Normal Service - Day 7

Where I go underground again. 

I’ve had more gas problems today, despite the new bottle, I was thinking it’s about time I replaced the hose but in hindsight I should have checked it and bought a new one yesterday. The issue this morning turned out to be a kink, formed when I put the new bottle in, but the hose is starting to crack at that point. I was able to get my sausages cooked but I doubt I’ll use the cooker again this trip (I had pizza for tea as there’s a visiting takeaway van) so I’ve disconnected everything. 

In theory it’s a simple and easy walk from the site to Poole’s Cavern, unfortunately I missed the main path and ended up following lesser routes through the woods. It was actually quite pleasant and shouldn’t have been a problem until I stepped over a fallen tree and woosh, my left foot slipped away from me. There was no real damage done other than a muddy leg and hands with a couple of scrapes below my knee. Fortunately I was able to sneak in to the toilets at the Cavern and clean up a bit before getting a coffee. 

The cavern is very different to Blue John with wide paths and relatively few steps as you’re going in to the side of the hill rather than down what was effectively a mine shaft. I’d rate the guide a solid 8/10, good but some of his attempted humour fell a bit flat. As with yesterday we scored by having a small party, just five of us this time. 

One of the big differences from yesterday is that there are a lot of stalagmites and stalactites, which are largely missing in Blue John due to how the caves were formed, with this cavern being formed from water coming down whereas BJ was water being forced upwards under pressure leading to domed roof formations. 

The large stalactite in the middle is the Flitch of Bacon - the Victorians liked naming things after food! 

The previous photo shows the Long Gallery, also known as The Cathedral. There’s a river at the bottom which is dry at the moment but apparently can be swift and deep in winter/spring. The final formation is quite spectacular and goes by a variety of names. 

Generally these formations grow very slowly, taking tens of thousands of years, but the remains of old lime workings in the hill above the cavern have led to the water dripping through being very rich in calcium speeding up the process considerably. 

I’m not sure what it is about caves that’s so fascinating. One thing, as our guide said, is that they’re like living creatures, changing with the seasons but also over time, often many thousands of years; the other thing I find odd is that down a cave I can look over a 100ft drop, as I did at Blue John, without a qualm yet my fear of heights would make the same thing very difficult above ground. As you may know, the underground temperature in these caves is a steady 7-8C, so chilly on a warm day; this was really noticeable as we walked out of the cave, and glasses promptly steamed up! 

After lunch I was able to easily follow the correct way-marked path up to the top of Grin Low (Low meaning hill!) and Solomon’s Temple. There are a couple of reminders of the industrial past though, with these two sculptures of a lime burner and his wife. Some people think life is tough these days, and it can be, but imagine living in a cave scooped out of the quarry waste o, on a hillside, working hard outdoors all day in unpleasant conditions. As the gentleman I was talking to at the second sculpture said, we should count our blessings. 

It was an easy walk back down to the site but I will admit I’d had enough by then! According to the watch I’d done about 4 miles, which probably is about right, but there was quite a bit of climbing (it was mostly either up or down with very little flat walking). I got the ‘van mostly packed up ready for an early departure as I’m heading to Staffordshire for a model railway show. 

Normal Service -Day 6

In which I fulfill a 40 year old wish. 

The day started well as the gas held out long enough for bacon butties for breakfast, I decided that although I might get away with it for the rest of the trip there was a good chance it would fail in the middle of cooking, and with no spare that would be a minor disaster, so the first stop of the day was at Peak Leisure on the edge of Buxton, as suggested by the site wardens. A very nice lady duly relieved me of nearly £50 in return for their last refill bottle while we had a chat about the whole bottled gas situation (the withdrawal of the smallest Calor, and similar, bottles is causing a lot of problems for both campervans and boats). 

I’d made no other plans for the day so just headed roughly northwards with the idea of playing a bit of Brown Sign Bingo (see a brown tourist sign, follow it and see what happens). On this occasion I spotted signs for Blue John Caverns and thought, hmmm! Over 40 years ago I did some volunteering with the National Trust on Mam Tor, helping repair paths and put up fencing to keep people on said paths. I thought at the time a visit to the caverns would be good but of course we didn’t have the time or opportunity. 

