Rain Almost Stops Play

01 Tue Nov 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, holidays, Rural Diary, walking

Tags

good food, Hen Cloud, Meerbrook, Peak District, Rain, Ramshaw Rocks, The Lazy Trout, The Roaches, Tittesworth Water, views, walking

We woke on the fourth full day of our holiday to thick cloud and while we ate our breakfast we heard the first raindrops on the roof of our caravan. We spent a little time tidying and cleaning the caravan and then drove into town to do some shopping in the supermarket. It was very wet by the time we had finished so we were glad to get back and have a hot cup of coffee. We had arranged to have a meal with Richard’s brother Chris and it was booked for 1.30 pm at ‘The Lazy Trout’ in Meerbrook, a village a few minutes drive away. We set off at 1.15.

Photograph borrowed from the internet.

My brother-in-law arrived shortly after we did and we enjoyed an extremely pleasant meal in this very welcoming place. If anyone is in the area I would heartily recommend the food – it is delicious!

We had thought we might have a walk round Tittesworth Water after our meal but the rain was still heavy so we returned to our caravan for hot drinks and a chat. Chris stayed with us until 6.30 pm by which time the rain had stopped. Richard and I decided not to waste a nice evening and so drove to Hen Cloud and did our once yearly clamber up to the top.

Looking towards Tittesworth Water from where we parked the car.

Looking over the wall towards The Roaches

Hen Cloud

Hen Cloud again

Looking East from halfway up the hill. Ramshaw Rocks are on the left of the photo

Looking towards Ramshaw Rocks from even further up Hen Cloud

View down to the road and beyond to Tittesworth Water from the top of Hen Cloud. We noticed more bad weather approaching!

Definitely more rain on the way!

Threatening clouds

It still didn’t look too bad in this direction

We decided to get back to the car before the rain arrived.

One last look at the reservoir…

…and at the views from the top

We would have preferred to have stayed up at the top for much longer but the sensible thing to do was to get to the bottom before the rain caused the rocks to get slippery and the low clouds to lessen visibility. We were surprised to see a group of young boys being taken climbing up the Roaches as we got to the bottom of the hill. By this time it was about 8.00 pm and the thick cloud was making it very dark.

We were back at our caravan before the rain began again.

To be continued…

Thanks for visiting!

Peveril Castle

09 Sun Oct 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, holidays, plants, Rural Diary, wild flowers

≈ 54 Comments

Tags

Castleton, courtyard, English Heritage, harebells, maidenhair spleenwort, Mam Tor, Peak District, Peveril Castle, ruins, the keep, views, wild marjoram

The day following our walk at Ilam we had arranged to meet Alice and Elinor at Castleton in Derbyshire.

Castleton is a pretty village and a great place to stay if you want to walk in the hills or visit the mines. For some years we stayed at a site just outside the village every Whitsun half-term holiday but gave up eventually because we got tired of the crowds of people everywhere. Looking at the numbers of visitors when we went there this August, it seems that there are fewer visitors in the later summer than earlier in the year.

Alice and Elinor took the bus from Sheffield and arrived ten minutes before us. We had got delayed by having to make a detour round an accident on the Leek to Buxton road. We met them in a pub and decided to stay there and have some lunch.

After lunch we wandered through the village and noted all the changes made since we had last visited. We all agreed that it would be good to climb up to Peveril Castle. I didn’t manage to take any pictures on my ascent to the castle. I found it much more tiring than I remembered and in retrospect maybe I shouldn’t have had quite so much for my lunch! The path zig-zags up the steep climb from Castleton and we got very hot in the bright sunshine. Alice sped up the path before us; she lives in a very hilly city and is used to walking everywhere. Eventually we got to the entrance to the castle which is through the remains of one of the gatehouses built in the 12th century. We then entered the main courtyard of the castle which is now a large lawn. Originally this space had many buildings in it; a great hall, a kitchen, perhaps guest halls, servants and retainers homes, store sheds, stables and the like. It is possible to see the outline of some of these long-demolished buildings.

The keep at Peveril Castle with the steep lawn which is all that is left of the castle.

