Rain started to fall as we drove to Bolsover for our September walk which we started from St. Mary and St. Laurence Church and enjoyed the sight of a long line (at least thirty one baskets), of orange, red and yellow begonias, hanging along a stretch of green railings. Someone has done a lot of work on this and it was very impressive.
We crossed the road and walked through a field, recently burnt, as shown by the grain scattered on the ground and the blackened hedgerows, before walking through another field and through a gap in the hedge. The rain stopped falling and the weather was now very calm, no wind and feeling warm. We heard the sound of an aircraft but couldn’t see it because of the cloudy sky. There were wonderful views all around us with a patchwork of harvested fields and trees in the distance; three of us discarded our waterproof jackets before turning left onto Main Street, Scarcliffe opposite a whitewashed cottage. We saw two horses in a nearby field and for the first time heard a bird singing, otherwise there were no animals, birds or wild flowers to be seen on this walk.
The vegetation under the hedges was dead or dying, looking rainbattered and droopy. At a wildflower meadow a wide path had been cut for walkers, but the flowers were long since dead apart from a scattering of red poppies. We entered a wood via our first stile and noticed a line of healthy beech saplings on each side of the path before we reached the busy Hillstown to Glapwell main road. Down a grassy path, bordered by hawthorn hedges, nettles and blackberry bushes all looking damp and neglected. When passing a field of crops, we couldn’t decide from a distance if it was maize or sweetcorn so Julie decided to investigate and broke off a damaged cob of sweetcorn. Argument solved.
We entered the town of Palterton under a hazy sun and were entertained by various scarecrows, the first being a horse looking over a hedge, the rider’s wellington boots sticking into the air. The next was Paddington reaching into his suitcase, and then we saw a police woman, wearing a yellow tabard and fishnet tights, holding a hairdryer as a speed camera
Further into this village we came across a house with gateposts, topping one was a small stone statue of a well-dressed man with a quote “Save water, drink gin.” On the other gatepost was a person resting binoculars on a wall and underneath him was a burglar with his bag of swag
This is a very pleasant village at a high altitude and therefore having expansive views of the Derbyshire landscape which we drank in whilst sitting on a bench. Continuing on our way, Bolsover church and Castle came into view and we stopped to sample blackberries, which surprisingly hadn’t yet dried up, before jumping into the cars after an interesting afternoon walk, led by Steve
Our October walk will be on Sunday 5th when we will meet at 12 noon at the church gates before driving to our destination. New members will be made very welcome.
Evelyn Lowe