The Eastern Edges of the Peak District

Saturday 7th May 2016

Last spring I was keen to visit as many woods as I could find that had bluebells in them as well as lots of other lovely woodland flowers such as wood anemones and celandines. Only ancient woods have this carpet of flowers that are so rare and when they found is a delightful sight. On the previous weekend I did my Charnwood Forest Round, which is a walk in Leicestershire that I do frequently at all times of the year, but which also happens to be an excellent walk for seeing bluebells as it passes through several woods that feature amazing displays of these flowers. The Outwoods, near Loughborough, is particularly outstanding and deserves national acclaim. I remember standing in the middle of this wood with bluebells all around me with the sun shining overhead on an amazing display that puts many other woods to shame. I have described my Charnwood Forest Round on this blog before so I will not do so again, but instead I’ll move on a week to a walk that I did in the Peak District. Searches on the internet for bluebell woods are skewed towards those owned by the National Trust, which was probably why I had been sent to Calke Abbey two weeks earlier, and now it took me to Curbar Gap on the eastern edge of the national park.

I arrived at the windy and exposed car park bright and early in the morning while a strong, cold wind was blowing over Curbar Edge and mist lay in the valleys. Despite a forecast of warm temperatures I was wrapped up in gloves and a woolly hat as I made my way along Curbar Edge with poor views across the misty Derwent Valley. My enthusiasm for the millstone grit was not extinguished by the cold start or the hazy views as I bounced around from rock to rock along the edge of the escarpment relishing the feeling of rock underfoot and the lack of another soul to witness my larking about. I came off the edge before reaching Froggatt Edge and made my way along a great path that passes below the sheer cliffs where later in the day many climbers would be practicing their suicidal art while I made my way down through the woodland and onto the main road. A short walk along the road brought me to a National Trust wood with a path that slowly deteriorated while gracing me with fabulous displays of bluebells, wood anemones, stitchworts, celandines and marsh marigolds in amongst the bogs. Slowly I made my way along this highly decorated, but horrendous path that in many places merged into the morass until eventually, and with very muddy shoes, I finally came out of the wood.

A short walk along a road took me to Grindleford Station, which is situated dramatically at the mouth of the long Totley Tunnel and high above the Derwent Valley. An interesting walk through Bolehill Wood above the station took me gradually uphill through the former Bolehill Quarry, which is slowly being reclaimed by nature. A fun, little path took me past climbers hanging precariously off the rocks in the quarry and up to the top of the moorland looking out over the valley. Continuing north took me over a main road as I made my way through the heather moor towards some of the striking rock tors that are scattered around this part of the eastern edges of the Peak District. After passing over several smaller tors I eventually reached Higger Tor where I had hazy views in the sunshine, but warm, blue skies overhead. I could have kept going north, but I decided that this would do and I should turn back heading south from there. It was great to be walking in short sleeves again after the long, wet winter and I enjoyed basking in the sunshine as I made my way across Hathersage Moor.

On crossing the main road again I re-entered the extensive National Trust property of the Longshaw Estate that I had been spending a great part of the day walking through. Passing the visitor centre at the heart of the estate, I made my way south along some great paths, most notably in a striking, deep valley within Oak’s Wood, until eventually I reached Hay Wood. This was the wood that I had heard was full of bluebells, but I was very disappointed when I got there as it was difficult to find any. The boggy path of earlier in the day passes through a southern extension of Hay Wood, but it took me a long time to find any bluebells in this section of the wood until I finally found some beside a wall near the Grouse Inn. After the extensive blankets of bluebells that I had seen the week before in Charnwood Forest, these were disappointing, especially as a lot of them were still in bud even though the Leicestershire bluebells were at their peak this weekend. Despite my disappointment at the small quantity of bluebells the timely re-appearance of the sun made this small spread adequately satisfying.

I continued my trek southwards heading across a busy road and up to Froggatt Edge towards the point where I had left the edge at the start of the walk, passing many people on the way who were also enjoying this spectacular location. Before reaching the top of Curbar Edge I came off the top onto a path that descends through woodland that was sadly devoid of flowers to continue the walk below the edge until I reached the road a short distance from the car park at Curbar Gap. The weather on this walk, when the wind wasn’t blowing, was very warm, pleasantly warm for early May, and made for a great stroll in short sleeves. I have walked these edges several times in the past and they are always a pleasure, especially when it is sunny. However it was very misty all day so the distant views remained poor, although it was the views at my feet that I had come for and even though these had ultimately failed to satisfy I still had an enjoyable walk.

