Trip 8: Lee Meadow, Middleton
Lee Meadow is a farm in the Peak District to the north west of Carsington Water. When we arrived there were only three other units on site and the owner told us where the best place was for a motorhome to park.
We have an access track on one side with views over a valley and an old quarry. On the other side we have fields with cows and sheep leading up to the High Peak Trail and the Middleton Top Winding engine which was one of the winding engines that pulled railway trucks up the steep incline from the wharf at the Cromford Canal at Lea Bridge.
Today we did a short walk to Middleton Top village where we called in at the Rising Sun pub. We then headed upto the Middleton Top Winding Engine before heading back to the campsite.
I spoke to Richard the campsite owner who explained all about the layout of their land and the camping fields. The most important part was he explained that tomorrow we should walk past the Rising Sun pub and head for the Nelson Arms. Richard also gave us several other walks from the campsite. 5 mile
Day 2:
Today we will put up the wind break before we go for a walk. We got it up despite the strong winds.
Our walk took us to the path opposite the campsite which then went across some fields upto the High Peak trail. We followed the trail to the site of the Hopton winding engine. Unfortunately all that is left is part of the boiler. This engine pulled the trains up the Hopton rise. Eventually the rise was lessend to 1in14 which enabled most engines to pull their trains up the rise.
We managed to walk up the rise but it was quite hard work. At the top there is a railway workers cottage that is now a holiday rental. We took a few minutes to rest and remove a layer of clothing before walking back the way we had come.
On the way down we met a large group of ramblers that felt they owned the trail. We walked to the side but I still managed to be bumped by people who insisted on walking three abreast to our one and a half.
The cyclists were much more polite which surprised me because they normally think they own the road.
We continued to the Middleton top winding house where we sat and ate lunch. After lunch we followed a path over the fields to a farm track that lead to the far end of Middleton village.
We came to the Nelson Arms pub that we had been told about but it was closed. We continued through the village. There are lots of interesting old houses along the Main Street, as well as a Methodist chapel that is now a private house.
We walked past the school and at the Derbyshire Wildlife trust there is an information board that explains how a local family quarried stone that was used for war grave head stones. They eventually made all the headstones for the war grave commission.
Again we found ourselves at the Rising Sun pub so we stopped as you do for some refreshment before the final half mile home. Total 6.5 miles today. 7 miles today
Day 3:
Today we headed for the quarry via paths that look us across fields. Sue managed to fall backwards into some stinging nettles while negotiating a stile in a wall.
The paths around the quarry were lined with fencing to stop people falling off the edges.
We came to a Star map, similar to the one in Scarborough but not quite as big. There is also a viewing point where you can look out over the quarry.
We continued on to Wirksworth and found the equivalent of Lincoln’s steep hill. There were lots of little passages among the houses that lined the hill side.
We got to the centre of Wirksworth and it is amazing with lots of independent shops.
We visited St Mary’s church which was interesting but not as ornate as some that we have seen. It did have a number of carvings in the walls. We left the church and headed for the railway. I didn’t realise it was a heritage line. It runs steam and heritage diesels. There is a lot of work being done to the facilities but only the museum come book shop was open.
We headed back into the town centre and called in at the Feather Star pub, it is amazing with all sorts of decorations and knick knacks on the walls and shelves. The area that we sat in had various chairs ranging from bus seats, to 1960s deco chairs. The tables were again a mixture, ours was to twin deck record player, and there was a drum, a school desk. In The gents toilets the walls above shoulder height were covered in beer mats.
We left the Feather Star and headed to Fanny Shaw park where we ate our lunch while watching the skate park. It was then time to face the walk home.
We headed for Stoney Woods which is another quarry, but planted in 1994 with trees and shrubs.
From here it was all up hill back to the Star Map and the footpaths back to the campsite.
We met Richard and Kate and we had a chat on our day. I bought two pieces of Kate’s Carrot Cake for tea and we headed for Iona. It is windy but still warm enough to sit outside. 6 miles
Day 4:
We walked to the High Peaks trail and followed it down hill until we reached the National Stone Centre. We followed the Geo trail around the quarries. We managed to find a few fossils in what was apparently the top of a reef millions of years ago.
There is also a collection of stone walls. Each wall was built by members of The Dry Stone Wall Builders association. They were examples of the different styles of wall from all over the Uk.
We followed a path through the Stone Centre past some Lime Kilns that stopped working at the start of WW2.
The path then turned towards the railway at Wirksworth, we found the end of the line at Ravenstor station which was the link where narrow gauge ore wagons emptied into main railway trucks.
We followed a path to Stoney Wood where we sat and ate our sandwiches before climbing up to the top of the quarry and from here back to the campsite.
Another good day , 6.25 miles.
Iona’s Travels 