We parked on Church Lane and were delighted to see a field with many lambs, two of which were prancing all over the grass. We walked along the road away from the A623 noticing an old water pump on our left before turning onto Old Dam Lane. The hills rose in front of us as we turned onto a track bordered on each side by dry stone walls and fields dotted with bleating sheep and lambs. This path steadily rose higher and higher as we discussed snakes. Pat explained how on a previous walk in Linacre Woods she had seen a grass snake slithering along the grass keeping pace with her before it vanished into a crevice in a wall.
We passed a farm, unusually named Dogmans Farm which had a metal man and dog standing atop wrought iron gates. Towards the top of the hill, we
reached a house called The Cop which had breathtaking views of green hills all around and in a hollow were nine lambs with one ewe standing over them, almost as if they were in a creche. Now on the Limestone Way, and at the top of the hill Julie spotted the red tractor we had passed in the car, on our way
to the village, still chugging along with a long tail of traffic behind it. We started to descend the moorland, walked through a gate and passed a dewpond which showed no sign of life before we saw a quad bike in the next field.
The sheep were calling and the farmer drove across the field distributing feed for them as they all stood in a straight line. He then drove into a neighbouring field to do the same. All the time on this walk we were surrounded by fields of sheep and lambs and in the distance black and white cows. We turned onto a stony track and before us was a high hill, shrouded by low cloud which we decided was Mam Tor. Thankfully that walk wasn’t on our itinerary.
Continuing on the wide expanse of green field and hill we noticed the red buckets of Opti-Lix, high energy food left out for the sheep to lick at. Still descending, we arrived at Sweetknoll Farm which had two big, black cockerels on the gate posts and a busy camping site set behind the building.
Just as the walk ended we were treated to the sight of a honey-coloured billy goat on the grass verge and across from him, over the wall was the nanny goat with four tiny, honey-coloured, kids. They were all chewing a small branch of a tree that was lying on the ground and using it to scratch their heads. In a barn next door were two slightly larger kids of the same colour, playing around in a wheelbarrow. What a cheerful sight, it made slogging up that long hill worth while.
For the next walk on Sunday 7th June we will meet at the church gates at 4pm. Everyone is welcome
Evelyn Lowe