Derbyshire 129 - Chesterfield - Day 75 - 74 walks thwarted by the weather / Derbyshire Stoops

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Day 75 of lockdown . A lockdown that is slowly being released . Another couple of weeks and other shops will be open. Tell me this - why can Ikea open but yet the zoos around the country that are charities are still locked down?. Losing money fast they will close and conservation will end if it carries on . A petition has been raised asking our PM to consider what is important in life . Ikea or a zoo? I think we know the answer to that one .

Some of the local National Trusts have opened up their land for walking . Their parks were closed down early on in the pandemic . Why ? Plenty of room to ramble -social distancing would have been easy. Designated parking with a few metres between each car . It never made sense to me . But then nothing that has gone on has made much sense . From Dominic Cummings to initiating a 14 day quarantine now rather than earlier on. From different ideas of how to end the lockdown in all the four nations. How to confuse people - well our government and others have done a good job of confusing us all .

I never got to walk yesterday so todays walk was walk number 74. The rain had poured down overnight making everything wet through. Good for the garden. Good for the grass . June has done what June always seems to do these days . Not flaming but flaming awful. The rain freshened up everywhere . But it prevented me from getting out. It was a working day yesterday so the walk needed to be done early . In the end it did not happen . So today although being Day 75 of the lockdown is actually Day 74 of walking the fields , paths and streets of Derbyshire .

The sun shone this morning . Making it a lovely day albeit cold . Having moved from coat to jacket, from jacket to jumper and from jumper to T shirt I was now back in jumper and long trousers again. The shorts relegated to the washing pile in the hope that they could be brought out again . As I walked I wished that I had dug out the scarf and the gloves. What a difference a day makes . And more to come according to the weather forecasts.

My walk was to take me around the Lido. The dog walkers were already following me and the fishermen were busy at the lakeside setting themselves up. The Lido is covered now with the yellow water lilies that have taken over. Walk number 74 was taking me over the same ground, By tomorrow if I am lucky enough to get out I will have walked at least 225 miles. How far would that get me if I walked a straight line? Who would have thought I would walk so far . I certainly did not think I would all those weeks ago.

Down Birkin Lane. I was not on my own . Dog walkers were joining me. I had intended to head off down Bottom Road . I had not been this way for a few weeks . The road was dusty. I pulled in to a drive to wait for a Land Rover driver to drive by. He did not even acknowledge me . No wave . No thankyou. As I walked further up the road I saw him again parked up at a stables . He had got out of his vehicle and was closing his electric gates. I wondered if I would get out of his way the next time he passed me.

Over the last few weeks I have searched out strange things . The strangest along this road is a grave dug in a garden. A cross marks the spot topped with some kind of stone cairn and a piece of farm machinery . Looking closely I realised there were two graves dug. I wondered who was buried there and why they chose to bury someone in their garden . Would anyone want to buy that house ?

At the top of the road I almost turned back . Instead I walked to the gate and noticed a path to my right . Narrow it ran alongside a farmers field. To my right the bluebells had gone over , the ferns were taking over and the smell was fresh. The farmer had begun his collection of silage . A job that would have to wait as the field was now too wet . Perhaps in the next few days he could continue where he had left off. I walked the edge of the field ever upwards . Surely this path would take me to Middle Road . I recognised nothing for a while . All the trees look the same. Nothing stood out apart from the well maintained fence erected to keep me out. After ten minutes I had found my way through and was standing at the top of Middle Road. I had found my way back.

So what is this about stoops? Derbyshire has many of these features . Known as guide stoops they were erected in the reign of William III around 1697 . The reason for their erection was the fact that the moors were remote and without any knowledge of the area many were getting lost and in winter losing their lives . The local surveyors were told to design them - no particular design was chosen - all were different . Some had hands pointing in the direction of travel . Many were dug up over the years and thrown away. During the second world war some were taken up and hidden . Many are now back were they should be . I found one just up the road from where we live . I must have passed it many times on our trips out and never noticed it. It was worth parking up and walking back to see what is such a unique part of Derbyshire .

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