Postscripts from The Peak District (5) - Cheddleton

Saturday 15th June

Glorious day &, even though we knew we'd be walking tomorrow (my Fathers Day treat!), we couldn't resist a bit more 'local' exploration!

Weren't exactly sure where we were heading when we set off but had a vague idea of investigating more of the Churnet valley & the Caldon Canal & seeing whether we could find any more pubs within walking distance of Ipstones - we found another three!

 

Started at Deep Hayes Country Park, an area reclaimed from coal mining, clay extraction, iron smelting, brick-making & the usual Pottery-associated activities - poor old Churnet!

 

 

 

Without the information boards you'd struggle to find much evidence until you reach this wonderful industrial relic on the edge of Cheddleton, the next village along the canal from Consall Forge & the 'Black Lion' (Walk 1)

 

Cheddleton Flint Mill ground white calcined flint & shipped it down the canal to the Potteries where Josiah Wedgwood was busily developing his 'creamware' range.... an ideal & very profitable relationship!

 

The Mill & its surrounding buildings are looked after by a team of volunteers &, unfortunately, today was not one of their 'open' days

The site, however, is open & there are enough info boards to guide the visitor around - brilliant! 

A view back up the Caldon Canal - we'd just strolled along here...

Now, this is something I hadn't seen before. The canal runs to the south, the river flows around the site to the north while the mill-stream has been split to run 2 water-wheels & 2 mills side-by-side!

 

 

 

The South Mill (centre) was originally built to grind corn (it's recorded that a mill has stood here since the 13th century). It was converted to flint-grinding in the early 19th century after the purpose-built North Mill (right) had proved its economic worth.... more money in industry than farming!

 

 

 Could have stopped at 'The Red Lion', close to the Flint Mill, but pressed on (another half mile, at least!) as we were keen to visit 'The Boat Inn' which we'd had recommended by several people

Just across the canal from the railway & another restored station on the heritage line, this is an excellent spot! Far too warm sitting in the sunshine for a 'Beer of the Day' - settled for ciders!

 

I suppose this is about 3 miles or so from our house: perfect for a gentle round trip!

Retraced our steps beyond Deep Hayes to another canal-side pub at Denford, 'The Hollybush Inn', at the point where the Leek branch leaves the Caldon canal.... guess I'll be doing some more exploring here!


Sat & chatted to a couple from Wells; he works for the Cathedral School & is responsible for the upkeep of all those wonderful buildings in Vicars Close (if you haven't a clue what I'm writing about you might need to do a cross-reference to LeJog!)
He told us that 14th century Listed Buildings & 21st century teenagers with music cases (violin, cello, guitar etc) don't really go together! I can imagine they don't.....!

After last week's fascinating toe-wrestling information, here's another indispensable piece of pub trivia: 'The Hollybush Inn' team has been European tug-o'-war champions for the last 10 years!

 

About 4.5 miles from our house: perfect for an extended gentle circular!

Back at the Country Park & this is the reservoir built in 1848 by the same Staffordshire Potteries Water Board responsible for Tittesworth (Walk 4)

Aware of the industrial demands being made on the Churnet they constructed Deep Hayes to top up the water levels.... & to thoughtfully facilitate additional expansion further downstream!

 

Song of the Day: 'Good Day Sunshine' - don't remember having a Beatles' song before

 

Julia: reckon this would be a walk for you - lovely views, no steep hills, no rock-climbing, no hard work at all.... except, perhaps, keeping up with all the historical information!

 

Postscripts from The Peak District (4) - Tittesworth Reservoir

Thursday 13th June

Well, not quite a fortnight behind. Wish I could blog as fast as I can walk!

Cloudy, cool & breezy when we set out, we ended up walking in shirtsleeves for much of our wander until the promised heavy rain sent us scurrying to the pub!

'Water Man' sculpture

 

Outside the Visitor Centre at Tittesworth Reservoir & just next to the Water-Saving Garden

 

I hope they managed to save some of the water that fell today - when we got home our water butts runneth over!

Another unusual sculpture.... but a bit early for a lie-down just yet - this is right next to the car-park!

.... Les tried out both but looked more comfortable in the giant armchair!

Tittesworth is Staffordshire's second-biggest reservoir & is fed by the same River Churnet that flows below our village

The first reservoir here was created by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board in 1858 to provide water & power for the dyeing industry in Leek & all those other industries which cheerfully polluted the Churnet for a century or so

 



This, more modern, Severn Trent version was opened in 1963, is three times bigger than the original & supplies water to most of the Staffordshire Moorlands.... including us!
 

