Derbyshire Area News - Derby and South Derbyshire Ramblers

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Derbyshire Area News—Winter 2012/13the barbed wire to explore the pillbox and mound. Next proceed to the northern pillboxwhich sits on the site of a former cairn (yet still marked on the map) to obtain agrandstand view of High Edge Raceway and to Buxton and beyond. Head down theslope NW to the stile at GR05936925 to the right of the racetrack. Turn left on themetalled road and walk in front of the Raceway enclosure past the entrance gates anda cattle grid where there is a signed footpath at GR05556902.This path to the next hill runs SW initially alongside an untidy lime heap and fieldboundary wall over rough grassland before turning 45 degrees right at a marker postto reach a dip on the near horizon where there is a farm gate and ladder stile. Overthe stile this unnamed access land which is south of and contiguous with ThirkelowRocks has a small rocky peak with a marked spot height of 426 metres. The shortclimb to the summit gives another impressive all round view. Retrace your steps tothe ladder stile and drop down the fairly steep hillside SE to join the footpath fromThirkelow and head to Booth farm. Walk past the farm entrance and take the waymarkedbridleway towards Fough for about 50 yards to a marker post at GR05836798which is the start of the climb up left to the tumulus on Hollins Hill. Follow the waymarkedridge path on Hollins Hill which descends gradually before dropping down tore-join the footpath from Fough at GR06166703 to return to Hollinsclough.Another Pilgrim’s ProgressBarry Chapman (Erewash Group)Ten years ago, my friend Tony had walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela –the pilgrimage across Northern Spain. This year he decided to do the walk again andasked me and another friend, Robin, to join him. Could I, aged 74, walk 800Km andbe away from home for 6 weeks. This would be quite a challenge – and what a challengeit proved to be.Being a member of Erewash Ramblers for many years and also walking with Tony, Ihave walked in many areas of the UK and climbed the odd hill or two on the Isle ofMull but this would be my first long distance walk.We flew from Stansted Airport along with many other pilgrims, carrying rucksacks onthe flight. On arrival at Biarritz, we then caught the train that took us to the prettyFrench border town of St. Jean Pied de Port, the start of our chosen route which wasthe Camino Frances. There are various routes to Santiago from different startingpoints. One could start in Canterbury or Paris or many other cities in Europe as manypilgrims do.We rested in St. Jean for two days before embarking on our journey which in the firstthree days took us over the Pyrenees and its magnificent scenery and down to Pamplona.Tony had warned me this would be the hardest part of the journey and so itproved to be. My rucksack felt like a ton weight instead of its actual 11 kilos. With myfeet and leg muscles in agony, I wondered what I had let myself in for. But I had givenmyself this challenge. There was no going back.24
Derbyshire Area News—Winter 2012/13Each night we slept in Municiple Albergues (hostels). These consisted of bunk beds,showers and drying facilities. You are only allowed to stay in these hostels if you arewalking, cycling or on a donkey. We would start walking at about 6 a.m. before it becametoo hot, with the temperature on some days reaching up to 38 degrees.We met many nationalities along the way, all doing the pilgrimage for many differentreasons. Martin, from Germany, was doing the walk for his son who had leukaemia.Kelly was leading a group of young people from a theological college in the U.S.A. Allthe people we met had their own challenges, even the old man on the donkey and theblind man cycling on the tandem; so many interesting people along the way. We wouldmeet up in village bars for breakfast and then after checking in at the next albergue wewould have the Perigrino Menu del Dia in a nearby restaurant and share each other’sstories.Day after day the scenery was changing; from the mountains and the flat lands offarms and vineyards interspersed with the cities of Logrono, Burgos and Leon withtheir amazing architecture. So, after 41 days, we arrived in Santiago and there receivedthe certificate to say we were officially Pilgrims of St. James. We went to thecathedral service for the blessing and to see the casket where the bones of St. Jamesare encased then on to celebrate with a pint or two in the square with the other pilgrims.We treated ourselves to a hotel for 3 nights and enjoyed this medieval city beforeflying home.We arrived back at Stansted with many blisters and aching limbs but overwhelmed bywhat we all had achieved. Such an experience. Such memories and stories to share.How many people can say they have had their feet bathed by a nun? I can.Detective Work in South DerbyshireBarry Thomas (D&SD Group)For the past two years I have been researching routes for a book of guided walks inSouth Derbyshire. The area south east of Burton on Trent is pleasant walking countryespecially around Walton on Trent and south of it all the way down to the Warwickshireborder. There are very few published routes in this area so I spent a lot of timestaring at the National Forest Explorer map trying to put routes together which lookedworthwhile by linking pretty villages and other places of interest.After looking at the map and investigating the area on the ground I realised that therewere practically no footpaths in the small rural parish of Catton which should be splendidwalking country. Catton is south of Walton-on-Trent and dominated today by CattonHall, a grand 18 th century country house (though on a much older site). Poringover 19th century OS map I found that there were several paths in the parish includingone from Catton to Walton along the Trent. However, by the mid 20th century they hadgone; a trip to the Derbyshire Records Office at Matlock was therefore in order.Tracking down the information required was difficult especially since a mass of paperworkhad been transferred from the Rights of Way department at Derbyshire County25
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Derbyshire Area News - Derby and South Derbyshire Ramblers

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