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January 1, 2021

northernvicarwalks December 2020

The November lockdown made zero difference as so many things remained opened, government is incompetent, test and trace is a complete failure, and the virus has become more efficient. The death toll is horrendous, yet crowds still gather outside hospitals refusing to believe we have a problem and refusing to wear their masks. We ended December in “Tier Four Stay at Home”, so we’ll see if that makes any difference. In some ways it was quite nice not to be so busy in December, but I missed the music, the crowds and the celebrations. We produced a Zoom service...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/National Trust Comments: 0
December 4, 2020

northernvicarwalks November 2020

We were running a safe service in each church every Sunday, but were told on the evening of Saturday 31 October that Sunday 1 November would be the last service for several weeks. Apparently the announcement came as a surprise to the Archbishops as well. Good to know that State still talks to Church. Remembrance Sunday was difficult – clear instructions from the City and the Director of Public Health that we must not meet at War Memorials. The Government gave one message about standing on our doorsteps, but also issued instructions that small groups could meet together and...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Cambridgeshire/Derbyshire/Personal Comments: 0
November 28, 2020

northernvicarwalks October 2020

Harvest Festival without “We plough”, weddings with 15 people, baptisms with 6, and more time at home. i was a speaker on WW1 Great Eastern Women at a Zoom conference on “Women in Transport” that should have been at Swindon. (I was looking forward to a day in Swindon). Someone else spoke on “Gender in Intercity advertising”, remembering the days of Monica. A day at Crich to show Julie my “Mail by Tram” exhibition before it closed. We had to cope with a fire at St Matthew’s – the funniest thing was when I ended up on the roof...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/Northumberland Comments: 0
October 21, 2020

northernvicarwalks September 2020

You know it is going to be a bad month when, on 1 September, you go for a 5 mile walk which has as one of its goals, posting a small parcel at the Post Office. Hannah had prepared it, and asked you to post it to a friend of hers’. You stand outside in the queue for 20 minutes, sweltering under your face mask, and text her to ask what the parcel contains. “Face masks”. 4 miles walked the next day at Kedleston, then 4 on my Derwent Valley Walk. We had Scarecrows in Allestree on Saturday, and...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire/Railway History/Yorkshire Comments: 0
October 21, 2020

Derwent Valley Heritage Way 9 – Belper to Milford

Walk 8 was on 2 September 2019, walk 9 on 4 September 2020 – and that was only by accident. I started in the Oxfam Bookshop – a superb Oxfam Bookshop, but buying two heavy books at the start of the walk was just stupid. I went through the Memorial Gardens and admired the flowers. The sculpture is of Jim Green, who died on the Somme – http:// belperinwartime.org/sacrifice.html Then I decided I would follow the Derwent Valley Heritage Way towards Milford. It was a lovely walk. I went through Belper Parks, then the edge of the town, and...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/Derwent Walk/Railway History Comments: 0
October 13, 2020

Castleton, Derbyshire – St Edmund, King and Martyr

Tuesday 22 September 2020. We went on to Castleton, as I had arranged to meet Linda to look round St Edmund’s church. Pre-covid it was open all the time, now just twice a week. It is one of three churches with a house-for-duty Vicar, and at the moment has one service a month (and the fourth Sunday on zoom). Again, like Tideswell, no guidebook. I did wonder if their noticeboard is a symbol of 2020. The Chancel arch, which we’ll see in a minute, is Norman, but the rest of the church was restored in 1837. One authority describes...
Categories Derbyshire Comments: 3
October 12, 2020

Tideswell, Derbyshire – St John the Baptist

On Tuesday 22 September 2020 we started the day at High Peak Bookshop, then drove up to Tideswell, and parked right outside the church of St John the Baptist, SK153757. They advertise themselves as the Cathedral of the Peak, and are open despite being unstaffed. They have a one way system, in via the south door (which has flat access) out through the (inaccessible) north door. Although they must be one of the major church tourist hubs in the middle of a National Park, they had no guidebook on sale. Pevsner fills four pages with the church and the...
Categories Derbyshire Comments: 3
September 23, 2020

northernvicarwalks August 2020

I’ve already blogged the National Memorial Arboretum and my 5 mile walk there on the 1st of the month. We opened St Edmund’s in Allestree on 2 August – so both my churches were open within three weeks of it being possible. I commented it would have been so helpful if the Church of England had provided all the signage we needed – which they did, in the middle of September (8 weeks after I’d needed them). After the service we drove to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway for tea in Queen Victoria’s carriage. Built in 1885 for...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/National Trust/Railway History/Staffordshire/Wales/Yorkshire Comments: 0
July 16, 2020

northernvicarwalks June 2020

Covid continues, aided by a shambolic government. We learned about social distancing and managed to get one church open for Private Prayer. I made lots of phone calls, and posted on facebook every day. Here are my ramblings. I managed several walks north from home, out over the hills behind Quarndon. A total of 37 miles this month takes my total to 225. We managed two days out, both in Yorkshire. This picture seems appropriate. Renishaw Hall Gardens near Sheffield are gorgeous. Harlow Carr Gardens near Harrogate are also gorgeous, and they have a good bookshop.
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/Yorkshire Comments: 0
June 3, 2020

northernvicarwalks – May 2020

This cartoon sums up the shambles that was May. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. It will be interesting if people reading this blog in 20 years time have any idea who the cartoon relates to. I know an historian should give his sources, but I will not mention the evil man’s name. The first half of the month was spent walking round the garden, going some cooking, and trying to hold everything together. Thursday 14 was the first proper walk, a circle through Quarndon and the outskirts of Duffield. Lovely to see that the tree is still there,...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Derbyshire/Personal Comment: 1