Staveley, Clowne and Bolsover - February 2019

I was back in Staveley in February for another trip taking care of my mother.  I have been spending a lot of time here in the last few years and I like to reacquaint myself with various places from my childhood.  A lot of this reacquaintance centers around running in the areas I frequented as a child.   In the more recent past this has been out on the Chesterfield Canal towards Chesterfield (which is undergoing restoration to connect with the River Trent) or the old LNER railway line to Renishaw (which is now part of the Trans Penine Trail).  However on this trip I discovered a new trail out from Staveley to the town of Clowne along another old long disused railway line that has been converted to a bike trail (thank you to the EU for funding part of the conversion).

Clowne Trail near Woodthorpe - Three Bridges

Clowne Trail near Clowne

In my childhood the whole area around Staveley was dominated by the iron, steel and chemical works and a multitude of pits where they mined for coal to power those industries.  The iron works produced great mountains of slag whilst the pits produced similar mountains of spoil.   It wasn’t an endearing landscape, it was black and grey and barren.

Aerial View of Staveley Works

Coal Tips near Ireland Colliery

The Doe Lee the nearest river was used to wash coal and was as black and devoid of life as any in the country.  Things have changed since the mining has stopped and the iron and chemical works are now closed.  The coal tips have been reduced with the spoil being carted away for infill projects.  The slag heaps associated with the iron works are just now being reclaimed as material for various road projects.   As a result the area does not look as foreboding as it once did and the local council has done a nice job in converting these areas into parkland with lakes and foot paths and bike paths.

Bridge over Doe Lea - now a clear running stream

Restored ground near old Ireland Colliery Tips

The new trail to Clowne passes some old landmarks of my youth.  It starts near Seymour where my mother was born and where my grandparents and some 12 kids lived in apparently pretty atrocious conditions.  The local Seymour and nearby Ireland and Oxcroft collieries were where most of the men in the family worked. My uncle Wilfred was a pony handler at Ireland and he was killed in the pit at the age of 18 in an accident.  I, of course, didn’t know him but the family always talks of what a wonderful person he was and how disastrous it was for the family to lose him.

I have read several local histories that identify the Seymour colliery housing as being unfit for human habitation. They were eventually demolished and my mother and her family moved to a farm cottage in nearby Woodthorpe.

The new industry - Distribution Centers

Now all signs of those homes are gone and the area is occupied with several huge warehouses.  The area is close by the M1 motorway and so distribution centers are the new employer in the area.  There are quite a few of these vast and monstrous buildings.  Alas while the pits employed thousands of people, the warehouses are wonders of modern automation and employee only a few dozen people.

Up the road from Seymour, in Woodthorpe, is the Junior School I attended.  It was also the school my mother and all my aunts and uncles went to and to where my cousins children attended.

Woodthorpe Junior School

Further up in Woodthorpe is the church where I attended Sunday School.  Like many churches and chapels it has been sold off and it has now been converted into a residence.  It still looks good though.

Woodthorpe Church

The beauty of railway trails is that there is never any steep incline so they are perfect for running and biking.  Near Clowne the trail enters a cutting that was made through the limestone to take the line into the town of Clowne.  It is quite a beautiful section.

Farm where I spent my first few years

There is a side trail that runs off the trail and up the hill to Bolsover and it makes  for a nice run to visit my mother in her care home (Thomas Colledge House).  I can have a cup of tea with her before running back down the hill to Staveley.  This trail passes through the farm where I spent the first 3 or 4 years of my life.  For whatever reason my mum and dad rented a farm cottage in this fairly remote location.  Neither of them were employed in farming, though my dad worked for the National Coal Board and apparently the farm was once owned by the NCB.  The present owner told me that after I met him on one of my runs.  The cottage is still there though it has been upgraded for modern living.

The Farm Cottage - home for my first years

When I was growing up the farms only grew wheat, barley or oats.  Now the predominant crop seems to be rape seed, the source of canola oil.  As you can see below this is very pretty for a few weeks when it blossoms but then turns a really awful brown.

Rape Seed Fields

So while the town of Staveley has not particularly aged well since the arrival of the mega supermarket Morrisons, the local countryside has faired quite well and if you can turn a blind eye to the M1 motorway and the vast distribution center warehouses it is a nice part of the world.

Estonia - December 2018

In the middle of a month long visit to the UK at the end of 2018, I decided to take another excursion to the Baltic States.  In the summer I had visited Latvia and Lithuania, this time it was to be Estonia.  The most convenient way for me to get there is from East Midlands Airport to Riga, Latvia followed by a second flight to Tallinn, Estonia.  Ryan Air and Baltic Air respectively are quite economical for this sort of trip.

