The Moon of Gomrath!

Any Alan Garner fan will have an inkling where I went today....Errwood Hall, the site of a major part of Garners sequal to The Weirdstone on Brisingamen.

Anyway, enough of that.  Errwood Hall is a popular location, which, surprisingly, is right next to Errwood Reservoir.  It has a carkpark a short walk from the house, but I took a slightly longer route.

The road looking back towards The Cat And Fiddle

It was a lovely day...

The track from Cat and Fiddle to Errwood Hall

 Parking up by the Cat and Fiddle I started up the stony track to leads up towards the Shining Tor path.  Instead of turning to the left towards Shining Tor today I carried on, following the long, downward path that leads directly to Errwood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path drops sharply towards Errwood.

 Before I began the descent to Errwood Hall I decided that, with the stony paths out of the way it was time to give my Vibram FiveFingers some air.  I've used them in the gym for about a month, but this was the first time I'd used them on proper terrain.

First view of Errwood Reservoir

The Vibrams were great - they're very flexy with thin soles and I find they encourage me to go up on my toes.  Its a struggle not to run in them to be honest, and I'll be wearing them a lot more in future.

The path to Errwood is well trodden, and after a while turns into a wide, track covered in close-cropped turf.  Time to ditch the Vibrams and go fully barefoot!  Vibrams were re-applied about half a mile later when lack of traction left ThePeaksman sitting on his ass in the middle of the track - that never happens to Ray Mears....


At the bottom of the path the route branches, straight on heads towards the reservoir, left heads towards Errwood Hall.

Errwood Hall in its former glory

And how it looks today  - the arches were on the left hand side of the house (from outside) - we are looking towards the front door here.

The old front door

Family crest inside front door

The side windows from inside the house

I assume this might have been a door

The arches from outside

After photographing the hall I did some exploring, and stumbled across something I'd never seen before - and never even suspected...

The little black cross in the yellow diamond maks the spot of a tiny cemetery, holding about 8-10 graves of the family that ones lived in Errwood Hall.

I must admit, its a lovely spot, and I can't think of a more peaceful place to spend eternity.

 

After a spot of lunch I went back to the hall for a bit more of a poke around, and found an old trough set into the cliff behind the house.  While I was examining it I heard a loud buzzing.  Slightly aprehensive I carefully looked around expecting to see a bee hive or swarm.  Then I looked up...

 Some sort of tree (not sure what type), plastered in catkins.  And the catkins were plastered with bees!

Huge bumble bees and honey bees were everywhere - obviously enjoying the spring warmth.  I like bees, and they tend to be friendly so no problems there.

Catkins or flowers? Either way the bees loved them!

Thought this chap was a honeybee, but now I'm not so sure - he might be some flavour of wasp.

 And that was it....just the trek back to the car.  It was Vibrams all the way, and it was great.  A lovely in smashing countryside. 

Heres a few more shots around the hall, and a final view of the reservoir looking like the Mediterranean.

If you want to know more about Errwood Hall have a look here: The Grimshaws of Errwood Hall

Hello, and Welcome to the Peaks

In this blog I hope to take you along with me on my regular voyages across White Peak (and, as time allows perhaps Dark Peak as well).

A little about my habits...I usually frequent the paths round Gradbatch, the Roaches and Hanging Stone, and I try to get out and about most weekends.  I usually try and take the road less travelled, and usually travel it alone.  Sometimes when time allows my very good friend The Surly Gent will joint me - and those are the times of ADVENTURE.

Kitwise I err on the side of simple, and wear mainly ex-army stuff.  As its mainly olive green I end up looking scarily like Ray Mears.  Gadget-wise I rely on my Nexus One Android phone running My Tracks and Backcountry Navigator Pro, which gives me OS maps (and lets me download them at home for when I lose signal - VERY useful).

THIS weekend, however, I was recovering from a cold, and only really fancied a bit of fresh air, so I headed out to The Cat and Fiddle, with the intention of parking up and perhaps heading down to Errwood Hall.  I took the path up to Shining Tor, and realised I'd left my water pack in the car.  Errwood is a reasonable stroll, and, in my weakened state I didn't fancy doing it without water.  I was also wearing a brand new pair of Mammut boots, so I did'nt want to push it until I got the measure of them.


No matter - I decided I would climb Shining Tor and see what paths lay ahead.

Backcountry Navigator shows the path leads from just North of the Cat and Fiddle, up to Shining Tor and away beyond Cats Tor.

My Tracks shows that there are a couple of climbs on this walk, but nothing too strenuous.  Green is altitude, blue is speed.

My Tracks also gives useful stuff like distance covered right from the lockscreen of my phone.  Most importantly if My Tracks or Backcountry Navigator is running I can always see WHERE I started from and where I currently am.  I always know where I need to get back to, even if I'm not sure exactly which way to go.

The weather on the drag up to Shining Tor was misty, but not cold, and I wasn't expecting much in the way of view, but LO! What did I see spiralling around the Tor but Paragliders!

I must admit it all looked jolly good fun, and this is something the Gent and myself need to investigate at some point.  We're both large, hefty men though so we might need a couple of canopies each...

By the time I left them behind there seemed to be about half a dozen of them whirling about or lying disconsolately on the grass.

After I'd left Shining Tor I took the path that leads over Cats Tor.  Its the first time I've taken this path, and its a paved one.  Big slabs of rough stone lead the way.  However, Im not a fan of these paved paths, so half way to Cats Tor I decided enough was enough and turned back.  Total distance : 4.5 miles.

On the way home I popped into Brierlow Bar Bookshop and picked up The Curious Boys Book of Adventure for the Gents child (you can't start them too young!).

The Mammuts performed admirably...I also have a new pair of North Face boots (more winter oriented, so Ill wait for wetter weather to try them...) that need an outing.