Saturday, March 30, 2019

Cromford, Alderwasley...and somewhere south of Wirksworth

I can use my bus pass for travelling in Derbyshire at any time on a Saturday and so I arrived at Bakewell for nine o'clock this morning and caught the 09:15 bus to Cromford.

I took a few photographs at Cromford and then walked along the Derby road until I reached Intake Lane and the steady climb up to the top, passing under the old incline railway.









Not long after passing the railway I noticed that I was now walking along the Midshires Way, at this stage a broad bridleway, in places surfaced with concrete or tarmac, later on becoming just a footpath passing through meadows and woodland. 

The church at Alderwasley is located some distance from the main part of the village; it looks like it might just be inside Alderwasley Park, the extensive private grounds belonging to Alderwasley Hall, now a private school - public access is maintained to the churchyard, although the church itself was locked.  



I then needed to walk along the road for a couple of miles...apart from one short stretch of footpath across a field.  The next mile or so along paths was more interesting; there was a variety of different types of countryside for me to enjoy.



It got a bit too interesting though when the path disappeared and where I was expecting a clear way ahead through a large farm down to a road all I found was a field and  an area of recently planted and fenced off woodland. I had planned to visit Kirk Ireton, and could clearly see the steeple of the church and several more buildings about a mile away, but after a couple of failed attempts to make progress I re-traced my steps a few hundred yards and walked up the road, heading towards Wirksworth - I did manage to take this picture from the area where I got lost though.


I caught the bus back to Bakewell from the bus stop which serves the Alderwasley Sixth Form Centre. I had nearly half an hour to wait but I didn't fancy any additional roadwalking and so sat on the bench in the shelter and started writing up my notes for today's walk.

The journey to Bakewell took a lot longer than expected; the bus was stuck for long periods in stationary or crawling traffic at Matlock Bath because of a broken down car left in the middle of the road.

I finished the walk at two o'clock this afternoon but didn't get home until nearly seven o'clock - that's too long, way too much time spent waiting for and sitting in buses and trains. It's nice when I can reach new areas further afield on public transport, but sometimes it's not really worth the effort.

Today's route - seven miles:








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