Mam Tor from the cavern entrance

There is one downside to the caverns though, there are 245 steps down and, inevitably, the same back up again! The lady selling tickets did point this out and made sure I’d be OK, which I was. Blue John (derived from the French Bleu Jaune, Blue Yellow) is a unique form of Calcium Fluorite with banded colours, possibly due to the shale oil present in the area although there’s some doubt about this. 

Great Britain in Blue John? 

The guide we had was very good and as it was a smallish group (12 of us, they can take up to 45 at once) he had a bit more time to show some of the sights. Something he pointed out, and it’s true, is that sizes and distances are distorted down caves, like they are in thick mist or fog, because you have no reference points. The climb back up was taken at a very steady pace so in truth was no real problem at all but I was glad of an ice cream and sit down for a few minutes at the top. 

I returned to the site via Bakewell, for the sake of it, where I did a bit of food shopping (although not for puddings or, God forbid, the impostor tarts) and had lunch. The route back took me through the village of Youlgreave (or Youlgrave, both appear on signs), the location of one of our early camping holidays (1972 at a guess) before the final stop of the day to fill up with petrol ready for the journey home - again I might have been ok but might not. 

Sights you very rarely see…

I passed the Long Rake Spar Company, a 150 year old aggregate supplier, one of the buildings still has a pithead winding gear sticking out of the roof. 

A rat-rod VW Caddy camper complete with ribbons and tin cans on the back, driven by a lady in full wedding dress! I heard the rattling coming from the road, and thought someone had a problem, then a few minutes later they arrived on a nearby pitch, presumably having come straight away on their honeymoon. 

Normal Service - The End

One of the reasons for going to Derbyshire was that I had a model railway show to visit in Staffordshire today, not quite on my way home but a reasonable diversion. I left the site at just on 8am (I try not to be moving any earlier to avoid disturbing other campers although it can’t always be avoided). A clear run got me to the show in plenty of time for the opening, the first visit being to the breakfast butty van! After s bit of s look round I met up with friends and we browsed the layouts together. 

The show was the 50th Anniversary event for the 009 Society so there was an excellent display of narrow gauge models from the tiny to the huge - some we’d seen before, others were new. There were also a good selection of relevant trade stands so I purchased two loco chassis, one I was going to get mail order anyway but catching up with the supplier saved me the postage! The drive home was also reasonable so overall a good day. 

Conclusions

Going away at this time of year is always a bit of a gamble weatherwise, and this trip has proved that! We’ve had blazing hot temperatures, pleasant days, dull cold days and torrential rain. Based on the few days before I came away I packed the chiller fan, in hindsight I’d have put the larger fan heater in instead as the small one is only just powerful enough. 

I’m going to look for a handlebar bag for the bike to carry the necessary bits and pieces. The crossbar bag I’m using just isn’t quite large enough for convenience (it was ok until I got the bigger phone) and the rack bag is good for shopping but not for general use. 

Normal Service -Day 5

It’s been another pleasant day’s cycling today, helped by friends. 

The day started with a minor problem - the gas is getting very low! It’s my own fault for not checking it before I came away but I managed to cook breakfast, and will hopefully do so tomorrow before going hunting for a new bottle - the site wardens have pointed me to one likely supplier and if they can’t help there are others listed on the CampingGaz website. 

At lunch yesterday we’d arranged that my friends would collect me and my bike from the site, which was great as it saved me having to drive. Loading both bikes onto the carrier was an interesting exercise but we found a way that they’d fit and headed off to Parsley Hay. Two of us then headed down the High Peak Trail, the second of the ones I wanted to tackle this trip. It’s another reasonable ride, downhill most of the way we went but not all that steep which does mean the riding is fairly relentless as you get no option to free wheel at all. 

Interesting walled embankment, we suspect the buttressing is a later addition

The above photo could have proven very expensive, I took my glasses off to take it (the small camera I use on the bike had a very small viewfinder), then they fell to the ground and I trod on them! A few minutes back at the ’van with two sets of pliers and they’re wearable again, I’m due an eye test soon anyway. We did have a minor hold up due to grass cutting - I’m really not sure why this required vans in front and behind the cutting machine just about blocking the track so we had to go round on the verge - shorts and nettles are really not a good combination.

