Beautiful Lancashire

[Mathos]

Originally Posted by Happyman

Off now
One of the nurses wants to email her boyfriend and I need some sleep - 4:45 am here !

Gotta keep them happy

Take care !

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

I'm turning in too.


One for you here.

A really nice houseboat.

Do you know the location.





The Canal was the Bridgewater, Penelope might know where it is..

[Happyman]

Originally Posted by Mathos

.

Must have got a good price for that old Vauxhall if you are running a Merc now !

[Happyman]

[quote=Mathos;785307]

Originally Posted by Happyman

One for you here.

A really nice houseboat.

Do you know the location.




.

From the www,ref and the "Project" in the writing on the stern it is probably a youth organization boat ( there are quite a few on the canal system) that takes city /underprivaliged kids on weekend cruises.

The way that the mooring manager has his cannon set up indicates that he has had some trouble from these boats before and is standing no nonsense from unruly kids this time !!!!!!

[penelope]

I can't remember if I've told you that OH and I walk the canals, we've got about halfway along the Trent and Mersey - and I believe the Bridgewater Canal branches off that. We've walked a bit of it, but in the daytime!!!! Everything looks different at night...so I don't recognise the pic. We walk the canals because the walking is flat.....I don't like 'up'.

We're walking the Shropshire Union canal too.....we alternate...depending on how far we want to drive.

Happyman - How boring for you to be in hospital. Hope you are well soon.

[Mathos]

Happyman Wrote:-

From the www,ref and the "Project" in the writing on the stern it is probably a youth organization boat ( there are quite a few on the canal system) that takes city /underprivaliged kids on weekend cruises.

The way that the mooring manager has his cannon set up indicates that he has had some trouble from these boats before and is standing no nonsense from unruly kids this time !!!!!!

also

Must have got a good price for that old Vauxhall if you are running a Merc now !

You are probably correct regarding the Canal Boat.

I can appreciate the 'Big Guns' would be an excellent method of 'kid control'

Why didn't I think of that?

The location was just behind the Railway Station as the Bridgewater runs through town there.

I found this on The Net too, quite interesting so I'm placing it on this post.

We have used this pub in the past, excellent location, nice food, and as I was driving I can vouch for the soft drinks selection.

The other buggers were into brandy and bacardi.



King’s Ransom, Sale, Cheshire


The map looked interesting. Leaving central Manchester on the towpath of the Bridgewater Canal, we would simply walk to Sale, a brief stroll of about 5 or 6 miles. Surely there would be friendly pubs at every bridge? No. Surely it would be an interesting walk through historic architecture and Manchester’s trading history? No. Well, perhaps a decent stroll along a pretty canal path? Thrice no.
Fortunately the walk ended at a quality pub in Sale. The tramstop is right opposite the pub. Can you guess how we got back to town?





The walk along this part of the Bridgewater canal is not recommended. The first lowlight is having to walk past Old Trafford Stadium - the theatre of Glazers’ wet dreams. I churlishly refuse to photograph this.





It doesn’t get much better with a good portion of Trafford Park (largest industrial estate in Europe) occupying a significant portion of the walk. Then Stretford and Timperley, neither of which are triumphs of architecture, or social engineering.





There was a little interest to be fair. An occasional barge passing with a cheery wave from the pilot. An occasional angler tutting as we walked past and disturbed the 6 foot carp that was about to bite. An impressive display of civil engineering at the bridge where the M60 crosses the canal.





It wasn’t an epic walk in scale either. Sale was reached much quicker than we thought and was the first time we had seen a pub since Dukes 92 in Castlefield, our departure point. The King’s Ransom is the second pub in quick succession on the Sale stretch, and it’s a cracker. It looks like a typical chain pub with gastro pretensions. I was surprised to find a wine list at all, but I nearly fell over backwards when I saw a bottle of Chilean Carmenère by Casillero del Diablo (a Concha y Toro brand).





