Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – Village Stocks)

    Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – Village Stocks)

    The stocks in Eyam date back to the late seventeenth century, so are from around the period when the plague struck the village. The stones at either end are made from gritstone, with the wooden bars resting in holes in the stone. It’s thought that they were placed here by the Barmcote Court, a local system of justice used in lead mining areas of Derbyshire.

    The stocks were restored in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain, which seems a cheery way to mark what was supposed to be such a positive event. Thanks to the Statute of Labourers law of 1351, every village in the country once had stocks, although they were used more rarely after the eighteenth century. The last recorded use of stocks was much later in the UK, coming in 1872 in Newbury, Berkshire.

    And here’s a photo of what the village stocks looked like in 1919, when it wasn’t quite as obvious what they were.


  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 137

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 137

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Gapeseed

    This sounds like a word that has recently been made up, a beautiful term which is defined by the dictionary as “sights; any thing to feed the eye. I am come [sic] abroad for a little gapeseed”. More widely, it’s something which is worth seeing, something of note, or indeed, someone who is looking at such an interesting thing.

    The word was first used in the late sixteenth century, combining the two words ‘gape’ and ‘seed’. ‘Gape’ is actually from the Norse word ‘gapa’ meaning a wide opening, and of a similar derivation to the word ‘gap’, which evolved into something like ‘an open-mouthed stare’ and ‘seed’ is from the Germanic word ‘saed’ meaning to sow.

    It is though another word seemingly lost to the English language, now fallen out of usage.

  • Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – Lydgate Graves)

    Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – Lydgate Graves)

    Back in the days of the plague in Eyam, local residents were allowed to bury their dead in what was previously unconsecrated ground since the main churchyard was temporarily closed off. This enclosed area, off the road called Lydgate, is known as the Lydgate Graves site, with two burials dating to 1666.

    The grave of George Darby, who died on 4 July 1666. The inscription reads “Here lyeth bvr the body of George Darby who died on July 4th 1666”. The ‘bvr’ bit is either a mistake on the listed building record, or it’s an English abbreviation that I have no clue about.

    This is the grave of Mary Darby, the daughter of George Darby, who died on 4 September 1666. The inscription reads “Mary, the daughter of George Darby, dyed September 4th 1666”.

    Before the plague struck Eyam, there were three people in the Darby household, George, his wife Mary and his daughter Mary. George had been born in 1610 and his wife Mary in 1615, with their daughter Mary born on 28 December 1645. George’s wife survived the plague, living until 1674.

  • LDWA 100 – Q & As with Adam Dawson

    LDWA 100 – Q & As with Adam Dawson

    This page is all part of my effort to walk the 2021 LDWA 100.

    This is part of my little series in asking those who have completed the 100 just how they did it, and whether it’s an entirely good idea. This is from Adam Dawson, known by many for his huge contribution to the LDWA’s web-site, who has a view on 100s that is more akin to mine than some other people who have answered questions. This is that I will only be doing one as they sound very difficult indeed. There are some people who tell me something like “you’ll love it, you’ll be doing it every year”. I bet I won’t….

    Anyway, I digress, so back to Adam and his kind offer to answer my questions.

    Q. When was your first 100?

    Hadrian Hundred, 2019

    Q. What training did you do before your first 100?

    I recce’d the route over 5 days, a couple of months earlier. Then I tried to go on LDWA social walks a few weekends before the event. I also found running uphill was very good for developing stamina and the ability to “dig deep” in the tricky sections of the 100 itself

    Q. When you finished your first 100, did you think you’d do another?

    No, and I still think that. I don’t think that the human body is really designed to walk that far, and I don’t think it’s good for you to do it repeatedly. I have marshalled at the end of a couple of hundreds, and to be honest I was a bit shocked by the condition of some of those staggering over the finishing line.

    Q. What would you pick at a checkpoint, two sausage rolls, one chicken bake or one steak bake?

    Probably the steak bake if those were the only three choices. But ideally I’d like spaghetti and flapjack in the earlier checkpoints, and jelly and custard at the later ones (because it’s easier to eat and I found I was feeling nauseous towards the end)

    Q. Do you carry an item of food or drink that helps you get round? I’m going with jelly babies…..

    TBH, SIS energy gels keep me going between CP’s. I alternate between the regular ones, and the caffeinated ones

    Q. How important are the marshals to you at checkpoints on longer challenge events?

    Totally. 110%!

