Visit 9 - Parsley Hay (26/8/06)

Weather: Sunny spells (but no rain until the minute we got back to the car!)
Ranger: John Towse:
Route:
Distance:

I should have realised that Edale would be booked up on the Friday before the Bank Holiday, so instead it was off to Parsley Hay. As well as a general patrol we were going to research a possible guided walk in the south of the National Park near Ilam. But before setting off there was a lesson in completing route cards, and as my navigation weekend is coming up soon I thought it might be a good idea to listen properly this time :)

We started from the car park near the Dog & Partridge and joined the old turnpike road towards the village of Thorpe. This actually took us just off the bottom of the map and out of the National Park. But just because you're officially outside the Peak District doesn't mean the countryside is any less impressive. The view over the gently sloping Dove Valley leading towards Ashbourne was excellent. It was hard to believe that you were only a few miles south of the ever-popular (and incredibly crowded) area of Dovedale to the north. Crossing the Dove via an enormous stone bridge that once carried the turnpike road we headed towards the hamlet of Blore.

On returning to the car we got an incredible view of most of Derbyshire spread before us (see photo below). We reckoned we could see at least 40+ miles to Derby and beyond. There was even some hills in the distance which I have yet to identify! I really should have taken my SLR camera, but the weather looked so unpromising first thing!

Teapot Parade

Teapot Parade
Originally uploaded by bouldie.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Visit 8 - Derbyshire Bridge (12/07/06)

• Weather: Overcast with sunny spells
• Rangers: Eric Wood and Margaret
• Route: White Hall Centre, Two Rocks, Coombs, Castle Naze and back again.

This was the second time I'd visited this briefing centre and access this time was a little easier than in January ..

Today really reignited my interest in landscape archaelogy and history (probably something to do with meeting Eric and Margaret again who both pass on their enthusiansm for the subject).

Castle Naze
The picture below is a panorama from the top of defensive ditch built acrcoss one side of the fort at Castle Naze.

Residential training weekend at Losehill Hall (15-16th July 2006)

This was the first of the official training weekends which took place at Losehill Hall education centre near Castleton. The wekend was great fun and their was a good team spirit amongst the trainees and I really enjoyed it despite the fact that I was the youngest there by quite some margin!

Losehill hall .....

Visits 5, 6,7 and 8

It's been a while and I've not been very diligent in updating my blog with news about my training, but I'll try and get things up to speed in this latest posting. The only problem is some of them are now so long ago I can't remember what happened :)

Visit 5 - Parsley Hay (13/05/06)
Can't remember a thing from this visit (it must have been that exciting) ... sorry!

Visit 6 - Stanage (3/6/06)

• Weather: Really, really hot!
• Ranger: A. Cherry
• Route:

After finally discovering where the rangers actually start from (not from North Lees campsite, but actually half a mile up the steep road - thank goodness for the guy who gave me a lift in his Land Rover to the top of the hill or I'd have probably arrived about half-an-hour after everybody else had left) we set of in the direction of .... We returned via Bamford Edge, and I'd agree with Alan that this must be one of the best views in the Peak (yes another one!) especially on a day like this when you could see Hope Valley and the Upper Dervwent Valley spread before you. (see below)

Visit 7 - Trentabank (17/6/06)

• Weather: overcast
• Ranger: Geoff Summer
  
• Route: Gradbatch car park, Flash, Gradbatch

This turned out to be a slightly more unusual day than I expected (in as much as I didn't predict I would be walking down the main road with a giant tea-pot, but more of that later...)

When I arrived at the briefing centre I was asked if I wanted to go on a guided walk that one of the rangers was leading ...