A wander around Shottle

Apologies for missing last week, i was busy attending a photo exhibition of my local camera club over the whole week end. Only 3 of us this week so we decided a local walk would be good so we set off on foot from Plains Lane just after 07:30 it was still quite dark walking up the lane. We were heading towards the hamlet of Shottle and by the time we got further up the track the sky was glowing before the sun came up. We stuck to the farm tracks and country lanes and it was a steady incline until we reached the highest point in Shottle, a climb of 450 feet. We had some nice views on our journey and met several people which is unusual. The first person we talked to was a young lady called Isabel on a horse and it turns out she used to live in our road when she was a child. The next person we met was a lady taking her dog for a walk who turned out to be a friend of Geoff's wife, Elizabeth told us she walks up to 10 miles a day.  the next time we chatted was to 3 young guys on mountain bikes and they were all from Belper. I know one of their dad's a fellow photographer and they used to live in the next road down from me. Talk about a small world. Well we ended up on Longwalls Lane and that's where we stopped for our breakfast. From there it was only about 3/4 mile back to Plains Lane. We chatted to a chap out walking his dog then straight back to base.

This weeks route around Shottle

Pre dawn

Geoff zapping the  sunrise

The sun just above the horizon

Couldn't resist this reflection

Lovely old stone trough

Beautiful sunrise

St. Lawrence Church Shottle

Shottle

Former Baptist Church 1882

Old School House

Geoff & Ike at Shottle crossroads

Isabel 

Pheasant on a wall 

Elizabeth

Brilliant nameplate

Ike

Geoff chatting to one of the Belper bikers

Looking towards Handly Woods from Long Walls Lane

Geoff

This chap just came wizzing down the track

Looks like Geoff is doing some divining 

Ike heading down Longwalls Lane

Whats left of the farm where Samuel Slater is said to have worked and lived, in the grounds of Hollywood House

 This was another nice little walk, just short of 5 miles and a bit of an ascent just 450 feet from the lowest point on Plains Lane to just above Shottle. Nice to get out and stretch my legs after missing last week trip.
See you next week

The Emperor's Stream Chatsworth Park

Only 3 of us today, Rob was off again on one of his medal hunts. So we didn't want to go far and Geoff wanted to have another look at the Emperor Stream that feeds Emperor lake in Chatsworth Park. It was my turn to drive so we set off at 06:00 in the sort of misty conditions with a hope that it would burn off early. We ended up parking at the Robin Hood Inn just east of Baslow and walked up the main road for about of a quarter of a mile to reach the footpath. We crossed over the Umberley Brook followed the track then over the Emperor Stream for the first time. After that we set off over the moorland heading towards the northern end of Bunkers Hill Woods and Parkgate. A great walk down through the woods until we reached the Emperor Stream again, we crossed over it and got onto a proper track the took us under Dob Edge and back to the A619 and Robin Hood Inn. On our travels this week we encountered lots of small birds, skylark, Meadow Pipit and a pheasant, rabbits and unfortunately a dead lamb but then just as we were on the fringes of the wood and in a clearing we spotted 3 fallow deer, stalked them for a short while and got some pics. So lucky to see real wild deer in there proper habitat.

Two beautiful deer

This weeks route

Nest of snails

The Emperor Stream

Ike & Geoff

Part of the Umberley Brook

I can see ewe

You can't get past us !!!

Meadow Pipit

Lovely misty woods

Rich green ferns

Babes in the woods lol

This part of the woods was just a huge badger set, this being one of the holes.

Scrambling down a steep bank

Still loads of Bluebells around

Part of the Emperor Stream

Ike on the Emperor Stream

Freshly cut wood pile

Steps over the wall

Lush green grass in this part of the woods

Fallow deer

6 foot high standing stone

Pheasant

I found a geocache hidden in this log, it was last logged in 2011

Track back to the main road

Me getting over the wall

This must be part of Dob Edge

Geoff & Ike

Bridge over Heathy Lea Brook

Ike & Geoff on the bridge

 This was a great walk just under 4 miles and easy going with just a couple of stiles for Geoff. The icing on the cake was seeing those deer in there natural surroundings, magic.
See you next week.