Millthorpe walk – Thursday 16th January 2014

Paul/Vanda
Jan 17, 2014
Actually finding Millthorpe was a challenge for some [it’s not sign-posted at all from Owler Bar] but 6 of us were eventually gathered at the small village green in the centre of Millthorpe for the planned 7 mile anti-clockwise circuit south from there. John M. who knew the area, had decided very wisely to wear wellington boots for what turned out to be the muddiest/most swamp-like walk yet, although we were blessed as usual for these Thursday walks with blue skies and sunshine. Apart from squelchy mud and overfull streams, the theme for the day seemed to be friendly people [a particularly cheery crowd of Chesterfield ramblers who were doing maintenance work on the track through Hollin Wood] quirky stiles and numerous horses. Marion and John had been enrolled to help with map-reading [my grateful thanks to you both] so we safely negotiated Moorhall and Barlow Grange before a lunch-stop, after which Marion peeled off for a shortened walk back to her car. Soon after that when the terrain didn’t quite fit what we were looking at on our maps, an extremely helpful farmer put us right and we were soon heading as planned towards Newgate and then Barlow. The varied and very dilapidated stiles continued to entertain us, and Tom contributed by ‘dismantling’ a few more. We almost went off-route in Common Side but spotted our mistake quite quickly, and then had a well-earned sit-down [we could have had a bench each they were so numerous] beside small lakes after the sewage works[!] Then it was a fairly straightforward and direct line up to Cartledge, appreciating its beautiful old hall with amazingly long stone waterspouts jutting out at gutter level, and then a comfortable downhill stroll back to the cars. Thank you to Caroline, Marion, John, Dave and Tom for your excellent company. Vanda

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