Pikehall & Minninglow

Well, after the long Xmas break i was having withdrawal symptoms and i really need to get back onto the walking trail to get rid of some of the excesses I've had.
We decided on a nice compact easy walk and to have a different viewpoint on Minninglow.
We parked up at Pikehall. This is a very small village which is split in half by the A 5012 we parked in the south side next to some lorries. As we walked past the last house, a lady popped out and made pleasantries ending in "see you at lunch time" to which someone replied make sure you've got the kettle on!!
It was a cold start to the day and even Foggy (sorry i mean Geoff) donned a woolly hat.

When Geoff wears a hat it must be cold.

Track down towards Minninglow in the distance.

Minninglow can be seen from miles around.

Minninglow is an ancient burial site with tombs and chambers. When it was excavated sculls and bones were discovered.
At a crossing of the tracks we noticed a wall had been rebuilt using very uniform stones and on closer examination realised they were in fact old waggon way sleepers for the horse drawn tracks that were there long ago. The usual long sleepers couldn't be used because they would interfere with the horses which walked between the tracks.

Rob, Jim & Ike 

A typical waggon way sleeper.

A nice stroll down to the Minninglow car park where we stopped for breakfast.

Breakfast stop

When we settled down for our brekki, Rob gave us a small wrapped present each. When unwrapped we all had a small polished wooden life size chicken egg. Known in the antiques trade as treen. These came from a very well known 2000 year old tree.
We set off back towards the car along Parwich Lane and passed an old lime kiln that Ike had told us about.

Lime kiln

Lime kiln

At the car ready for home

On the way back to the car Geoff and myself had a nice chat to a young farmer whose family had lived in the village for a few generations. Geoff asked him where was the hall in Pikehall he told us there had never been a hall and the name Pikehall had probably been derived from Pickhill. He also told us that a few years ago when the snow was very deep the village was cut off for 5 days. a local quarry vehichle was used to clear the snow. When the snow melted several days later 3 abandoned cars were found overturned and a lot of wall had been reduced to rubble. This could be the answer to the missing Pikehall stoop, we have been told in the past it had been smashed in an accident, this is probably it.
This was only a 3 1/2 mile walk but it blew the cobwebs away and set us up for the rest of the year.

see you next week.