I found the wine online at Buy Alcohol, Spirits, and Wine online [at] Drinkon.com at £7.49 so a very reasonable mark-up of less than 10 quid, even when served by the glass! It gave a strong aroma and taste of a real wood fire supported by blackberries, compost and treacle toffee. Great stuff for a pub wine list.
The next surprise came with the food. Again I got more than I bargained for from the sausage and mash. It looks like there might have been a chef involved (usually a YTS cook with an NVQ in basic food hygiene is the most you can expect from a pub like this).





All round I was impressed. All the way home on the tram I kept chuntering about how surprised I was to find Carmenère at a simple pub. Highly recommended for food and drink at very reasonable prices**.
The King’s Ransom, Britannia Road, Sale, Greater Manchester. M33 2AA T: 0161 9696006
** Please give me some credit for not using the phrase ”and it doesn’t cost a King’s Ransom!”.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 4:10 pm and is filed under bars and pubs, food, rip off restaurant mark-ups, south america. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



(That was a brilliant write up in my opinion}


The Mercedes Badge..

Happyman, I note again your excellent powers of observation.


Cheers.


Penelope, thanks again for the input and feel free to place some of your walk photographs on the thread if you wish.

Then again, a British Canal thread would be an excellent original thread for you to start rolling.

[Mathos]

This was the packsaddle type ancient bridge in Milldale.




Very impressive.

The cottage as shown built in 1896, a masterpiece in all aspects.




A few things really caught my eye with this one.

The stone window frame surrounds.

The Porch, blockwork was beautiful.

The Chimney Stack and Pot

The Coping Stones on the wall by the wall leading up to the elevated garden area.

The Two gate posts.

The whole cottage and surroundings was special, but the above aspects I thought superb.

This one as well. Fantastic example.



1898... Eleven decades and still looking good.

I like.

[Mathos]

The very pleasant lady here at "Polly's Cottage" fixed us up with four nice cups of strong refreshing Yorkshire tea.




All the ducks looked as happy as Larry, or as happy as ducks can look on what they would see as a really perfect day.





I was unable to work out the need for the two 'gate posts' stuck in the river though.



Perhaps they were a couple of Drake Posts though.

The general area was absolutely gorgeous to look at. The rain and dull sky's certainly didn't steal any of the natural beauty we came across either.



Sometimes I look at scenes like these and think they are too beautiful to be real.




Spectacular, might sum them up in a word.

[Mathos]

I had intended talking about the place we stopped for lunch.

Castleton, a really outstanding and beautiful village.

This was our dining room.




I'll carry on with this and some really nice additional photographs tomorrow, hopefully.

[Happyman]

Originally Posted by Mathos

All the ducks looked as happy as Larry, or as happy as ducks can look on what they would see as a really perfect day.





I was unable to work out the need for the two 'gate posts' stuck in the river though.



Perhaps they were a couple of Drake Posts though.


.

Totally ignoring the fact that you have posted more pictures of streams just full of trout () I have done a bit of digging but Milldale does not come up on any of the interactive map sites!! Can you pinpoint it a bit more ?

The two pics show the remains of a water management system that was not uncommon in the past .
The heavy stones laid in the stream bed are whats left of a small dam or weir and the two 'Goalposts' are the remains of the control system.

These dams/wiers were for one of two purposes ( or sometimes both!)

1 To hold a supply of water in the village during the summer

2 To maintain a head of water for a seasonal small local mill ( Milldale is a good pointer to the latter ! )

The large worked stones are the foundations of the retaining wall that was as high as the top of the 'goalposts'.

That being so when water was required to be stored, heavy boards would be put against the Upstream side of the 'goalposts' and held in place by the water pressure letting the level rise to the top of the posts when it overflowed and formed a weir with a pond behind it.

The pic without the 'goalposts' - where the stream narrows, is where the small undershot waterwheel would have been (there would have been another set of 'goalposts' there at some time to control the flow from the pond to the water wheel and to maintain the level when the mill was not working)

It is all conjecture on the limited info but the layout shows a remarkable similarity to a "village weir" that was on the River Chess near Rickmansworth that I was involved in surveying during one of my home trips - Before the bloody M25 construction wiped it off the face of the earth !!

