Clint was left in the car park of the village hall at Hazelwood - a pleasant village oh a hill that overlooks the valley of The River Ecclesbourne. With boots on I wished him a fond farewell and set off on a day when the weather seemed so unlike February.
As I was outside The Peak District, some of the paths I walked were clearly little trodden. Finding one's way in such a landscape can be challenging to say the least.
I arrived at Postern Lodge Farm and found myself in a wet and muddy situation where cattle and tractors had turned the way ahead into an absolute quagmire. What is more, the route of the path was obstructed by barbed wire and fenceposts.
Woe was me but then a farmer arrived in a big John Deere tractor pulling a massive red trailer behind him. He had been transferring a pile of manure to a field on the ridge. He climbed down from his cab and we spoke briefly about the path dilemma. He apologised about the barbed wire and then kindly pressed it down so that I could get across. It was an unexpected act of kindness and I thanked him for it before carrying on my way.
Windley was a beautiful little village of perhaps forty houses, some of them very new but designed with architectural flair for owners who are "not short of a bob or two" as we sometimes say in Yorkshire.
Over fields to The Clouds and then along Burland Green Lane to Weston Underwood then east on The Centenary Way footpath to Cocks-Hut-Hill.
I must have walked eight miles and I was feeling weary but there were two more to go. I crossed The River Ecclesbourne and then a little used railway track before climbing steadily on the margins of fields to Hazelwood Hill where I followed the lane back to Hazelwood itself where Clint was waiting for me, ready for the ninety minute drive back to Sheffield via Wirksworth, Matlock, Chatsworth House and Grindleford..
"Did you have a nice walk?" asked Clint.
"Lovely Clint. Thanks for asking," I said as I switched on the Radio 4 news from the BBC.
Increasingly the focus is upon Ukraine now. Everybody wonders what Vladimir Putin is up to. and what NATO can really do to respond effectively to this growing threat to Europe's peace. Must there be bombs and bullets? Must there be death? And what for? What benefits will a bloody conflict bring to anybody? Funny how Putin has chosen this particular moment to flex his muscles when the entire planet has been rocked by Covid. Nobody needs a war right now.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/hxvG50t
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