Haven't really been idling in the ten days since we started this adventure! Visited Lee in Lancaster & spent six days wandering around the Trough of Bowland - mostly fine weather & some excellent walks!
Decided that using distances by road is, probably, not the best way of measuring progress so have decided to use a straight line distance to both John o' Groats & Land's End at the end of each walk.
With the help of Ordnance Survey & my GPS I reckon it's 389.55 miles to John o' Groats from our home & 261.69 miles to Land's End! At the end of our first walk we were further away from both... so there's progress!!
The Manifold Light Railway was a narrow-gauge line opened in 1904 partly to transport minerals from the lead & copper mines around Ecton but, more importantly, to carry milk from the farms up the Manifold Valley to the standard-gauge branchline at Waterhouses which then opened up a direct route to London!
The tiny railway also provided a passenger service for the villages along the valley.
"Two little steam locomotives built to an Indian design and fitted with large headlamps pulled a series of narrow primrose-painted carriages with tiny verandas. What a curious sight this must have been if seen from the surrounding hilltops."
A slump in mineral prices & a switch to road transport led to the line's closure in 1934 - it was reopened as a footpath & cycle-track in 1937, pre-dating Sustrans by exactly 40 years!
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Beeston Tor & the site of one of the line's stations. The wooden building is the original refreshment room, now nestled at the edge of a camp-site! Took a slight uphill detour here to pick up 'Weags Barn' geocache! |
There have been a lot of people complaining that we've had a wet Summer... so where's the River Manifold gone?!
Just one of those peculiarities of Limestone country... it keeps diving down holes but it'll be back!
Just above is the village of Wetton, famous for its annual toe-wrestling competition... in non-Covid times!
A reasonably straightforward walk up to the cave but we've done it before (from the top & the bottom), it had become very warm & we were ready for refreshment!
There was once a station here & a waiting-room!
Look! The river has returned! It disappears just south of this point!
Les had hoped for an ice-cream but, with only 2 customers allowed in the shop, there was quite a sizeable socially-distanced queue outside... which hadn't totally disappeared by the time we moved on.
Wetton Mill was a watermill for grinding corn : it closed in 1857, long before the railway arrived!
I'd been tempted to venture inside on my first visit here in 2013!
Swainsley Tunnel
Built by Sir Thomas Wardle who, though a shareholder in the railway, didn't want to see it cross his land!
During World War II, after the line's closure, the tunnel was used by the RAF for munitions storage &, in more recent lockdown-days, it's been used as a meeting-place for boy-racers! Signs warn against that now!!
And so, finally, to 'The Manifold Inn', more refreshment & the end of our walk!
Built as a coaching inn, this was originally 'The Waggon & Horses' & the old stables & outhouses are now used as hotel accommodation.
It became 'The Old Light Railway Hotel' before changing name again & now even the old Thor's Cave sign has been removed!
Today's distance : 9.81 miles 15.79 kilometres
Cumulative : 17.15 miles 27.6 kilometres
Direction of Travel : North
Progress : We are now 384.45 miles from John o' Groats (-5.49 miles)!
& 269.36 miles from Land's End (+5.01 miles)!
Looks like you are making good progress!
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