Cheers

[Mathos]

Happyman wrote:-

Totally ignoring the fact that you have posted more pictures of streams just full of trout () I have done a bit of digging but Milldale does not come up on any of the interactive map sites!! Can you pinpoint it a bit more ?

Yes, a real teaser this one. We came across the village by accident so to speak and it wasn't pinpointed on any map whatsoever that I had.

Eventually after a bit of messing about I located references to the same, which I could confirm it was the same village as several photographs virtually twinned with those Flobo and self had taken.

This reference and link helps quite a bit:-

THE FEATURE
Milldale is a delightfully positioned hamlet at the northern end of Dovedale. It attracts walkers like few other places of its size in Britain. Most come to explore the beautiful Dove Valley, with its famous Stepping Stones and strange rock formations, but there are many other excellent walks in the area that either start, or pass through Milldale.
There was a mill in Alstonefield manor in the 13th century. It was presumably situated in the hamlet of Milldale, where records show that there was a mill to the north of Viator’s Bridge by 1775. The mill ceased to operate in the late 1870s, but 50 years later it was still standing, although derelict by that time. The buildings to the left of what used to be part of the mill have been converted into a National Trust Information Barn.

The mill processed and crushed calamine, mined at Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill, near Glutton, south of Buxton. Drug firms used the higher quality calamine and lower grades were used in brass making. In the 19th century, it was utilised to grind colours for paints. The remaining millstone wheel is still to be seen lying by the riverbank.

The ancient packhorse bridge, over the River Dove, crossed by hundreds of walkers on a fine day at the weekend at any time of the year, is the most famous of all in the Peak District. It is known as the Viator’s Bridge, and was made famous in the English classic The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton. In the fifth edition, published in 1676, Charles Cotton of nearby Beresford Hall wrote an addendum about fishing, introducing the reader to two travellers - Charles Cotton (Piscator) and Izaak Walton (Viator).

In the days when the two travellers would have approached the narrow bridge at Milldale, it would not have had any walls and must have looked quite frightening to cross. Bridges then were designed with low parapets to allow horses carrying panniers to cross without obstruction. Viator commented on seeing the bridge: ‘Why! A mouse can hardly go over it: ‘tis not twelve fingers broad.’ Milldale Bridge is now known as Viator’s Bridge and its name is clearly in view to all that cross.

A familiar figure by the bridge used to be Nancy Bennington who set up a stall selling mineral waters, sweets and postcards. When she saw walkers approaching the bridge, she would hurry across to open the gate and hold out her hand for a tip. In her younger days, she had operated her business from Reynard’s Cave a three-mile round trip and a steep climb away. Nancy was a great character, known by the rich and famous that had visited the valley, and in 1937, she was described by the Manchester Evening News as ‘The grand old woman of Dovedale.’

Milldale consists of only a dozen or so cottages, the oldest of which date back to the 17th century, and the others probably the 18th century. There is no public house in the village, but only a short distance away at Hopedale is the Watts Russell Inn. The other alternative for Milldale residents, in pre-car days, would be to go up Millway Lane, the old road to Alstonefield, for liquid refreshment. Things could have been different if an application in 1898 by William Hambleton for a drinks licence, had not been declined. However, all was not lost and Milldale did have its hotel, but of the temperance variety!

Mr and Mrs Bailey, who lived at Dove Mount, served refreshments to ramblers for 48 years. In 1966, about 150 members of the Manchester Ramblers Association held a special ceremony to thank them for their services. Nowadays welcome refreshments can be obtained from a small shop window at Polly’s Cottage, named after a former occupant.

The Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1835 and occasional services are still held there. On Christmas Eve 1998, 62 people squeezed into the tiny chapel, but in the year 2000 numbers were even greater and eighteen had to stand outside. The notice outside reads ‘Methodist Chapel – Look Around You – Come Inside – Give Thanks.’

