Hartington & Pilsbury Castle

Another glorious sunny, spring-like day and Paul and I turned down a trip underground to go for a walk. We parked up in Hartington and headed north along the east side of the Dove valley towards Crowdecote.

About two miles up the valley we came to Pilsbury Castle, an ancient motte and bailey, where we planned to stop for lunch. The outcrop on the right is natural with the earthworks to the left and also across the other side of the River Dove, which at this point is little bigger than a stream.




The top photo also shows Chrome Hill in the distance, where we walked back in January.







After our sandwiches, we headed down to the bottom of the valley and crossed the Dove at a ford, which luckily also has a foot bridge, a huge wooden beam laid from one side to the other.




I was really surprised at the height of the debris that was caught in the bushes alongside the water, in places it was three feet above the current water level. I know we had a lot of rain in January, but I hadn't realised just how much.




From the bottom of the valley we trudged right up the far side to the road. We turned back towards Hartington and followed the ridge to a small pine wood and then dropped steeply back down to the valley floor, crossed back over the river and back to Hartington.

Oxlow Caverns, lambs and celandines

On our way to Oxlow Caverns (a trip which turned out to be abortive when a 60m rope turned out to be only 52m, so we had to turn back just above the last pitch), we spotted a ewe with a lamb so new-born that it was still wobbly. After the trip we noticed that the field nearest to the farm was actually full of little ones. They're lucky that they've been born during some glorious sunny days, although the nights are probably mostly below freezing.

On the way back, just as we were leaving Buxton I spotted some trees on the back road where the ground was carpeted with flowering celandines, the first ones I've seen this year. They must be in a very sunny, sheltered spot because they're well ahead of any others.

Clough Woods near Winster

It was quite late in the day when Paul and I decided to go for a walk, we didn't leave until nearly 3:00pm, but it was sunny and felt really quite mild. We headed across the fields towards Birchover before turning east down Wensley Dale into Clough Woods. We ignored a path on the right shortly after entering the woods and continued on the main track before it crossed the stream and headed off in the wrong direction.

Having decided that we didn't want to go that way, we followed what turned out to be a deer track in the general direction that we wanted to head. As we approached a boggy spot and a very steep bank up which the deer obviously go, I stopped to suggest that we retrace our steps slightly to climb a more gentle part of the slope. I happened to glance further down the bank and spotted two fallow deer hinds lying in a clearing not far below us. They watched us for thirty seconds or so before jumping up and 'running away', at which point we realised that there were actually four of them. I always suspected that there were deer in Clough Woods but now we have proof. Wonderful... deer to stalk within walking distance of home!

At the top of the bank we picked up the path that we should have taken in the first place and followed it around the end of the ridge to the edge of the woods. I suggested that the best route would be to stay in the woods and drop down to the stream, but Paul insisted that we should head out across the fields and follow a valley that drops down to the stream. Knowing what a quagmire it usually is I wasn't surprised to find that we were soon up to the top of our boots in mud, but hey... it's quicker that way.

After slogging back up the fields we walked back through the village and I spotted the first crocuses that I'd seen under a hedge near Win Tor Avenue.

First of the year... hawthorn sprouting

Trying to find a suitable place in a field near Perryfoot Farm to 'spend a penny' before a caving trip into P8, I found a sheltered corner (with a great view of the road!) where a hawthorn branch barely two feet off the floor was just beginning to sprout. This seems very early to me. A sign of global warming? Or just a very sunny, sheltered spot? I haven't seen any anywhere else, so maybe the latter.