More industrial remains

We finished the ride at Middleton Top so there is a bit further for me to do another time down past the Steeple Grange Railway that I visited on Sunday to the canal at Cromford. As it was the other friend met us at the car park and we returned up to Parsley Hay for lunch. The trail had been very quiet when we were riding but it was very busy at the cafe, so much so that they’d run out of bacon and I think we got the last of the sausages for our sandwiches (very good sausage it was too)! I’m always quite happy when I’m riding alone but it was good to have company for a change and much appreciated. 

After my friends dropped me back to the site I sorted the bike out and loaded it back into the rack on the campervan. I’m not sure if it will get used again, it may depend on the weather over the next couple of days, but I’ve had two good ride outs so I’m happy. Some adjustment is needed on the derailleur as the chain is jumping very occasionally so it’s probably time I put the bike in for a service.

The forecast for tomorrow isn’t great, I’ll drive out to get some gas but I’m not sure what else I’ll do. It’s looking slightly better for Friday so I’ve booked for Poole’s Cavern which is a relatively short walk from the caravan site. 

Normal Service - Day 4

Subtitle: A Soggy Day in Buxton Town

It’s rained fairly solidly from yesterday afternoon right through which has created a couple of problems. Both roof vents in the campervan have leaked slightly, so I’ll have to tackle that when I get home, but the worst problem overnight is my own fault - the curtain on one of the sliding doors got trapped leaving a corner outside, this then soaked up the water and it wicked through to inside! No damage done, just a few annoying drips. I think the worst affected item was my microfibre towel which was slightly annoying when I had a shower. 

My plan has always been to walk down into Buxton and in the end I did so, setting off when I thought the rain had lessened a bit, I’m not sure it actually had! 

Spot the campervan! 

On a nice day it would have been a pleasant walk, as it is all I’ll say is I got there! Breakfast was provided by one of the cafes, very nice if a little pricey, and I had a wander round. Scriveners Bookshop would have held my attention for longer but unfortunately I haven’t the storage space in the ‘van to really explore their 5 floors of books, as it was there was nothing particularly special to buy. 

After coffee in one of the pubs I did the little bit of shopping I actually needed in the butchers before meeting friends for a very pleasant lunch and a chat. We’ve made arrangements to meet up again tomorrow for a bike ride - it looks the only decent weather for the rest of the week unfortunately so I’ll be looking for indoor attractions for Thursday and Friday. They also kindly dropped me back at the caravan site so I’m settling in for the rest of the day with the small fan heater going. 

Normal service - Day 3

I decided to do the first of my longish (for me anyway) bike rides today, settling on the Tissington Trail. As I’ve mentioned before we did part of this the last time I was up here but I was keen to finish it. 

Although there is only one steep part (a valley right at the bottom) there is a steady gradient up from Ashbourne so I decided to start there and do the harder part first. By comparison there was 911 feet of ascent going one way, 265 the other! I parked up at Mapleton Lane, on the edge of the town, with my destination being Hartington Station, a distance of 11.2 miles each way. I had a reasonable ride up, not particularly quick and more reliance on the motor than I’d prefer but then I haven’t been out for quite a while. I had one brief stop at just over half way then was ready for a break at the top. Food and drinks are served from the old signal box (there’s little left of the station itself) and the coffee was decent enough. 

The bike is just by the picnic table

I chatted with a few people, the last being a group of four on two e-tandems - one conventional style and one half recumbent (conventional seat at the back, which has the steering, recumbent seat for the stoker in front). I’ve seen these before, often where one rider is disabled although that didn’t seem to be the case here. I asked where they were headed, expecting them to say Parsley Hay (the top of the trail) or somewhere local, the answer was Berwick Upon Tweed! They were following Sustrans Route 68 and expected to finish Saturday; I’m assuming they had some sort of support vehicle since they didn’t seem to have sufficient kit for all of them for a week. It was handy having friendly people there as they watched my bike for me while I nipped to the facilities. 

