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Back on the Limestone Way

After my unscheduled but enjoyable detour along the Churnet Way, I have started 2025 by picking up the Limestone Way where I left it, at Thorpe. My next walk takes me through Tissington to Parwich.


 

Thorpe to Parwich

This time last year was wellies all the way - we'd had so much rain. It's been a lot drier this winter, and everything is still half frozen after a cold snap. I'm hoping walking boots will do the job. There is only one other vehicle in the Narlows car park in Thorpe when I pull in. A bit of sunshine greets me as I walk down the road, and casts a long shadow through the gate where I join the Limestone Way.


It's an easy walk across the fields to Tissington. A red kite circles overhead, and a small pond is still solidly frozen.



I've been to Tissington a few times - it's famous for its well dressings - but I don't think I've ever been in the church. There is a welcoming sign outside, and a nice avenue of trees leading up to the door. Inside it is cold and rather dark.




 I follow a puddled lane which has a surprising amount of traffic on it. Groups of men in 4x4s - perhaps off for a shooting day? The lane crosses the Tissington Trail, then a footpath drops down to the Bletch Brook. This is the part I was worried about. Fortunately the ground is still frozen, even though some of the water has melted. And someone has put rocks across the boggy bit.




It's a steep climb over a ridge to Parwich. Just before I get to the village, there's a lovely little spring. With the low wall and trees around it, it looks like a special place, but it's not even marked as Spr on the OS map, never mind named. Further down there is a cave shown. I do a short detour to visit it.




Parwich is snuggled into a valley and gives off a cosy vibe. I like it. Another stream runs through the village. While there are obvious disadvantages to building your house on a brook, I would love to have a tiny stone bridge to my front door!


St Peter's in Parwich is just as cold as St Mary's, but brighter. There is a carved Saxon stone over one of the doorways - a tympanum - and a sign inside explains the symbolism of the pictures. I eat some lunch on the village green. After several days of freezing temperatures, it feels pleasantly warm in the sunshine.




My route back takes me along a track which poses the one challenge to my hiking boots. An icy puddle has flooded the entire width. Fortunately the water is clear, and I can see it's not too deep, so I paddle through.


Up a hill, with gorgeous views to the north and east. The path's entrance to a wood is down in a ditch, and hard to spot. The wood itself seems rather battered. Tyre tracks scar the ground, and cut branches lie in haphazard stacks.



I come out onto Bent Lane, where I am surprised to find a milepost inscribed "From London". The distance is illegible, but who on this tiny lane would want to go to London, anyway? Ashbourne or Derby would be much more useful, you would think.


 At Tissington I join the old railway line. The Tissington Trail makes an easy, if not particularly interesting, route back to Thorpe. I don't need a chocolate bar from the honesty box today, but I'm amused by the dog bowl with its perfectly formed circle of ice next to it.


14 Jan 2025   14 km / 8.8 miles
 


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