Wetton Mill and Grindon

Well it was a bit damp at 06:00 this morning but we decided to risk it and set off to Wetton Mill in Staffordshire where we parked up close to the bridge. Four of us this week and my turn to drive.  We set off and decided to don waterproofs and it was a good job we did, it started to drizzle and we were very wet in a short space of time. Most of the tracks were dry but there was one section where he cows trundle and it was just thick mud. All the time on this walk the birds never stopped singing and with it being in the valley the sound was echoing, just bliss. We came across the river Manifold a couple of times but at this time of the year its dry for very large sections.I have only ever seen 1 shrew previous to today, but today i have seen 1 dead shrew and 2 live ones, one close up, well chuffed. We ended up in the All Saints Church Grindon where we were let in by the church warden Brian. Geoff wanted to go in to see a display which mentions a very old family connection. Flight Lieutenant Earnest Smith died with all his crew mates in 1947 while delivering food drops during the winter to the cut off residents of the area.

This weeks route around Ossoms Hill

Little ford

Giving me the evil eye

Lovely green valley

The same cows that we saw earlier on the other side of the river

Rob

All geared up for the rain

Ike, Rob & Geoff

Geoff, Ike and Rob

The Rindle Stone in front of All Saints Church Grindon

Ike studying a gravestone 

Memorial display to the crashed plane from 1947

Inside All Saints Church

Geoff & Rob with the church warden Brian

Natural light shot at the altar

The whole church lit up.. 

Rob and Ike

Ready for milking

The dried up river Manifold

Ike cleaning his hands

Thors cave in the background

A shrew was just running about in front of us

Rob caught it and very briefly held it up for a pic

Another shot of the dried up river bed

This is just a short distance away from the above pic and there is plenty of water  in the river

Driving through the tunnel

 Although we got wet at the start we were almost completely dry at the end. A cracking morning meeting an interesting chap who could out-talk Ike and that takes some doing.
See you next week.