England - Peak District - Derwent Baslow Dawdle
England - Peak District - Derwent Baslow Dawdle
Embedded Files
Walk Summary
Walk Summary
Starts and finishes in the interesting 'plague' village of Eyam. Visits the tragic Riley Graves. Wonderful riverside walking to Baslow. For once, a woodland walk with great views.
Date: 15/12/2021
Length: 9.93 miles
Height Gain: 365 m
Terrain: Boggy paths, rocky paths; woodland paths, fields, lightly used roads
Navagation: Generally, well signed.
Start: Eyam Car Park
Route: Eyam, Froggat, Curbar, Baslow, Calver, Stoney Middleton
Map: OL24 White Peak Area
Weather: Sunny
Walkers: Nun
Gallery
Gallery
The Google Gallery may have more photos (it will be displayed in a new Tab)
Riley Graves
Captain's Log
Captain's Log
Sombre Start
Sombre Start
The sun hadn't risen as I set off from Eyam Car Park. The only folk walking about in the village were the school kids. For some reason, it reminded me of John Wyndam's classic, The Midwich Cuckoos.
About a quarter of mile outside of Eyam I came across the Riley Graves in a stone enclosure. The graves are for the Hancock family who died from the plague in 1666. Elizabeth Hancock lost her husband and six of her children. She had to bury her family herself. All died within eight days.. Ironically, it is thought that the infection reached her family through a villager's body she helped to bury. Presumably, she was immune to the plague.
As I walked around the graves, the sun started rising over Baslow Edge. Gradually the enclosure brightened lifting my mood a little. I headed off towards the sun.
Hay Bale Catch
Hay Bale Catch
The walk down to the River Derwent involves a bit of field hopping. As I walked through one field, I noticed a hay bale, in its plastic cover, wedged under a tree. The stone wall just above it had a massive hole in it. My guess is that the hay bale rolled down the hill, hit the stone wall, and then got wedged under the tree. This was actually quite lucky, since if it had not been caught by the tree, it would have rolled another 200 yards down the hill on to the B6001. I made my way down to the River Derwent occasionally looking over my shoulder to see if any other hay bales might be following me.
The walk along the River Derwent to Baslow is very pleasant. There's plenty of birds on the river. At one point I disturbed cormorant; or rather it disturbed me, as it took off a few feet away and flew up the river. There are some boards giving information about the local wildlife including: the Great Crested Newt and the Brook Lamprey. I didn't see either, but it wasn't really the right time of year. There is a pretty weir at New Bridge and another one at Baslow.
Just before I reached Calver a woman was desperately trying to retrieve her dog. It was only a small dog. Every time she got close to it, it just ran away, sometimes into a different field. On the other side of Calver I walked by another woman in exactly the same predicament. It must be something to do with the dogs in Calver, or maybe their owners.
Hay Bale Catch
Baslow Lanscape Graffiti
Baslow Graffiti
Baslow Graffiti
I had a walk around the quaint church in Baslow and then headed off towards Bank Wood. During some field hopping towards the wood, I could see the letters 'E' and 'R' formed in some vegetation. The local farmer's initials? I had to look it up when I got back...apparently there are several conifer plantations throughout the UK that use different species of conifer to spell out 'ER' in celebration of a royal event. The one in Baslow dates from 2002 and celebrates the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
In Bank's Wood I was walking about 50 yards behind an elderly man and two women. They were walking slower than me, but I occasionally stopped to take photos and so wasn't catching them up. At one point I was looking at the landscape on my right, trying to frame a picture in my mind. As I looked back along the track, the man was about 20 yards in front of me having a pee. He either got so desperate that he had to have one, or he'd not seen me. I did the honourable thing and took a photo. Of the landscape, of course; not of him peeing. A few minutes later, I met them as they sat on a bench having their lunch. Conversation was limited to photography and the good weather. Public urination never entered the conversation.
Looking beyond Baslow I could just make out the Emperor fountain at Chatsworth House. The water from the fountain has reached a maximum height of 90 metres. I could see today that the height was above the four storeys of Chatsworth. I put Chatsworth on my list of places to visit.
Calver From Bramley Wood
Wind Battered Trees Along The River Derwent
Midwich Cuckoos
Midwich Cuckoos
I'd seen a few trees that had been blow down by Storm Arwen. It was fairly limited, and nothing like the devastation I'd seen around Ambleside a couple of weeks ago. The biggest tree that had come down was between Stoney Middleton and Eyam. A sheep was keeping guard, making sure nobody clambered over it.
The sun was out in Eyam when I returned and it there was a more cheerful atmosphere about the place compared to this morning. There weren't even any Midwich Cuckoos roaming the place to put the fear of God into me.
The walk had turned out to be an interesting venture with wildlife, history and the 'ER' puzzle to keep me entertained.
Fallen Tree Between Stoney Middleton
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse