On a fine morning we were soon in the relaxed state that walking induces. However, turning to climb up from Stoney Middleton we were shocked to see three vehicles coming down towards us with headlights on and taking up the full width of the enclosed track. It was a struggle to get out of the way and the incident unsettled us. It was a statue in the middle of a wood that eventually lifted our spirits. Fair Flora was banished there by a former inhabitant of Stoke Hall who had become distressed by the damsel’s enduring beauty as her own began to fade.
As we approached Padley Chapel there was a friendly dog, seemingly on its own, who accompanied us to the door where the chapel’s custodian from Tideswell greeted us. ( I should have recognised the dog as I see it regularly. ) Later following an hour or so of fruitless searching for a path high up woods across the road from Grindleford station, we decided to retrace our steps. Ice creams were purchased from the spic and span community shop attached to the church before we took the more familiar lower level route back to Calver.
Helen Royle.