Ten miles west of this keyboard, you reach The Derwent Valley. Once it was a river in its early stages travelling from the Pennine moors south towards Derby. But cities need water and so in years gone by The River Derwent was dammed - not just once but three times to hold back many millions of gallons Adam's ale. Three vast reservoirs were created - Ladybower, Derwent and Howden. When the ambitious engineering project was finally completed, King George VI arrived to plant an oak tree. That was on September 25th 1947.
Today I needed a good, long walk and for some reason hit upon The Derwent Valley which I have visited many times before. I parked Clint where the road ends by The King's Tree and set off on a nine mile circuit that took me almost exactly four hours. I walked the length of Howden and Derwent reservoirs then back up the other side.
At the point where I turned north, I noticed that water was lapping over the Derwent dam plunging down into Ladybower. In addition, I noticed that water board men were chopping and burning unwelcome undergrowth close to the dam's west tower. The rising smoke seemed to mingle quite dramatically with the clouds above and indeed with the excess water frothing over the dam wall.
Naturally, I snapped some pictures before carrying on. I was weary by the time I got back to Clint and very happy to guzzle water from the flask I had left in his boot (American: trunk). "What kept you so damned long?" Clint smirked.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/3u7cbku
