Visiting Baslow, Hassop, Pilsley, Edensor, and Chatsworth House; four villages, three churches, two pubs and [almost] a fight.
A grey, misty and miserable day for the most part today, although it did brighten up for about half an hour when I was at Chatsworth House. So, it wasn't very good conditions for photography; however I was determined to make the best of it, specifically spending more time taking photographs today, many of which are presented in black and white for better effect. Of course the murky conditions limited what I was photographing; no landscape shots today...just moody close-ups of buildings...with a couple of exceptions.
I got off the bus at Baslow Nether End and went to the toilets; inside there was neatly folded up pair of clean underpants waiting for me on the table at the side of the sink. I wonder if this is a new service for walkers being provided by Derbyshire Dales District Council? Probably not.
Still wearing my own underpants I stepped outside and walked over to the cafe and started taking photographs.
I soon took a short path which I haven't used before, across a field to come out further down the main road in the village. I stopped at the church to take more photographs, specifically remembering to get a clear shot of the unusual clock face on the tower.
I then walked over the old bridge, with its peculiar toll booth, and continued up a narrow ginnel between two houses to reach open countryside.
I had to walk along the road for about a mile in order to reach Hassop. Although the weather was still grey there was plenty of colour to photograph at The Eyre Arms.
It's back to black and white for pictures of the unusual Catholic church at Hassop, and the gatehouse at the hall.
The next section of the walk was along the bottom of a pretty valley and then up the track to Pilsley, where I stopped for a pot of tea at the Devonshire Arms. The taps inside the gents' toilets are the most complicated I've ever come across; I needed to lift, twist, and then pull to get any water.
Refreshed, I walked through the village and down the road to Edensor. By now the sun was struggling to come out and so some of the outdoor photographs are now in colour again.
There are some beautiful cottages here.
I've not been inside the church at Edensor before, there always seemed to be a wedding or something else happening when I was passing...but not today - I had the church to myself. I've always wanted to have a good look inside because the building was designed by George Gilbert Scott, the same architect who designed Doncaster Minster...of course this church is much smaller.
I walked across the grassy parkland to Chatsworth House, passing Queen Mary's Bower and then going up to the Courtyard.
On my way back to Baslow I went up for a closer look at something I've previously wondered about when I've seen it in the distance. It's a wonderful piece of sculpture, although I actually think it's one of the fences or hurdles for the show jumping course.
I had to run the last few yards to catch the bus at Baslow as I could see it approaching the bus-stop and there was no-one else waiting. When we reached the busy traffic in Sheffield I thought the bus driver was going to jump out of his cab and beat up a driver who had jumped a red light, cut in front of us, and had held up everybody else until the traffic was able to move away at the next green light phase at the junction. He was livid and was hurling abuse at the top of his voice. A few minutes later he was being aggressive with another car driver who was a few seconds late at moving off at a green light. I think he was a bit unstable.
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