A short distance upstream at the entry to Wolfscote Dale is Lode Mill, where a one-arch stone bridge crosses the river. The bridge is of 19th century construction. Previously the river was forded at this point and, in 1658, a woman was drowned there. The mill, built in 1814, continued in operation until 1929, grinding corn for local farmers. The miller’s son then transformed it into a joinery business. He converted the drive shaft from the mill to belt drive a circular saw using waterpower from the river. On the opposite side looking down over the Wolfscote Dale path, is Dove Cottage.

There is some additional and good information with regards to the locality here also:-


LOCALITY

Tissington Hall (Tel 01335 352200) is a fine Jacobean Manor House in the heart of the village, owned by the FitzHerbert family who built most of the cottages in Tissington. Open to the public for guided tours during the summer on selected dates, tours take place Tuesdays to Friday. For full opening details please ring or visit website.

Tissington Trail following the closure of the railway line, the track was converted into a trail and ever since has been popular with walkers and cyclists. The trail links up with the High Peak Trail. You can now either walk or cycle through some of the White Peak’s finest scenery without ever seeing a car!

Ilam Park lies on the banks of the River Manifold and includes a walk along an avenue of Lime Trees known as Paradise Walk. The 158 acres of the park is managed by the National Trust and there is a National Trust shop, information centre and tearoom. Entrance to the grounds is free to walkers.


REFRESHMENTS

Watts Russell Inn (Tel. 01335 310126) is an attractive old pub that dates back over 250 years and is named after the wealthy businessman James Watts Russell who lived at Ilam Hall. Open lunchtimes and evenings Tuesday to Sunday; Saturday all day; closed Mondays except Bank Holidays. Meals served Tuesday to Saturday lunchtime and evenings; Sunday lunchtimes. Outside seating.

Ilam Hall Tea Rooms (Tel. 01335 350245)provide excellent views of the Italian Gardens and beyond, whether sitting inside, or in the garden. A good selection of hot meals and snacks is available. Open at weekends and normally every day during the summer. Please ring for details.

THE DISCOVER DERBYSHIRE AND THE PEAK DISTRICT GUIDE


Provides a wide range of features on towns and villages with heritage trails and detailed countryside walks, through some of the most scenically attractive countryside in the UK.

The site is expanding to include many other features of interest to the local person and visitor alike. Why not bookmark this site for future reference. 1. To return to the main site click the link below.

Return to the Home Page
2. To return to the contents page of the main website click the link below.
Return to the Contents Page

DISCOVER DERBY
A special new sub-section has been added to this website, based on the Discover Derby Supplement, published by the Derby Evening Telegraph during March 2005. The most recent additions are:

Click below for details.
Discover Derby

MILLDALE WALK

A delightful walk with magnificent scenery and the incomparable River Dove, what more can anyone want?

Let us leave the last words with Byron, who wrote with Dovedale in mind, to his friend the Irish poet Tom Moore, ‘I can assure you there are things in Derbyshire as noble as Greece or Switzerland.’

Milldale Walk

Alsop en le Dale is a mapped village nearby (within two miles from Milldale) Parwich being the other which also has reference on my earlier posts.

This too from The net is also good information and should interest you as it refers to the cave being inhabited by man some 10,000 years since.

Thor's Cave is the most spectacular sight of the Manifold valley, dominating the central section of the valley. The rock in which it is set rears up out of the hillside like a giant fang with the cave entrance forming a hole in it ten metres in diameter, a sight which is clearly visible for several miles.

Excavations have shown that the cave was occupied as long as 10,000 years ago and this occupation probably continued until Roman or Saxon times, making it one of the oldest sites of human activity in the Peak. Stone tools and the remains of a range now extinct animals were found within the cave.

The cave can be reached quite easily from Wetton and is well worth a visit for a scramble inside or to climb onto the prow above the cave itself and admire the excellent view of the Manifold valley. How to get there

By Road: take the A515 Buxton road out of Ashbourne about 10km from Ashbourne and turn left to Alstonefield. Cross the River Dove and continue to Alstonefield and follow the single track road to Wetton. Car park with pay and display parking.

