A Wander Around Riber

We decided to stick to hard footpaths this week and Riber Castle was mentioned so we trotted off there. We left Ike's house at about 07:30 and the first stop was Ashbourne Road heading into Belper so i could get a pic of the lovely red clouds over Belper. We parked just along from the entrance to Riber Castle just in time to get a nice sunrise shot over the distant tree's. We didn't walk far just through to the village and around the front of Riber Castle. There are some lovely buildings in the village. We had a look in the old quarry, probably where some of the stone for the local buildings came from and found a solitary grave stone.
On our way back to the car we stopped to have a look at Eddie Hallam's gallery. Ike and Rob were looking through the window when Eddie came out from his house and offered to open up for us and have a look around. There are some fabulous pieces of work in there.animals, and birds of all sorts cast from bronze. Eddie is a very enthusiastic character and just loves his work. He went through the process from beginning to end how he sketches everything first, then rough models which he calls manikins right through to the lost wax method of producing the castings. His castings are produced in one of Birmingham's fine art foundries. We said our farewells to Eddie and had our breakfast at the small pond in front of the entrance to Riber Castle. After breakfast it was back to the car and off to Cromford canal for half an hour, then back home.

Dawn over Belper

Sunrise from Riber

Looks like an old well

Looks like the coping stone has been clipped and moved.

Fantastic chimney pots

Riber Manor

A fine weather vane

Riber Castle

A solitary Grave

Village post & phone box

Geoff with sculptor Eddie Hallam

Eddie with one of his fine bronzes

This is an ordnance survey level marker

The OS level marker is inside this enclosure

Beautiful looking horse

Geoff with his new walking pole

The barge at Cromford Canal

Swans on the canal

Feeding the ducks

Cromford canal

A tree growing over this old stone footbridge

Geoff, Rob, Me and Ike

Ike had bought some cheese from the shop at Cromford canal

This was more a ramble than a walk but very pleasant and meeting Eddie Hallam was the icing on the cake.  We couldn't get close to Riber Castle, its now  being turned into apartments. I remember it when it was a zoo and took the kids there before it closed. Eddie was involved in it back in those days and i believe they were world authorities on Lynx.
See you next week.

Two Dales Around Hall Dale

We set off in the mist up the  A6 and parked at the village of Two Dales opposite an old letterbox, a GR wall box, not many of them left. We walked up the road for a short distance then off up an old pack horse track. This was  a steep incline on very rough ground, slow going. The mist just got worse and we could hardly see a lot in front of us. We walked past an old friend the stoop on the old pack horse route. Then it was through the woods above Woodside Farm. Out of the woods and onto the heather clad moors where it was very damp. The track had almost turned into a stream and we frequently had to go off track and through the heather. By the time we got to the road we were all soaking wet. We decided to stick to the road on the way back to the car to avoid getting more wet. There was one notable feature none of us had seen before and that was a sort of memorial at the top of Bent Lane. We have all seen the flower memorials at the roadside but this was something entirely different. This involved a box, a plate, a champagne glass, lots of cigarette buts and an apple with pound coins stuck into it. I would love to know what that was all about.

Route around Hall Dale

Rob

Ike and Geoff

Geoff on the old pack horse track

The stoop pointing the way to Chesterfield.

Ike taking a pic of the stoop[

The stoop is now incorporated into a gate post.

To fry or not to fry

Misty woods. Geoff & Rob

Some misty woods

These colours are as seen, the rust colour is from pine needles.

Geoff battling through the bog.

Ike & Rob

A little cairn out on the moor

A memorial to someone.

Hardy sheep

Tree house needing some TLC

Some glorious colours in the woods

Water trough

This water trough next to where we parked had 3 goldfish in it.

This walk was just about 5 1/2 miles with an initial ascent over 700 feet, hard going in places but never the less a cracking morning.
See you next week.