Longstone Edge
Five of us met outside church on 2nd October on a sunny and dry early autumn afternoon for our walk through the gentle limestone scenery around Great Longstone.
After driving to Great Longstone we parked and ate our sandwiches before starting our walk. Whilst we were there a coach parked in the village, the driver had dropped his visitors off at Monsall Head and was looking for somewhere to park before picking them up again.
One of the trades in Great Longstone used to be shoe making and this is reflected in one of the local pubs, the Crispin. St Crispin is the patron saint of shoe makers.
We started our route by walking through the churchyard of the Parish Church of St Giles. The medieval church was restored by Richard Norman Shaw in the 1870’s. Leaving the churchyard we followed a track, Hardrake Lane passing a couple of dew ponds.
These are small artificial ponds built to collect rainwater and snow. In the porous limestone area we were walking through standing water has always been scarce hence the need for these concrete lined ponds. Leaving the lane we gently climbed through the scrub covered hillside to reach Longstone Edge. Here we admired the view.
Over the years Longstone Edge has been under threat from quarrying but there were few signs of it on this walk, only a long abandoned quarry we walked by on our next stage at the very top of the edge, now partially filled in and returning to nature.
Over to our right we could see Monsal Head and could hear a P.A. system in use and see many cars parked in a field. Only later did we find this to be the Monsal Hill Climb, a popular event for cyclists held since 1930.
Continuing along the edge Bob Cable started to pick field mushrooms. By the end of the walk he had collected 2 ½ lbs which he later made into soup. (Please check ‘From the Registers’ to make sure he knew which ones to pick!)
We slowly descended from the edge, dropping down through gorse bushes and walking across a large field (more mushrooms) until we reached Stanshill Dale. This is a wide dry dale with a grassy path running through the bottom of it.
After leaving the dale we followed more paths before arriving back in Great Longstone and retracing our earlier route through the churchyard back to our cars.
If anyone wishes to join us then meet us outside church at 12pm with a packed lunch on Sunday 6th November. You will be made very welcome.
Steve Franks