    Q. Are there moments that you’ve nearly retired from a walk only to then finish? How do you get that mental strength?

    No – I’ve never nearly retired from a challenge walk, though there have been occasions on LDPs after hours and hours of freezing rain when I’ve had work hard to find the strength to carry on. Especially when you know you only have a cold wet tent and damp sleeping bag to welcome you at the end. Usually I have to carry on as I’m in a remote spot with no escape, so dropping out really isn’t an option.

    Q. Have you hallucinated towards the end of a walk?

    No – but on the last stage of the Hadrian Hundred I noticed that I could hear snoring somewhere nearby. I realised that there wasn’t anyone around, and that actually it was me. I had fallen asleep while walking.

    Q. Are you more reliant on the route description or the GPX file?

    Almost exclusively the GPX. I read the RD for general background info about the route and to get the exact Grid Refs of the checkpoints, but that’s about all

    Q. If the Wales 100 goes ahead in 2021, will it rain?

    Yes

    Q. What are your top tips for footcare on the 100?

    Keep your feet dry. I wear a combination of sealskinz socks and goretex boots, which usually works well. Wet feet = blisters

    Q. Have you been scared of a sheep / cow / snake / pig / seagull or similar on a challenge walk?

    Not personally on a challenge walk. Though I remember on the Founders a few years ago we had to do a hasty route diversion after a farmer introduced a herd of frisky bullocks into a field right in the middle of the route, the day before the event. I have been mobbed by cows a couple of times on LDPs and it can be a bit of an alarming experience. Nowadays, I always try and plan an escape route when crossing a field of cows. Farmyard dogs can be a bit scary, too

    Q. Is entering the 100 a good idea? Asking for a friend…..

    Yes. You will feel a lifelong sense of satisfaction at having done it.

    Q. To those people who are thinking about taking part in their first challenge event, maybe just 18 miles, what advice would you give them?

    Don’t give up. Just think how good you will feel when you have finished. Also, you will never have to do it again!

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 136

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 136

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Gamon and Patter

    This is defined by the dictionary as meaning “common place talk of any profession; as the gamon and patter of a horse-dealer, sailor, etc”. The phrase is more commonly known as ‘gammon and patter’ with the first word coming from ‘gammin’, meaning nonsense or partly untrue, and there’s another phrase ‘gammon and spinach’ which means the same. The second word is also interesting, it’s from ‘Paternoster’, meaning the Lord’s Prayer, which got corrupted into ‘patter’, meaning to recite, talk or babble.

    The phrase has now, perhaps sadly, fallen nearly entirely out of usage over the last 150 years.

     

  • Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – Sundial)

    Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – Sundial)

    This is the sundial (click on the image to see a larger version) on the wall of St. Lawrence’s Church in Eyam, which was installed here in 1775. It’s supported by two stone corbels and was likely made by William Shaw, a local man. It’s not the most subtle of sundials given its size, but no-one could miss a church service and claim that they didn’t know the time.

    The below photo shows how the sundial looked in 1919 and it’s also noticeable that the ivy has wisely been removed from the church, which avoided any similar incidents to Crostwright Church….


  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 135

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 135

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Gallipot

    This is a lovely word that I’ve heard before, but I never knew its meaning. It’s defined by the dictionary as “a nickname for an apothecary”, although today it means a small pot which is used by apothecaries and that was its original meaning as well. The word origin is thought to be middle English and around the fifteenth century, simply a combining of the words ‘galley’ and ‘pot’, with galley being in reference to the boats which brought them over from where they were produced in the Mediterranean.

    There’s a Gallipot Inn in Hartfield, which is on Gallypot Street, and I rather like that pub name.

  • Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – George Palfreyman)

    Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – George Palfreyman)

    This is the grave of George Palfreyman in St. Lawrence’s Church in Eyam. George was born in Monyash, a village near Bakewell, on 1 June 1759, the son of Thomas and Mary Palfreyman. George also married a lady with the name Mary, although I can’t find out where that happened, but there is a marriage in Sheffield between a George Palfreyman and a Mary, but the birth-dates don’t match. He died on 29 March 1825 at the age of 67 (which again doesn’t quite match with being born in 1759, so I may have got something wrong here), being buried on 1 April 1825.

