Lathkill Dale with Niki

Got up late, Paul had gone on the Monyash practice, and phoned Niki after breakfast. She said she'd come and pick me up in 20 mins (10:30am) and we headed off to Youlgreave and drove down to Conksbury Bridge and parked up.

The River Lathkill, just upstream from Conksbury Bridge.

Butterbur

We wandered along enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful crystal clear water, the goosanders, the butterbur and the holes... particularly the holes.  Despite the fact that we only had my little 'find a keyhole' light on my car keys, we went to look at some little chert mines up on a shelf on the northeast side of the valley, that I didn't even know existed.

Niki inside the chert mine - some of the roof was very dodgy!

 Niki at the foot of the rake that runs across the side valley.

We walked up the main dale as far as the valley below Mill Farm, had a quick look into the rake and then headed back again. Sadly, I was beginning to get quite knackered by the time we got back to the car.

Goyt Valley, Windgather Rocks

Drove out to a layby just south of Whaley Bridge and parked in a layby.  We dropped down to the river and followed it south through very damp woodland and pasture, spotting several long-tailed tits and a tree creeper on the way.  We reached the dam of Fernilee Reservoir, which we crossed...

The view north from Fernilee Reservoir dam

to follow the west bank and took the Waterside Path, as opposed to the Woodland Path and stopped near the southern of the reservoir for a bite to eat as the rain eased up a bit.

Climbing up to near the car park at Errwood, we crossed a field past some piles of rubble that were probably buildings at one time, watched a kestrel briefly and then followed a path up the side of the woods to join the road, which we followed up to the Pym Chair, which we missed completely because by that time we were in thick fog. We met a woman Park Ranger and had a chat and then turned north out onto open moorland and cut across towards the road and on to Windgather Rocks.  Looks like a great place to go and do a bit of straight forward climbing on a summer evening, but not very inviting on a grey March afternoon in the clag!!

We stopped to finish off our drinks and then continued along the top of the crag - it was pretty windy and chilly up there, so I ended up putting my gillet back on over my waterproof.  Dropping off the top,we headed across the fields, briefly onto a road, then back up across the saddle of Taxal Edge and down through an area of moorland covered in rhododendrons and so to Taxal itself, where we stopped to take photos of the faces next the clock on the church.

Stone carvings next to the clock face on Taxal church

From there it was a short wander down to the river and up the steep bank back to the car.

Hartington to Milldale

Took both cars and drove down the A515 and across to Milldale, where Mum and I left my car in the car park and hopped into Paul's car to travel the few miles north to Hartington.

We changed into our walking boots and stood by the car admiring the snowdrops in the garden of the house next to which we'd parked.

We set off across the fields and soon came to the start of Beresford Dale, shortly followed by Wolfscote Dale, a steep sided valley with screes and scrubby trees.

Wolfscote Dale

Mum & Dad in lower Wolfscote Dale

Our walk took us to the lower end of Wolfscote Dale where we met the lane that runs from the A515 to Milldale.  The house on the west bank of the river at this time was surrounded with white, a show of snowdrops the like of which I've never seen before - this photo really doesn't do it justice!

Water Icicle Close Cavern - Urchin Passage choke

Drove to the Old Smithy Café with Paul to meet Keith for breakfast and we then all headed off up to WICC.  We followed two guys in and they went off to explore as we headed for the dig.  Disappointingly, someone had been up into the dig, yet again.  After some considerable persuading, Keith squirmed through into the second small chamber and shouted back the good news that the passage continued, and the bad news that it was almost completely full of mud.

We drove back to the café for a cuppa, feeling a little deflated and then we left Keith to go to Kirby house, while we went to the club to clean all the kit.

Eyam, Stoney Middleton, Grindleford

Parked in the new 'free' car park in Eyam (behind the Pay and Display one - go figure!) and met with the others - Pete, Paul, Ray, Jill, Rich, Phil and Dave. We walked down the road past Flower Pot etc and picked up the 'Climbers' Path' that runs along a terrace half way up the valley side.

Jill, Peter, Ray and Paul on the Climbers' Path above Stoney Middleton Dale

This took us straight past Carlswark and various other small caves in Stoney Middleton Dale and on into Stoney Middleton itself, where we stopped by the stream for a quick cuppa.  From there we continued on past the 'Roman Baths' (that aren't, but Robbie (Rich's collie) approved of the water coming from the thermal stream) and across the fields to the Calver/Grindleford road.  I believe Paul's original plan was to drop down to the river into Grindleford, but Pete suggested that we follow the road and he then pointed out Stoke Sough, shortly after Stoke Hall.

Trees growing on the mound formed by the lowest shaft above the sough tail
with another shaft at the top of the field

After peering down through the trees to where the sough tail is down at river level, we continued on to New Road, the back lane into Eyam and picked up a path running broadly parallel to Goatscliff Farm Lane.  At the edge of the small wood we emerged into a small clearing and found Flora, goddess of flowers, or at least a life-size statue of her.

Statue of Flora, goddess of flowers, in the woods above
the A625 between Calver and Grindleford

Pete told us that the story goes that the statue once belonged to Chatsworth and was given as a present to the owners of Stoke Hall.  Sadly they had a run of bad luck soon after Flora's arrival and deciding that it was her fault that things were going wrong, they banished her to the hillside, where she now resides - poor Flora!!  It was nice to see that someone has been cutting back the undergrowth to reveal her in all her glory - someone cares.


We continued across the fields, stopping to find a guide stoop that Peter said he'd looked before on a previous occasion and couldn't find.  Not surprising really as it's now being used as a gatepost in someone's garden!!