Looking down the courtyard to the remains of the curtain wall and beyond to the surrounding Peak District hills. Mam Tor is the peak to the left of centre.

The curtain wall which surrounded the courtyard was constructed early on in Norman times. It was built by the Peverils and apparently includes Roman tiles probably taken from the ruins of the Roman fort at Navio (Brough).

The curtain wall and gatehouse.

William the Conqueror’s supposedly illegitimate son William Peverel was a great favourite with the Conqueror and after the conquest he was granted the Royal Manors of the Peak. In this way he became the administrator of the Royal Forest of the Peak in Castleton on behalf of the Conqueror. He built a castle in 1080 on this site which is naturally strategically strong; it is quite difficult to get to and also easy to defend. It was originally built of wood but after some years it was thought expedient to replace it with a stone structure and this was done in about 1175 and the remains of this later building is what is seen today.

Looking over the curtain wall to Castleton below

One of the views from the courtyard

An information board at the castle

Mam Tor

Castleton

The entrance to the Keep

The Keep

The Keep was originally 60′ high and was faced with fine gritstone blocks. These can still be seen on the south and east sides of the building. You can see them at the top of the Keep and around the lower window in the photo above.

Harebells (Campanua rotundifolia) and what looks like Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) growing in the courtyard. There are a couple of other plants here that I can’t ID. I wish I had looked more carefully at the time!

Looking down into Cavedale at the rear of the castle. Originally the approach to the castle was from this side with a bridge across a moat.

Cavedale

Inside the Keep

Inside the Keep

When the castle was rebuilt in stone in 1175/6 this Keep with round-headed windows was added. The Keep was never meant to be lived in but was the administrative centre of the castle and would have been a place of refuge if ever the curtain wall was breached.

A drawing of what the Keep was thought to look like when it was built

In the 17th century the castle was considered too uncomfortable to live in and all the apartments except the Keep were demolished. The Keep was retained to serve as a courthouse. From then on until the early 19th century the place was left unoccupied and it quickly deteriorated. Repairs and reconstruction work was carried out by the Duchy of Lancaster in the early 1800s who retained the castle until it was taken on by English Heritage.

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Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

More Wild Marjoram

A model showing what the castle was supposed to look like when newly built

From another angle

We spent a most enjoyable afternoon together. Eventually it was time for the girls to catch their bus back to Sheffield. Richard and I then drove back to Leek, stopping briefly just outside Castleton at the top of Whinnat’s Pass to take the following photograph.

The entrance to Speedwell Cavern

Thanks for visiting!

A Walk in the Black Forest

02 Fri Sep 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in holidays, Insects, plants, walking, wild flowers

≈ 46 Comments

Tags

bedstraw, berries, bilberry, Black Forest, brimstone butterfly, butterfly, cat's-ear, Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Cow-wheat, Common Earthball, common knapweed, Dame's-violet, forest, foxglove, holiday, Lesser Stitchwort, Loosestrife, Lysimachia, Male Fern, moth, Polypody, Scarlet Tiger moth, Small Balsam, Speedwell, St John's-wort, trees, Triberg, views, walking

Our week’s holiday was coming to an end and we wanted to take a walk in the beautiful countryside around the town of Triberg. The hotel thoughtfully provided maps and suggestions for walks so we chose one and adapted it for our use. Neither Richard nor I are as fit or as young as we used to be and Elinor cannot walk very far because of her scoliosis so we decided on a half-circuit of the town in the woods. We went in the direction of the railway station and took a steep path up between houses towards the forest.

Bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

We were soon high enough to be able to look down on the town which was very busy with Sunday visitors and many motorbikes. I think Richard told us this part of the walk was called the Bilberry Wood and there were certainly many bilberries growing at the side of the path.

There was plenty of fungus too. I think this may be Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

We soon climbed a little further into the forest and left the town behind and no longer heard the traffic.

The forest became denser but there was never any difficulty following the path which was beautifully maintained. I began to see many different plants; some I recognised and some I didn’t. If anyone can help me with the names of these plants I will be very grateful.

Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) – a true fern. When walking with my family I always get left behind because I like to take photos of plants and fungi. I don’t have the time to take the detailed shots I would like in order to identify my finds in case I am left too far behind!