By Bus: the 443 or 441 buses from Ashbourne will take you to Wetton. From Buxton, take the 442 bus to Hulme End and change to the 441 bus.When is it open?

National Trust access land. No restrictions.
BackTopMain IndexTowns and VillagesPlaces to VisitAccommodationFood & DrinkOutdoorsMapsLinks
All material © Cressbrook Multimedia 1997-2008

[Mathos]

Simplifying the driving there would be to take Buxton as a starter town. Drive south on the A515 to Alsop en le Dale and drive around the roads following hamlet and village signs to Parwich. We then drove through the Thorpe Valley, but it heaved it down when we got near to the cave, so we carried on towards the little hamlet of Grindon and started making our way towards home from there.

Cheers.

I'm sheltering indoors at present, started working in garden but it has been raining on and off most of the morning, just had another shower and got changed, might go for a bike ride if it clears up better, but it's also quite cold and windy. Flobo say's I should put more wood on the fire and relax.

So I'm going to ask her to make me a big buttered oven bottom barm-cake with best Irish butter on grill some home cured best bacon, a few mushrooms and tomatoes, get them on the barm-cake with a nice hot mug of tea to follow.

Yep I'll relax.

[Happyman]

Thanks !
seems my thoughts on it were near the mark - very satisfying

Cheers !

[Mathos]

Happyman, I just read carefully through your remarks regarding Milldale from the couple of photographs I placed last night.

Marvellous deductions.

Well done.

This sign was on the gate outside the small information barn as well.




Nice street photograph from Castleton.



As you can see from the clothing worn by the folk in this photograph, it was a nasty old day.




Didn't matter though, it was good to be out, good to be here.

[Happyman]

Map of Alstonefield, GB
Milldale

«
Got it !!!

Aerial pic from Multimap shows the diagonal weir foundations and the tapered spill way !!!

Made my day that has !

Cheers !

[Mathos]

Originally Posted by Happyman

Thanks !
seems my thoughts on it were near the mark - very satisfying

Cheers !

Weren't you just... Well done.


An additional photograph of Castleton.




Looks like the shop keepers suffer somewhat with the bad weather though.

We had a nice lunch in the local pub.

Pots of tea, (four individual) Ham, eggs, veg and chips, really tasty, big plate forgot to take photographs of same. About £35..00 from memory.




The Castle.

Each room had it's very own open fireplace. I rather think it would be a superb location to spend a couple of nights in mid-winter.




Flag floors throughout. Staff were really nice, it was a very well run establishment.

You get a feeling for a place rather quickly and it certainly met the mark for my likings.



These cottages were outside, across the car park courtyard, so I assumed they would be additional accommodation rooms for the Castle.


Just came across this link, but my PC is having a hiccup fit and I haven't checked it out yet.

The Castle Hotel in Castleton sits beneath the promontory rock on top of which stands Peveril Castle, a 12th century impregnable fortress and seat of ...
www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk/content.php?categoryId=2953 - 57k - Cached - Similar pages


This was another attractive looking pub in the village.



We didn't go in, but as you can see from the window sign 'No Vacancies' there was no room at The Inn and it's not even Christmas yet.

[Mathos]

Originally Posted by Happyman

Map of Alstonefield, GB
Milldale

«
Got it !!!

Aerial pic from Multimap shows the diagonal weir foundations and the tapered spill way !!!

Made my day that has !

Cheers !

Glad you got sorted with that Happyman.

Cheers.

[Mathos]

Alsop en le Dale was a very attractive little village as well.

The Church and yard was interesting too.





It obviously dates back many years, I have not been able to find out very much information with regards to the original building, but it will be at least a thousand years.





Excellent condition as well.


There was a nice view from the Church grounds I thought.

To the other side of the Church and across the road stood Alsop en le Dale Hall. quite an impressive building it was as well.



Flobo asked, 'Why do they have the fence around those graves and tombs.'



"Folk are dying to get in"

I replied.

That got me another smack around the head.



An interesting link here as well.


Alsop-en-le-Dale
Alsop-en-le-Dale is a tiny Derbyshire village situated 5 miles north of Ashbourne off the A515 on a narrow country lane.