 A guide stoop (ancient signpost) being used as a gatepost in someone's garden

Continuing across the fields we entered the southwest corner of Grindleford via a footpath next to a house with a wall made of rather splendid small mill stones. Rich and Ray had a few thoughts on what they might have been used for, but clearly not your normal flour mill.

The wall of a Grindleford house made of small mill stones

Dropping down the lane we emerged at the lower end of Sir William Hill Lane and headed uphill.  Stopping just above the village to admire the view across the valley to the east (a good way to catch one's breath!!), Ray pointed out an inclined plane on the hill opposite, which was used to transport stone from Bolehill Quarry (also known as Lawrencefield Quarry by climbers) down to the main Manchester to Sheffield railway line, which transported it to the Derwent Valley where it was used to build the dams for the Howden and Derwent Reservoirs.

The inclined plane on Bole Hill down which stone was brought
from Bolehill Quarry

Continuing up the hill, we followed the Sir William Hill road up out of the village onto the lane proper and then cut across the field above Ladywash Mine and back to Eyam.

Water Icicle Close Cavern - a small further breakthrough

On Saturday, Keith and I went into WICC to start doing some of the permanent taping and for me to take a look at The Elevator.  Paul was recovering from a bad cough and didn't fancy prussiking back out so he'd stayed at home.  (Three weeks later I knew exactly how he felt!!).

The taping went well, from the breakthrough to the alcove on the far side of Three Way Chamber, where we ran out of pegs.  We actually got further than we'd expected because we'd been able to use quite a few boulders to secure the tape.

Along at The Elevator I took my time descending down what is still a bit of a dodgy pitch, what with all the hanging death up above, a false floor part way down and tonnes of shattered rock at the bottom!  It's very interesting down at the bottom, but given how the pitch got it's name in the first place (Keith was standing on the big boulder still jammed at the top of the pitch and it dropped about several inches), I wasn't terribly happy wandering about not on the rope, so I headed out.  Annoyingly I'd forgotten my camera, so I'll have to go back down again at some point to take some piccies.

Back in Urchin Passage, we realised that we still had some time to spare, so we headed back to Cherty Two Passage.  Keith and Pete had done quite a bit of work on the choke and Keith said something about "stick your head through and look up".  I had a quick look up and decided that it was probably no more dangerous than a lot of Derbyshire mines, so I crawled in and and stood up.  After a bit of hesitation he followed me in and we looked around and carefully didn't touch anything.  Most of it looks as though it's now fairly well wedged, but there's one enormous block in the roof on the right hand side that you just can't quite work out what's holding it up and this is the one that they're worried about.  That whole side is being held up by some chossy crap at the bottom and as they dig through that they're worried that the whole lot is going to come down.  In the early days of progging in there, there were at least two major falls of rock and it's anybody's guess how long the stuff up in the aven will stay up there - it's a seriously dodgy place.  Keith admitted that evening that he'd never had the nerve to even crawl inside the hole, let alone stand up in there and he did literally mean just 'stick your head in'.  Ignorance is bliss!!!!

Having fetched the progging bar and some other bits and pieces from Cherty Two choke, we returned to Urchin Passage choke and Keith had a poke about.  Sadly, the last piece of passage up to the choke proper is the sort of mud that sticks badly (I seem to remember some saying about poo and blankets that seems appropriate), and he was soon covered in the stuff.  I debated taking a peek, but then decided that I didn't want to completely cake my SRT kit in mud, it was bad enough just having come through the dig.

After only a short space of time and the removal of a few small boulders Keith said he could see black space up above and suggested that as time was moving on we should come back the next day with the boulder removing kit and see if we could make the hole bigger.

Keith lying in the mud at the end of Urchin Passage

The Sunday morning saw us both caked in sticky mud, but after a fairly short time the hole was big enough for Keith to squirm through.  There was a fair amount of rock redistribution, his legs disappeared and he shouted back to say it was OK to come through but to watch my head.  To say that it was awkward was probably an understatement as the floor of the small chamber is effectively three or four feet about the floor of the passage you emerge from and the small boulders seemed to conspire with the mud to keep me at the bottom (plus I'm larger than Keith, racing snake that he is, he got the thin genes in the family).  The entire chamber is full of breakdown and as Keith pressed on straight ahead, I clambered up to the right and looked up... and then wished I hadn't!  It isn't as bad as Cherty Two choke, but I realised that most of the stuff above our breakthrough hole that I thought was ceiling... isn't!  It's just sort of wedged in there and the floor is all breakdown.

Keith meanwhile levered a fairly hefty boulder out of the way and inserted himself through a low bedding into a low rifty bit.

Keith disappearing into the next hole

He stuck his head over another boulder and said that he could see more space ahead.  We switched places and I took a couple of photos through the smaller hole in an attempt to work out what we might be looking at.  They didn't come out very well, but for what it's worth, here's one of them.  The obvious hole is about crawling height and the passage beyond looked big enough to stand up in, from what little I could see.

Running out of time again, with Keith thinking of the drive back to Rugby, we decided that rather than try to get through there and then, we'd come back the following week and have another go at it.  It was a very excited brother and sister that headed out that day.

Badby Woods, Northants

Jill and I had lunch at the Coach & Horses at Ashby St Ledgers and then headed over to Badby Woods for a wander.  We walked through the east side of the wood to the entrance into Fawsley Park.

Fawsley Park

From there we followed the edge of the wood to visit the beautiful beech trees that inhabit the top of the hill.

This one, in particular is one of my favourite trees and needs hugging on a regular basis!!!