The route isn’t the most scenic in the area, contouring gently up the valley with just a couple of cuttings

I was able to ride most of the way back at a quicker pace, although that wasn’t entirely reflected in my timings as I stopped at Tissington Station for lunch. I just had a cheese and onion sandwich but it was great to have a proper, freshly made, one on good bread and bursting with grated cheese. Chatting to the cafe owner he was saying that often in summer they get families who’ve cycled down from the top, not thinking that they’ve got to get back up again. It’s good business for him as by the time they get to the station after going to Ashbourne the kids are getting fractious so Mum stops with them, buying ice creams, chocolate and drinks, while Dad rides back up and fetches the car. 

Looking back past the platform at Tissington towards the cafe

There were a few spots of rain as I neared the end but nothing too bad until I’d loaded up the bike and nipped to the facilities at which point the heavens really opened! I wasn’t the only one to get slightly soggy rushing back to a vehicle. Yesterday I went east of the direct route back to the site so today I went west, towards Leek then cutting back across the hills. I was rewarded with some great views (unfortunately the panorama shot I took from a viewing point didn’t come out very well). 

It’s a sign of how variable the weather has been lately, when I came away I put the small evaporative cooler fan in the ‘van, fortunately I also left the fan heater in ‘cause I’ve put that on this evening due to the chill and the dampness in the air. Tomorrow I’m planning to go into Buxton, hopefully meeting friends for lunch; it looks like it could be another wet day unfortunately. 

Normal Service -Day 2

Today was a second visit to the Steeple Grange Light Railway, I last visited at Easter 2015 but was immediately recognised by one of the volunteers! They’ve undergone a few changes since then, and the place looks a bit different,  they’ve also built an extension to the longer line, which I was keen to visit in 2021 when I was last in Derbyshire but a rock fall had closed the line completely until stabilising mesh could be added to the rock walls. 

The lines are based on old quarry railwasy and they now operate small narrow gauge stock so it’s a bit different to most. When I arrived they were having a very quiet time, I was only the third passenger of the day but that soon changed, having the High Peak Trail alongside is a good way to get people in and they managed to persuade a group of six, who were just looking over the wall, that they really wanted to go for a ride! I’m sure they enjoyed it though. 

The battery-electric mine locos are used for the sort run to Steeplehouse Quarry

This is the only heritage railway I know that includes lectures on geology and fossils as part of the journeys. The first trip is a short one ending in a limestone quarry (now also used for high ropes work by an adventure centre). Highlights include what is effectively fossilised shark skin - their rough skin,  which helps them pass through water easily and quietly, is formed by having “teeth”, dermal denticles, on the surface which act in a similar way to the dimples on a golf ball, breaking up the flow around them. 

This diesel Hunslet was the motive power, its their larger engine used due to the rain as the track could be slippery

The longer line is the old Killers Branch of the High Peak Railway, built by the LNWR in 1884 for the export of Hoptonwood Limestone. The top part of the existing line is 1:14, which wasn’t the case originally as it had to be rebuilt on a slightly different route. The rebuild largely happened after someone noticed an advert for free hardcore from a farm. They had no idea how much would be available but thought anything would help - it turned out they were offered 180 tonnes! The farmer had offered free delivery, planning to do it by tractor and trailer, but the distances were too great so he kindly said he’d honour that and hired two tipper wagons for the weekend, in the end they made 15 deliveries of 20t each for a total of 300t. Fortunately the landowner at the top of the railway offered the use of a tracked excavator to help place and level it as well. 

Looking down the track from the summit you get an idea of how steep it is

The factory at the top of the line was turned over to producing headstones for war cemeteries after WW1

I decided to take a bit of a detour on the way back, partly to avoid keeping driving on the same roads and partly as I’d forgotten to get some cereal bars (energy food when cycling). Matlock was absolutely heaving, with a lot of motorcycles of all shapes and sizes so I didn’t stop; despite the best efforts of the SatNav I found the Coop at Darley Dale and got what I wanted. Back at the site a couple of the wardens happened to be doing something near my pitch so I had a quick word and asked if it would be ok to move pitch - when I arrived the site was very busy but it really emptied out this morning and if by any chance it comes out hot again being under the trees is an advantage. Of course it was no problem, and I was soon in my new spot in splendid isolation; inevitably within 20 minutes two motorhomes had parked nearby! One of them took an age, and quite a bit of shouting, just to reverse onto the pitch. It’s not as if the Club haven’t made it easier than it used to be by having two pegs at the  back, as long as you’re between them you’re ok (you used to line up on a single peg). 