Calke Abbey in search of Bluebells

Saturday 23rd April 2016

The week before this walk, after doing section five of the Ivanhoe Way, I came across an astonishing display of bluebells in White Horse Wood, near Shepshed, and this fired my enthusiasm for the delightful woodland flower. A woodland floor covered in these small blue flowers is almost a uniquely British phenomenon and one that must be treasured in the ancient woods that contain this fabulous display. A search on the internet revealed that one of the best displays of bluebells in Britain is at Calke Abbey, which is a National Trust property less than a mile from the Leicestershire county border. I had passed through Calke Abbey the year before while doing what I later considered to be the best stage of the National Forest Way. When I tried to think of a walk I could do that encompassed Calke Abbey, I couldn’t think of a better walk to do than the one that I had done the year before, but this time in the opposite direction as it’s astonishing how different a walk can seem on the way back, so I abandoned my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way and made my way past Ashby-de-la-Zouch and back to the lovely village of Smisby. The walk started very early in the morning as I headed north along the gloriously bejewelled Forties Lane through a deep cutting whose banks were covered in celandines and speckled with bluebells, though this delight was just a foretaste of the wildflowers that I would later encounter of this walk.

Rather than following the route of the National Forest Way out of Smisby, as I had previously, I headed towards Daniel Hayes Wood on the original route that I had planned to take at the end the walk the year before. Leaving the road I headed through typical National Forest woodland, i.e. young, with the sun slowly rising above the horizon as I made my way to Daniel Hayes Farm where after a little confusion I turned right onto the road even though I’d wanted to go through the farm into Daniel Hayes Wood. When I realised my mistake, rather than retrace my steps, I decided to change my route so I now headed along a bridlepath beside the edge of the wood on a path that was lined with many wildflowers although none were in the young wood. I was delighted by my unintended diversion and this continued into the Oaklands and Smith’s Gorse, which also had a few bluebells. Leaving the woods I made my way over to Foremark Reservoir where I joined the National Forest Way and retraced my steps of the year before under cloudless skies through the constructed paths beside the reservoir.

When I reached the car park at the north-eastern corner of the reservoir, I remember being astonished that it was before eight o’clock and yet I had already been walking for several hours due to my early start. I continued on the National Forest Way leaving the reservoir and following dreary paths beside arable fields before turning right at Hangman’s Stone to eventually reach the village of Ticknall. There I entered the grounds of Calke Park and soon I started to explore this fabulous area stopping off at a bird feeding station before descending to the ponds along one of the waymarked paths. I came across some bluebells above the ponds, but they were nothing special, though grand old oak trees nearby were majestic. Turning north I entered a wood where I was immediately dazzled by many celandines and bluebells that had me mesmerised, until I turned right at the corner of the wood and entered Serpentine Wood where I finally found the awesome displays of bluebells that I had heard so much about. Now I was totally awestruck.

With the sun going in and out behind clouds I lingered for a long time gazing at the fabulous bluebells taking many pictures when the sun was out and standing in awe even when the sun was in. Slowly I made my way along the path through the awesome display of bluebells until eventually I reached the course of the National Forest Way. After a lingering return through the park back to Calke Abbey, I finally decided that it was time to leave and headed off once more along the route of the National Forest Way around the deer park and down to Staunton Harold Reservoir. The weather was now wonderful with no sign of the patchy sunlight that had plagued me while I had been wandering through the bluebells of Serpentine Wood, so with the main purpose of my walk now completed I wandered slowly in the warm weather past the reservoir and along the road through the tiny hamlet of Calke. Eventually I reached Dimminsdale Nature Reserve where I had seen a fabulous display of snowdrops the year before, but it was now too late in the season for these enchanting flowers.

I had been in this reserve just a month before when I had started my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way and it was astonishing to see how much Dimminsdale had changed in such a short time as it was now teeming with life and vegetation, most notably with celandines while the distinctive smell of wild garlic filled the air. Continuing along the route of the National Forest Way, I was now also on the route of section three of the Ivanhoe Way, though in the opposite direction to my circuit. I encountered more bluebells in Mosley’s Plantation, while in the spectacular, though shallow, gorge of Black Ditches, the woodland was filled with wood anemones. Unfortunately the sunshine that I had enjoyed for most of the morning was now replaced by thick clouds that would ruin the rest of the day and was the reason for my very early start. Just beyond Black Ditches was Park Pale Woods, which I had hated the year before as the path had been horrendously muddy, so with the bogs of the walk the week before still fresh in my mind I tried to take a different route, but I wasn’t entirely successful.

I wandered through this wood for quite a while and was close to getting lost until I eventually found the track of the National Forest Way and the Ivanhoe Way and, rejecting a shortcut that would have taken me straight back to Smisby, I followed these trails all the way past a large warehouse and into Ashby. My return to Smisby was along the same route that I had taken the year before. This was a long but interesting walk with many fabulous displays of wild flowers along the way, most notably the bluebells in Calke Park. It was great to retrace my steps of my great walk the year before on the National Forest Way on a stage that I had thoroughly enjoyed then and thoroughly enjoyed again. I love walking at this time of the year as I love woodland flowers and this walk showed many of these flowers in lots of fabulous locations.