridge. Another short climb followed, making our way to Middleton Top, visitor centre, making use of the facilities there, toilets and picnic tables, where we stopped for a comfortable morning break.
With the break over, we walked northwards along the High Peak Trail and at the junction of the trail we turned left to walk field paths, crossing over Manystones Lane, on ahead towards Hopton, stopping to listen to John’s description of lead mining in the area, from Roman times to the last century. The fields were pock marked with old mine workings, looking more like a grassy lunar landscape. At Hopton we met and walked along the B5035, turning right away from it to pass by the entrance to Stainsborough holiday home complex. Almost opposite the entrance, we made a beeline towards Wirksworth, crossing over Summer Lane, (Portway). Downhill now, to enter Wirksworth, taking the paths nearest to Yoke Cliff. Now the hardest part of the day, for me, as we followed the many small, Ginnels through the old part of town, all seemed to be built on some fairly stiff, but short inclines. Soon, we were looking down upon our destination, it looked so close, but we still had to take the footbridge, over the Cromford Road and on into Chapel Street, North End and this time walk upon the Cromford Road, crossing it to get back to the car park, glad to have completed another walk safely.
