There were only 2 of us this week, myself and brother Rob, the other 2 had gone over to the dark side and went to Whitby for a week.
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| The upper pond |
We thought we would just stick somewhere close by so we went looking for a couple of little known fishing ponds at Doehole which is close to Wessington.
We parked in a lay-by close to Scotland Nurseries on the B6014 just outside of Tansley. We planned the route at the roadside and just set off, we were soon off the road and onto a footpath.
At first the track was level then it turned down into an obvious old track way with huge ferns either side. There were some trees with branches arching right over the footpath giving a tunnel like appearance.
We got to a clear area before we had to go into the woods and were greeted by a couple of donkey's and a lovely horse. From there it was a steady decline through the woods until we reached a lane.
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| Greeted by donkey's and a horse |
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| The Belper horse whisperer |
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| Deep in the jungle something was stirring |
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| Steep incline through the woods. |
The lane eventually came out at the hamlet of Mathers Grave with a guide stoop built into the wall alongside the nameplate.
The lane comes out onto the A615 and a few yards down the road is the style for the footpath to Doehole. This lead across a barley field and then onto the fishing ponds.
Apparently these ponds were the source for drinking water to the local population before being used for by the Lindway Fishing Club. Both ponds have tapes stretched across the water with objects hanging down from them. We think this is to stop Herons etc from pinching the fish!!!
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| Upper pond with tapes across the water. |
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| Lower fish pond |
When we came away from the bottom pond we heard a right commotion coming from the sky and witnessed something quite remarkable. At first there was a heron squawking and chasing off a buzzard, then a crow attacked the buzzard, not his day.
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| Heron attacking a buzzard. |
When we got to the end of the lane into the fishing area there was a big gate, the fishermen have a key but we had to climb over.
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| The sign says all fishing club members should renew there keys every year, |
After we climbed over the gate we tracked across fields towards Wheatcroft, we had to cross a small stream and then it was a bit of a climb to get onto the Wheatcroft lane.
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| This just needs a bit of polyfiller |
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| I never knew post boxes were as long as this. There must be 3 feet buried into the ground. |
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| Nice B & B |
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| Never seen a road sign like this before. |
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| Another old friend, guide stoop at the crossroads |
After getting through the farms at Wheatcroft it was a brisk walk back along the tarmac to the car.
Another great morning with decent weather and we covered almost 5 miles. We reckon the other 2 slow us down when they talk to much!!!
We're off looking at the heather next week while its still in flower.
Cheers