 

The source of the Churnet is up there somewhere, close to the gritstone ridge of The Roaches, which I'd intended to be our first walk when we moved here!

 

 

Didn't have the time last week & decided we wouldn't have the weather today - good decision!

 

 

Watched the rain from this excellent pub in the nearby village of Meerbrook, part of which disappeared when the valley was flooded to accommodate the newly-enlarged Tittesworth

 

Beer of the Day: 'Undertaker' - another from the very impressive local brewery at Wincle

A dark, strong, smooth bitter - excellent beer!

 

Song of the Day: bit of an easy one, really - Crowded House's 'Four Seasons in One Day'!

Postscripts from The Peak District (3) - Froghall

Tuesday 11th June

Lots to do today & the weather wasn't particularly promising so we just made up this short lunchtime jaunt around local villages

Interestingly, there was only cloud hanging over Ipstones but it was raining down in the valley at Froghall. Climbing to Kingsley & Kingsley Holt we walked above it again!

Glorious, sunny end to the day, naturally....!

Set off from Froghall along the Caldon Canal towards the 'Black Lion' (last Monday's pub) but, about half-way along, we dropped down to the River Churnet, ducked under the heritage railway & picked up the Staffordshire Way 

 

 

The Churnet's source is up on the Staffordshire Moorlands, not far from the Roaches (more about them in walks to come!) & its waters flow into the Dove before heading off for the North Sea

It's believed that the river was once one of the most polluted in Europe because of the industry it supported as it flowed through its gorge-like valley. A typical example was the manufacture of copper wire at the Thomas Bolton Copper Works here at Froghall for use in the first transatlantic telegraph cables - more on the industrial heritage later....!

 

Les was intrigued by the fact that the canal & the river flow in opposite directions!

Clever stuff!

 

One of the purposes of today's outing was to investigate how all these footpaths link together around Ipstones & we already seemed to be following 2 at the same time!

And here's another couple after we'd mountaineered out of the valley on its southern side & stumbled back down to the river from Kingsley Holt

Very steep up to Kingsley & decidedly slippery after the morning rain. It wasn't just us: a couple of young men, part of a large group walking the Staffordshire Way, caught us up & then stopped for a very long breather while they waited for the rest of their party to catch up

We didn't see them again & that made me feel quite fit & healthy!

 

Passed a Falconry Centre just below Kingsley & that looks worth a visit - after LeJog, Les is an expert!

We'll have to come again in any case.... for the views lost in the clouds today!

 

Ended up here, at 'The Railway' in Froghall, & as you can see it was fine enough to sit outside by this time!

Popped in for a 'Speckled Hen' after yesterday's shopping expedition but enjoyed a more relaxed cider today

Message to Kirstie & Di: this is the 5th pub I've visited so far within comfortable walking distance & I understand there's a few more that I still have to discover! 

Bit more heritage: the railway opened in 1849 & was an important passenger link with Leek as well as an outlet for Thomas Bolton's copper products, raw materials for which had been transported down the Manifold from the mines at Ecton (see walk 2!)

Closed to such traffic in the 1960s, the line continued to carry sand from the Oakamoor quarries, which will no doubt figure in a later walk, to Pilkington's glass factories on Merseyside until 1988

 

Now the line is home to 'the longest beer festival in the country', the Rail Ale Trail offers more than 50 real ales and 20 ciders served from bars at three stations, two trains and four pubs! This year's 'event' is on the 13th & 14th July if any of you happen to be here!

 

Song of the Day: 'Burn On' by Randy Newman.... thinking about the River Churnet in its former days!

 

Postscripts from The Peak District (2) - Thor's Cave

Sunday 9th June

Not really good enough: we'd been here a week & this was only our second walk. Whatever happened to our aim to walk every other day? Time for a serious summit conference with the former manager...

All's well! Apparently we'd been waiting for the weather to improve.... & for a break in the cricket!

Just a little clarification at this point, having already suffered severe geographical criticism from the ex-manager. I'm taking The Peak District to mean the whole of The Peak District & not just those bits allowed into the National Park.... I suspect that, in time, I'll also 'adopt' outlying areas of Staffordshire & Cheshire. That's the beauty of being unplugged!

Drove out to Wetton village, about 8 miles north-east of Ipstones, for today's jaunt

Had been here last year with Jamie, Andy & Kirstie but in slightly damper weather....

A view up the Manifold valley from just below Wetton - now that is a walk we'll be tackling soon!

