Autumn Footprints 2012 - Week One
w/e 16 September 2012
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
2012 marks not only the tenth anniversary of Ilkeston
Cam but also the same milestone for the Amber Valley and Erewash
Walking Festival, Autumn Footprints. Staged over sixteen days
the Festival this year offers about forty free guided walks between
the 8th and 23rd September and we selected and booked walks on
most of those days. There was obviously no shortage of images
for this page but I've selected just a few from each walk to
illustrate the variety we enjoyed during the first week of the
Festival.
  After
attending the launch event at Shipley Park on Saturday our first
walk the "Denby Heritage", was on Sunday afternoon.
This passed the village cricket ground where I captured this
quintessential English summer scene whilst the walking group
paused nearby at the former Methodist Chapel (left). Later we
passed John Flamsteed's 1646 birthplace (right) who went on to
become the first Astronomer Royal.
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  The
Monday walk, the "Little Eaton Round", followed a well
known path from previous Festivals along the Derwent Valley between
Little Eaton and Duffield. We were fortunate enough to leave
the river bank and start the climb up to the high ground above
Little Eaton just as the Tour of Britain cycle race approached
Duffield where Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and all passed
us at speed.
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Before returning to Little Eaton (above) the six mile walk took
us again along some familiar paths but also into areas that I
for one, had not walked previously in this part of Derbyshire.
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 The longest walk of the week at
nearly eight miles began in Alfreton on Tuesday and followed
the same route as last year's walk as far as the Golf Club. It
then took a different direction and headed south over fields
and open countryside to a lunch stop in Pentrich. The peaceful
village of today was the setting for England's last revolution
in 1817. There are several plaques in the village commemorating
various events of 1817 including one at the foot of the steps
up to St Michael's Church that states that "The curate hid
rebels here from the goverment troops."
(And yes, "goverment" is spelled like that on the
plaque.)
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After leaving the revolutionary village of Pentrich the return
journey took in views of the Sherwood Foresters' Memorial at
Crich Stand, a Roman Road and the English Heritage ruins of Wingfield
Manor (above). The title of the walk was "Romans and Revolutionaries"
and this image was taken from the site of a Roman Camp close
to the Roman Road.
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As the complete antithesis to the moderate walk through the undulating
landscape of Alfreton and Pentrich, the Wednesday walk was a
gentle two mile stroll with a Walking For Health group from "Horsley
Woodhouse to Denby Pottery" where we enjoyed a morning coffee
in the Visitor Centre. The outward journey had been across fields
and footpaths but we returned via the roads and lanes completing
a similar distance with a brisk walk in about a third of the
time.
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Thursday saw another six mile walk classified as "moderate"
at "Spondon and Locko" which again was a mixture of
familiar paths and new ones. It started with a route across the
fields from Spondon to Ockbrook that I had not walked previously
but the Village
Trail around Ockbrook meant I was well aware of the Moravian
Settlement.
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The route from Ockbrook to Dunshill was again one I had not walked
previously but from there into Locko Park where we enjoyed a
picnic lunch overlooking the lake, the route was along paths
we had walked previously including a section of the Midshires
Way some of which can be seen in the Dunshill Triangle.
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Another five mile moderate walk titled "Lower Hartshay and
Heage Windmill" was on the agenda for Friday and this turned
out to be the most memorable walk of the week. Starting again
along unfamiliar paths we approached Heage and walked through
the village to pass close to the six-sailed eighteenth century
mill. Our lunch stop was close to the mill and several of the
group walked right up to it to get a closer view.
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Having toured the mill in 2004 (see here) I stayed with the rest of the group
and surveyed the surrounding countryside.
  The walk was made memorable on the way back to Lower
Hartshay along the route of the old Cromford Canal. At the entrance
to this tunnel, I slipped on a moss covered boulder and fell
headlong into the mouth of the tunnel injuring my left knee.
A little further along a small pony lashed out with its back
legs and caught my wife with a glancing blow just below her right
knee.
We had planned to complete more walks in the second week of the
Festival and whilst my wife is walking freely, unless my leg
improves significantly by Monday, I can't see me traipsing across
fields and climbing stiles in the early part of the week at least.
Hopefully my mobility will improve quickly and I'll be able to
feature more images from the second week of Autumn Footprints.
No-one will be more disappointed than me if I can't.
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