Normal Service - Day 1

Normal service has been resumed, in that I’m away in the campervan and much of the week will be about railways, both open and closed. 

After a very busy time at work things had settled down to the point where I could take a week off, so the question was where to go. My first thought was back to the North East but diary commitments would have meant putting that off until October or only having a few days away, neither of which really suited. Another option was Derbyshire where I had some unfinished business with a couple of the old railway lines, and that fitted well with a visit to the 009 Society’s 50th anniversary event in Staffordshire as I could visit that on my way home. 

I then needed to choose a site, there was no chance of booking Chatsworth at such short notice, I’d been to Belper and Carsington Water, so that left Buxton, which is well located and the fact it’s a town I’ve been through without really visiting adds another good reason for stopping here. 

I decided on a leisurely journey up, avoiding motorways, which worked out well enough. Having been driving an automatic since my last trip in the ‘van I did forget the clutch when pulling up a couple of times but only actually stalled once! It soon comes back but I do miss the driver aids of the newer vehicle. For once I was fortunate with traffic, the only delay was showing as a whole three minutes and wasn’t even that long, so I avoided the stop start traffic that plays havoc with my left leg. I stopped at Sainsbugs in Ashbourne to get some fresh stuff but also visited a farm shop just outside Buxton - I’d sussed this out and it’s mainly a butchers but I did get the necessaries for breakfast. 

I was wondering on the way up where to stop for lunch, as I was going to be too early for the site, but that was easily resolved when I saw the High Peak Bookstore and Cafe - I think the only thing that could be better is a bookstore and pub combined. There was one railway book, on preserved industrial steam engines, that I might have been interested in but I did have a look and decided it wasn’t worth the £20 price tag. I may visit again at the back end of the trip when I can afford to fill up the limited storage space in the ‘van. The lunch menu was interesting, basically sandwiches and salads, but the Stilton Pork Pie Platter sounded good, and didn’t disappoint. 

Although I wasn’t short of fuel I knew I needed to fill up at some point so went in towards the centre of Buxton rather than cutting across directly to the site, that also helped fill up a few minutes so I arrived just about on the 1pm earliest arrival - inevitable there were a few units already ahead of me! The processing system changed during and after COVID so now, at least on busy days, you get greeted and checked in at the entrance, then go and find your pitch before visiting the office to complete the process. The other change is that, since they introduced a small booking deposit, you can opt to pay in advance which saves faffing about with cards - it all works very smoothly and quickly. 

As it was very hot I did little in the afternoon, just read a bit and watched some rugby. Unfortunately the views from the ‘van are dreadful (not!) This is just behind my pitch. 

I’m posting this early evening before I settle down to watch England v Argentina, possibly the game that will define the World Cup for the Red Rose. I’m not optimistic but hope I’ll be surprised. 😊

Added for the history books, England (well George Ford) 27, Argentina 10 after Tom Curry was sent off within 3 minutes. 

Battery Woes

Back in May, when I last used the ‘van, I had to charge the starter battery - no real surprise as it hadn’t moved for a few months. Last week, while starting to sort things for the next trip, it was flat again. 🙁

I put it on a reconditioning charge, eventually it did show charged but it took longer than I’d have expected and did show an error at one point so I wasn’t totally convinced. The ‘van started and ran round the block OK but it didn’t last - when I went out today to do a couple of things the battery was completely dead again.  I headed off to Halfords for a replacement; the old battery was at least 5 years old and had suffered through little usage during lockdown and ever since so I’m really not surprised it failed. 

I need to avoid the same thing happening again, which means finding some way of trickle charging the new battery. Mains charging isn’t really an option and I think trying to hook up the big solar panel (which charges the leisure battery) for dual charging wouldn’t be easy or cheap. The answer is to get a small panel just for the starter battery, quite by chance I’ve already got a spare controller (bought for £1 at a boating event). I’m thinking I can mount the charge controller under the bonnet and mount the panel on a bit of ply. I’ve got some strong magnets “in stock” I can use four of those to attach the panel to the bonnet when the ‘van isn’t in use for long periods.