    The gravestone also notes the burial of Peter Palfreyman, the son of George and Mary, who died on 29 January 1797 aged just 12 years old and Peter had been baptised in the church on 28 August 1785. Mary was also buried in this plot following her death in October 1828, aged 72. The Palfreyman family had come to Eyam after the plague issue of the late seventeenth century.

    If anyone from the descendants of the Palfreyman family knows anything else, that’d be most welcome.

  • Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – Luke Furniss)

    Camping – Day 1 (Eyam – St. Lawrence’s Church – Luke Furniss)

    This gravestone is located by the side of St. Lawrence’s church, attached to the wall with iron supports. It is the grave of Luke Furniss (?-16 July 1682) and is in remarkably good condition for its age, as well as being from a period from when relatively few stones remain in graveyards.

    It’s an interesting stone in its own right, the 1682 death looks like it was originally written as 167 before being changed, whilst Furniss is perhaps Furness. The positioning of the ‘th’ on his wife’s Mary’s death also looks odd. The village museum has records which suggest that Luke had moved to the village after the plague of 1665, as he wasn’t listed as a resident during this time.

  • Camping – Day 3 (Summary)

    Camping – Day 3 (Summary)

    And a quick summary of our last day’s camping effort, our short and sweet weekend trip to Derbyshire. More inspirational photos to follow later, but I feel the need to get this text down quickly before I forget what happened. My vast readership of about three people demands such a rapid response. And, admittedly, this exciting prose is of limited interest to those people who don’t know who my various friends are, I’ll just have to paint the best picture that I can of them.

    The first thing to note is that yesterday there was huge drama in the camp when Jonathan lost his sardines. Rumours were flying about that Richard had stolen them to give as presents, but he fiercely denied these allegations and blamed Steve. I, of course, stayed out of this debate. Anyway, Jonathan, after much debate and searching found them in his bag. It was all something of an anti-climax if I’m being honest.

    So, day three was the beginning of the end of our camping trip, with a requirement to take down the tents. The three campcraft experts took our tents down and then waited for Richard to dismantle his palatial tent. A team of five builders came in to take down the foundations and outhouses, whilst Richard dried his tent with paper towels. It was such a glamorous sight to see, along with Richard moving his fridge back to his car. The fridge had remained warmer than the air temperature for the entire weekend, so his milk had gone off, but otherwise it had been really useful as a storage container.

    Richard chose the breakfast option for us, which was the Cool River Cafe and Patisserie in Matlock. He built this place up to sound like it was as good as the best Greggs in the country, so our expectations were sky-high. We arrived there and it was shut. Marvellous. Richard’s name was mud, but I didn’t say anything.

    So, we went to another cafe and had a delightful breakfast, with the only problem being that Richard was given beans on his breakfast. I thought they looked delicious, but Richard insisted that they were removed while the rest of us were enjoying our rolls. It was also the first experience we had of the Government’s eat out to help out scheme, which seems to be generating huge volumes of trade for pubs and restaurants.

    Then it was time for a little stroll around Matlock, with the highlights of a war memorial beautifully towering over the town and then my hunting for some eighteenth-century graves in the graveyard. I probably need to get out more…. Anyway, lots more photos of these to come later on. Our efforts to get food failed in the town, the Government’s eat out to help out scheme meant that everywhere seemed packed. No matter, we managed to go elsewhere in the end, but that was pretty much the end of our weekend. After some strolling and meandering, we went our separate ways and then headed back to sunny Norfolk, with the memories of a happy weekend to look back on. And leaving me with a huge heap of blog posts to write and photos to upload, I’ll amuse myself for the rest of the week doing that.

    The camping was a success, even though I was initially sceptical, and we were fortunate with the weather and the choice of campsite. My highlight was the exciting descent from Kinder, along with the visit to Thornbridge Brewery’s tap-room. But that combination of walking and drinking is always the best way to spend a weekend, alongside food and history as some added extras. I’m also pleased to report that we didn’t see any snakes as if we had seen some when camping then I’d have likely never gone back to Derbyshire again.

    On that, I shall now go back and fill in a fair few of the blanks that I haven’t yet written about in these summaries. I’m sure my limited readership can hardly wait….