It is only a mile from Parwich and about a mile from Dovedale.

The old railway station that used to serve Alsop-en-le-Dale is now a car park on the Tissington Trail.


The village consists of a church, a hall, afew farms and cottages. The church, dedicated to St MIchael and All Angels, was originally built in Norman times, though it was heavily restored in the 19th century. The nave still retains Norman features and a Norman window remains in the south wall.


Alsop Hall, situated in the quite village of Alsop-en-le-Dale, opposite the church, was built in the late 16th century for the Alsop family, whose ancestors had held the estate from the 12th century.

It changed ownership in the late 17th century and has passed through the hands of a number of families since. Still in private ownership, the hall consists of 2 central 3 storey gables and single bay 2 storey wings.
Oher places of interest nearby

Dovedale
Thorpe
Ashbourne
Parwich
Tissington
Find local accommodation at Derbyshire and Peak District Accommodation
and Peak District Accommodation
For Peak District information try Peak District National Park














Worth checking out as well.

Alsop Hall, situated in the quite village of Alsop-en-le-Dale, opposite the church, ... Alsop church. alsop hall Alsop Hall. alsop-en-le-dale Alsop village ...
www.derbyshireuk.net/alsop_en_le_dale.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

Also some informative links and other village references in the locality.

The church of St. Michael and All Angels, Alsop-en-le-Dale, was until comparatively recent times a dependency of the Mother Church of Ashbourne. ...
www.ashbournechurches.org/Alsop-en-le-Dale.htm - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

[Mathos]

I'll get around to putting more on tomorrow. I actually went a decent bike ride this-afternoon. It was OK. Cold and windy to start with, but I soon warmed up. Did about an hour and was about twenty minutes from home though and the heavens opened.

I was saturated. No windscreen wipers either, no windscreen come to that.



Another nice location photograph here.

This one shows some of the ruins of The Castle at Castleton.




I'll put some additional information on here regarding the same tomorrow if all go's well.


Another from the Wanat Pass as well.



If you place this on your photograph manager, there are some sheep in the most ludicrous places.


I had no idea though, what these mounds were holding sacred.



Later..

[Mathos]

Cracking day today, no rain, blue skies, bit of a breeze.

Good bike ride and a bit of work outside.


There's a couple of photographs here we took at the start of our trip from Saddleworth Moor.




The house in the foreground looked really well cared for.

These places really are becoming much more poular for people to be buying and renovating or total new builds if they can get planning permission, which isn't always easy at all.





They can usually do what they want within reason regarding refurbishment of old farm houses etc.



There is plenty of space in the hills of course, but the original buildings were all agricultural or dairy associated.

Some of the old pubs were bought up years ago and converted into fancy type restaurants. I think they had a good run for many years, but the trend is not nearly as lucrative a business as it once was and unfortunatrely there is a decline in the appearance and presentation of many places.

The Alpine Restaurant up here near Denshaw looked reasonable from the outside, we didn't go in of course, but it did have a decent write up on a link I came across.



The link however was two years old at the time of entering this post.

Alpine Restaurant, Denshaw: Compare prices for United Kingdom Restaurants. ... to Junction 21 of the M62 and forms part of the district of Saddleworth. ...
travel.ciao.co.uk/Alpine_Restaurant_Denshaw__Review_5607658 - 67k - Cached - Similar pages

[Mathos]

Maybe the weather was the cause, the land represented a bleak landscape at times.




Then it changed, becoming quite beautiful regardless of the weather.






You can almost feel the wind driving the long grass in the foreground.





It's quite amazing how the landscape is used in different manners of the centuries too. These hills would have been hives of activity once upon a time. Roman Forts and look out towers, castles and all sorts of strategic reasons for building up high.




Nowadays they only serve a purpose or two with regards to sheep farming or quarries and the quarries appear to be closing down in these regions.





I was half expecting Kate Bush to come prancing across the ridge, looking for 'Heatcliffe'




Nothing, lasts for ever.