Cromford

Making the most of some Spring sunshine, I decided it was time to try the Cromford to High Peak Workshops walk. It's not far - just over 2 miles there and back - it's flat, and I'd hoped for tea at the midway point , but last time I tried it I was left exhausted. 

It's a pretty walk especially on a sunny Spring day (on a hot Summer afternoon there can be pesky flies) with geese and ducks bobbing on the water, celandines coming into flower beside the towpath, and blue sky above.

The first half to High Peak Junction proved quite easy but unfortunately the snack kiosk wasn't open so I had to survive without refreshment. 

Returning was slower and involved more sitting down but it was a nice day so there wasn't any hurry.

I was starting to get hungry by now so very relieved to find that the cafe at the Wharf was still open and serving 'lunch' despite it being after 3 o'clock.

Re-fuelled, I felt I had the energy for a little more meandering so headed across the road to Arkwright's Mills - mainly for the purpose of seeing the newly refurbished water wheel that will provide hydro-electricity for the shops and visitor centre

 

There and Back at Cromford

My younger daughter came home a few weeks ago - back when October was still warm and sunny - and wanted to go out walking in Derbyshire. As I'm still not good on uneven footpaths or long distances we chose to head to Cromford and walk along the towpath towards High Peak Workshops.

The sky looks rather dark and moody in my photos but the weather was nice and surprisingly

 warm for October.

I didn't expect to make it the whole way - but I did! It's only a couple of miles but I haven't been walking long distances this year so it felt like quite an achievement.

 

And we saw a stegosaurus lurking on the opposite bank. Apparently it's been there quite a while but I've never noticed it before!

Cromford - Aqueduct Cottage and Nightingale Spur

I haven't been back to Cromford since my latest hip/knee injury, in fact it was the short flat walk there that convinced me that I should rest completely, but even before then my walking at Cromford had been confined to the same short walk along the canal near Arkright's mill - partly because of the limited distance I could walk, and partly because of a closed road leading from Cromford village to Lea Bridge. Now, at last, the road has re-opened so my nice short walk can start in a different place, the High Peak Workshops. 

From the car park on Lea Road there's a nice circular walk to High Peak Workshops, along the canal to Aqueduct Cottage, up the spur which once led to the Nightingale works, and back a short distance along Lea Road. It's possibly only a mile or so in length, but that feels far enough for me at the moment.

There's only one snag about this walk, and that's the unpredictability of the local sewage works. This day unfortunately they were smelly, and the wind blowing towards the canal, so I decided to not bother with ice cream from the visitor centre but just set off walking. 

This whole area is full of reminders of the days when it was the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Arkright's famous mill is a mile away in Cromford village, and the canal was constructed to move good from there. The canalside path passes Leawood Pumping Station. It's been restored, and on certain days I believe it's open to the public.

Then the canal goes over the river Derwent on a short aqueduct to reach the appropriately named Aqueduct Cottage.

This recently completed restoration has turned a ruin into an information hub, and even though it wasn't open it's a good spot to sit in the sunshine and taken in the view.

The cottage sits at the junction of the main canal and the Nightingale spur, and this was the point for me to turn away from the main route and double back.

I think this section is one of the prettiest now. The trees crowd closely over the water, and this short distance has a more natural feel than the main canal. It probably wasn't the case back when both sections were in regular use, but today it's peaceful and quieter (unless a train comes rushing under the hill)

 Behind its charm the Derwent valley is  a busy communication route. Here the river is crossed by the railway, and the canal crosses above that. Out of site to the left, the A6 carries traffic to Matlock and beyond.

We'd been stood here a while and I was watching the tracks for an approaching train when the hillside behind me started to rumble - a train was coming! I still find it exciting to spot a train, and although it's quite easy to see them walking by the canal it's rarer to actually be stood on the bridge as they pass!

 To find out more about Aqueduct Cottage's history and restoration see here 

An evening walk by Cromford canal

After spending the afternoon at Ashford in the Water well-dressings, the evening was too nice to head straight home, so I suggested a detour to Cromford for a quiet walk along the canal. 

I didn't seem to be the only one thinking it was a nice evening for going somewhere ...

I didn't walk far - it's a little under half a kilometre to this bridge and a convenient seat from which to which ducks and geese on the canal while the sun started to drop behind the hills - but rather late in the day I was beginning to realise that including the previous weekend in Wales I'd done a tremendous amount of walking by my current standards, and it was beginning to tell with aches in my legs and overall tiredness.

Time then to return slowly to the car spotting wildflowers along the way, admiring the views, but with an increasingly unsteady step. 

It was a lovely end to the day but I need to learn to tell when enough is enough.

 

Dark Satanic Mills

Late one afternoon, after a failed attempt to visit a Christmas market, we called off at Cromford on the way home for a walk around the shops in the old mill buildings and along the canal. It's a place I've visited many times, but on this occasion I was particularly struck by how gloomy and oppressive the old mills were.

Perhaps it was due to the failing light, the chilly weather, the emptiness of the mill yard, but they really did live up  to William Blake's 'dark satanic mills'  name. I've heard that Blake was probably referring to Albion mills in London, but Arkwright's Cromford mills were there at the forefront of the industrial revolution, bringing huge blocks of buildings, and a whole new way of working, to an otherwise rural environment. 

It's that pleasant countryside that attracts visitors today. The towpath beside the canal built to ship out factory goods now makes a pleasant level walking route along the valley, the High Peak Railway is a hillier cycle and walking route leading over the hills towards Buxton, and in Spring the nearby hillsides are covered in bluebells. But the mill workers would have little time to enjoy the surrounding countryside.

On a grim November day, with the few walkers pacing quickly past huddled in scarves and hats, the past seems closer - workers hurrying along to the mill before the sun has risen over the hills, horse-drawn barges heading along the canal. No time for leisure activities; just hard dawn to dusk (and possibly beyond) work.