Friday April 5th

Eyam, Stoney Middleton and Sir William Hill Road

After a lovely birthday lunch for Jacinta at the Village Green Café in Eyam, we parked up near the Eyam Museum where the custodian had just ejected a cheeky, and very friendly cat.
Cheeky cat at the museum

We headed off towards Stoney Middleton using the well-worn path past the boundary stone, passing a huge tree that had been blown down. We were amazed at the amount of rock that had been torn out with the roots as the tree fell.

Tree with rock embedded in roots (not the other way round)

As the octagonal church in Stoney was not being used as a polling station (as it was when we passed last year), we went in and looked around its bright interior.

Inside St. Martin's Church, Stony Middleton

After leaving the tarmac for "proper" paths, we encountered the first mud of the day- deep, sticky and slippery. Steep too, in parts! After passing through Knouchley Farm we dropped down to the the River Derwent and joined the Derwent Valley Heritage Way for a couple of miles. We had great views of Froggatt Edge and the splendid Stoke Hall.

Froggatt Edge (Froggatt Pinnacle clearly visible)

Along the Heritage Trail we spotted a group of extremely wooly sheep!

The wool had clearly been pulled over their eyes...

On the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail

Once we reached Grindleford our walk took us up fairly steeply to the Sir William Hill Road- long and straight- and we turned back towards Eyam just after Ladywash Farm, down the path past the disused Ladywash Mine. On crossing the road leading to Mompesson's Well we made the strategic mistake of descending through the woods above Eyam youth hostel- yet another steep and very muddy path. We'll use the byway to the west next time!

All in all, despite the mud, we had a very enjoyable day out and a walk of  7 miles with 350m ascent.


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