Autumn Footprints 2017 - Week Two
w/e 24 September 2017
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

In the second week of the Walking Festival I planned on doing at least five guided walks. There were over forty in the entire programme so I had a choice on most days of two or three from those that were scheduled. On Monday I opted for a walk with the Denby Footpaths Group over Amber Valley Routeway number 21. This started at the John Flamsteed Memorial Park and proceeded to the highest point in the parish from where this view was taken. The Memorial Park for Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, is across the road from the church in the centre of the picture.

To reach the high point we had passed over reclaimed opencast workings and through an area known as Copper Yard. Copper ore was once brought from Staffordshire to be smelted here but the area has now reverted to nature. As we descended to return to the Memorial Park (right) we passed a property bearing a plaque (left) that marks Flamsteed's birthplace in an earlier property on this site in 1646. Route Map

Tuesday was probably the best weather of the week and I joined the Heanor Walking For Health group for an extended route in Shipley Country Park. Walking For Health routes are normally no more than three miles but this extended version stretched to about four.

There was an unplanned and unexpected bonus on this walk for as we reached Smalley Lodge (left) on Bell Lane the owner of the house pulled up in his car and asked if we had seen the well (right). He then offered to unlock the covers and brought out a large torch for everyone to peer at the water below. He jokingly suggested we each throw a £1 coin in but we all politely declined, thanked him and moved on. Route Map

Wednesday's walk took me to Belper for another extended Walking For Health route with the Belper WFH group. This too had an unexpected diversion when we found a footpath had been closed. making it even longer than anticipated. It was on this walk that we passed at least three locations where fruit was on sale with payment being made by honesty boxes.

The diversion led to Ashbourne Road and some fine views of Belper (left) before dropping down to Bridge Foot and a choice of ending the walk or continuing to Wyver Lane Nature Reserve (right). Choosing that option made the planned three mile walk being five but I still had time to visit Draycott later to support the MacMillan Cancer Charity arranged to coincide with another Wednesday walk. Route Map

Thursday morning was another fine day for walking in ideal conditions but later in the day it did cloud over. There was a choice of three walks but I was dissuaded from the one at Lower Hartshay with painful memories of a fall there five years ago and the Nightingale Family walk at Holloway said that booking was essential. That left me with only the Risley - Ockbrook Circular with the Risley Conservation Group. I thought I had done this walk last year or the year before but although it started the same and headed for the board giving the story of the Risley Lanx ( see the Risley PC site) it then followed a path that I had not been on previously behind Hopwell Hall and into Ockbrook.

It was on this path behind the Hall that we caught a fleeting glance of a deer (left) in the field below on the edge of a wood but that was the only one and we saw no more as we continued to Ockbrook. The return to Risley was along an almost parallel path but passed in front of Hopwell Hall (right). This again was a path I had previously walked but with a different group in an earlier Autumn Footprints Festival. Route Map

The weather forecast for Friday was not particularly good and it did rain in the afternoon. I don't mind if you call me a fair weather walker but I decided to give it a miss and for my last participation in this year's Festival I waited until Saturday to join the Erewash Ramblers for a walk along familiar paths (left and right) around Dale Abbey and Locko Park. The views are permanent but the fungi only transient.

When the Festival started two weeks ago the leaves on the trees were all green but during those two weeks it has been noticeable how autumn colours have become more and more apparent. These leaves were in Locko Park and soon the whole area will be displaying the hues of the season and before you know it, we'll be into winter. Route Map The Festival closed with two more walks on Sunday with another Historical Walk at Risley and the final of the five in the series of walks In The Footsteps of the Pentrich Rebels, two of which I had enjoyed in Week One. For now though it's back to walking the dog and looking forward to next year's Autumn Footprints. Back to Autumn Footprints 2017 Week One

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