I

I'd love Thor's Cave to have something to do with Norse gods but, sadly, the name is probably just a local corruption of 'tors'.... maybe introduced by some wandering west-country Druid on his way to the islands....



Last time I was here I had one new knee & the other one in a sling - I'd struggled to even reach the ledge below the cave!
Quite proud to be able to climb inside today!

 

And this is just how far inside I managed to climb

 

If you look closely you can see a loop of chain hanging in a very sinister fashion from above the mouth....

 

 

 

 

A near-painless descent down what seemed like thousands of steps & we were in the valley

A year ago that would have written me off for the rest of the day!

 

 

There was once a narrow gauge light railway running along the Manifold valley which, according to one of the railway workers, was a line that started in the middle of nowhere & ended up in the same place!

Built with the alleged intent of moving milk & dairy produce out of the area more quickly & shifting copper from the mine at Ecton to The Potteries, it's also worth noting the late-Victorian enthusiasm for tourism in the area!

Needless to say, the line closed in 1937 & has been a surfaced footpath & cycleway ever since.... inspiration for Sustrans?!

 

 

 

 

Les asked me about the river & why there was just a dry, stony bed. I guessed that it had disappeared underground, a characteristic of limestone country

 

 

 

 

Barely 5 minutes later a cyclist stopped & asked me the same question. I repeated my story, as a fact now rather than a guess, & was relieved to discover later that it really does flow down a swallow hole only to reappear at Ilam!   

 

Song of the Day: 'Bottomless Hole' by The Handsome Family!

 

 

 Here we are again! What goes down must come back up.... & it would help if there was a footpath to follow!

 

 

 

Finally escaped from all the Sunday-afternoon visitors to Thor's Cave & the Manifold Way when we chose this route to return to Wetton

 

 

 

 

Ironically, the climbs were not as steep while the dry grass & buttercups were easy to walk through &, though the footpaths could not be seen on the ground, visibility was clear enough to see stiles several fields away! A good choice!

 

And so to 'Ye Olde Royal Oak' in Wetton. We'd been to this excellent pub before & they didn't disappoint today

Beer of the Day: 'Wincle Waller' from the local Wincle brewery - pale golden, hoppy & very good!

However magnificent the beer, the pub's main claim to fame is as the original creator & home of the World toe-wrestling championship.... you only need to look at the pictures on the pub wall!!!

Of course I'm not kidding!

 

 

Postscripts from The Peak District (1) - Consall Forge

Monday 3rd June

Of course, this isn't really the date at all!

Feeling a bit guilty as it's 3 weeks today since we moved here, to Ipstones, after 35 years in Essex & I haven't updated the Blog as I promised I would!

Would be easy to plead the pressures of unpacking, internet problems.... or even cutting the lawns. Truth is we've spent almost half our days out walking &, as always, I'd rather do a new walk before writing about an old one!

Nevertheless, 2 days after arriving, we set off to explore the footpaths around Ipstones....

 

 

 

St. Leonard's Church,

Ipstones

 

Just at the end of our lane at the top end of the village

 

 

Beyond the church there are just a couple more houses as the lane climbs towards Ipstones Edge

 

 

 

This was our first outing & we headed in the opposite direction - downhill to the Churnet Valley & the Caldon Canal
 

Have to confess that we were more than a little influenced by the fact that we knew there was a pub en route!

First visited the 'Black Lion' over a year ago when we'd never even considered living here. Excellent pub which you have to walk to even if you arrive by car! Easiest access is probably by boat or train!

Beer of the Day: 'Black Lion'.... the barman said it was really Grays Champion Ale but they couldn't find the pump shield! Very good dark bitter

Consall Station on the Churnet Valley Railway; a restored Victorian station on this 10 mile stretch of heritage railway - no vehicle access here either!

The Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent & Mersey built to ship limestone, ironstone & coal from local quarries & mines to major ports

 

Could well become a favourite walk.... even if the problems of living on a hill soon became apparent!



Some interesting challenges with footpath signs on the way home. I did point out to Les that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to wind up the locals by marching across their fields after only 2 days in the village although that was preferable to being shot!

Stopped to chat to a couple of ladies who were able to confirm that we were on a 'real' footpath & heading in the right direction

 

 

 

 

Look at the steepness of that hill! Tough going after a beer!

Glad of the rest!

 

Song of the Day: 'New Horizon' by Jaki Whitren - a track from one of my favourite albums of the early 70s! I think we'll be exploring lots of those in the coming months