Martha's Marvellous Munchies

My final walk based on the Portway had taken me neatly back to the Derwent, so that I could finish off with one more section of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. I knew Darley Dale had a 2000-year-old yew tree; I also knew I could get an ice cream in Matlock. That was the two ends sorted. Now to join up the middle. view over the Derwent Valley There is a small free car park near Darley Bridge (card machine on a stick if you feel moved to make a donation). I set off up the lush, large valley of the River Derwent, heading northwards at first to reach St Helen's Church. The yew was fenced off. There were iron railings close around the trunk, and temporary mesh panels blocking the path. To these, someone had affixed a peevish handwritten note: "Quite obviously there is no danger  on this closed-off path." I was expecting the tree to be hollow-trunked and propped, like the specimen at Doveridge , but instead it had a fat, solid-looking trunk and relatively compact crown. Agreei...

This is my last walk on the Portway. After Winster, it overlaps with the Limestone Way past Robin Hood's Stride - I walked that part with Mom last summer - before veering off towards Alport. By then it is getting too far away for me. An hour each way is my limit, otherwise the ratio between driving and walking becomes unhappily high. Winster takes 53 minutes. I park in the small car park opposite the Miners Standard (the pub doesn't bother with an apostrophe), where I am pleased to see that a grubby sign references the Portway.  I zigzag down the hill between houses built a long time before anyone thought that cars would need to get to them. On the main street, the Market House has a green Land Rover parked aesthetically next to it. The door says Open, so I climb the stairs and find myself in a bright, white-painted room with displays about the history of the village. At one point Winster boasted "two grocers, two dairies, two saddlers, three sets of petrol pumps...[many...