Riga with Christmas Decorations

I left early morning Wednesday, 12 December from East Midlands airport and landed in Riga around lunchtime.  I then had 3 or 4 hours to kill before my flight to Tallinn so I decided to go into the center of Riga and visit one of the museums that I did not get chance to visit on my previous visit - the Latvian Holocaust Museum.  It was an easy bus ride into the city center and then a short walk through the Central Market to the Holocaust Museum.  It turned out to be not a very impressive museum - there was a replica of a railway car that transported Jews to the Camps, a renovated house that showed what living conditions were like in the Jewish Ghetto in Riga, some artsy exhibits and that was about it.  Just beyond the museum there was a memorial to a fire that took place in a synagogue.  Some 300 Jews were chased into the synagogue by Latvians (not Nazis) in 1941, the doors were then boarded up and the synagogue set ablaze.  There were no survivors.  The foundations of the synagogue are still preserved on the site.  

Riga Latvian Ghetto and Holocaust Museum

While the short visit to Riga wasn't that rewarding it did pass the time before my Baltic Air flight to Tallinn.  I arrived in Tallinn around 5 pm where it was dark already (sunset is just after 3:00 pm) and it was very cold (0 deg C).  There is a very good tram service from the airport into the center of town - modern trams, very cheap, and quite well used by the locals. 

Tallinn Old City Gate

In Tallinn, I guessed at which tram stop to get off at and luckily I guessed right and alighted just a couple of blocks from my hotel, the Barens Hotel.  It isn't a bad hotel; it is in an old building near the Town Hall Square so the location is great but it is showing some signs of wear.

That evening I took a stroll around town.  The old part of town is quite compact and I did manage to get around a good part of it - the Town Hall Square with its Christmas Market, the more modern Freedom Square with its lights, the Orthodox Cathedral on the hill, the parliament building, etc.  Despite the cold weather, there was no snow on the ground in the town center just the occasional heaps of snow piled up in the parks.  

Town Hall Square Tallinn 

The Tallinn Town Hall Square has the dubious reputation of being the first place to display a decorated Christmas Tree in a public square.  They have lot to answer for if that is the case, though the Lithuanians also claim that distinction over in Riga.

For my evening meal I took the guide book's recommendation and had a great meal of meat (pork, the local staple) and potatoes at the Restaurant Vanaeema Jures.  The desert was this wonderful stuff called Kamavaht which was a kind of cold porridge made from rye, oats, barley and peas mixed with cream and slightly sweetened.  It was so good I bought a couple of bags of the raw material to bring back to the US.

Next morning it didn't get light until around 9:00 am.  That makes for a very short day as there is only about 6 hours of daylight this time of year. I set off to follow the Walking Tour in the Lonely Planet Guide Book.  It covers most of the highlights in the old town, many of which I had already seen the previous evening.

Freedom Square, Tallinn

Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral

I started in Freedom Square with its Cathedral and large open space.  The location for the many rallies and protests prior to independence from the Soviet Union.  Then up to Toompea - which is the name of the hill, the name of the castle situated on it and also to the parliament building which is located in a palace on the hill.  Next to the parliament building is the very fine Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral.  It is a wonderful structure from the Tsarist Russian period before WWI.  While it is perhaps the most impressive structure in Tallinn, it is apparently not well liked as it is a symbol of Russian oppression and occupation.  

St Mary's Lutheran Cathedral

Just down the street from the Orthodox Cathedral is St Mary's Lutheran Cathedral.  A beautiful old spired church with a very nice interior.  

View of Old Town Tallinn

The two cathedrals are on the Toompea hilll and a short walk along the street provides an overlook of the city below.  You can look out over the old town to the harbour and the sea beyond.  A spectacular view even on a grey cold day like it was that day.

City Walls Tallinn

Tallinn is a walled city and much of the old wall and its defensive towers are still intact.  I walked along the northern edge of the wall towards the harbour and the modern port area.  Alas the modern port can now accommodate cruise ships so that explains the proliferation of souvenir shops all over the old town.  I imagine when the cruise ships visit the old town is quite overflowing with tourists. 

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Paterei Prison

Paterei Prison

From a gate in the old city wall, I made a diversion to the Kalamaja district of town where there is an old barracks from the Tsarist period.  The barracks were converted to a prison at the end of WWI and all manner of nasty things took place inside its confines.  It is known as Paterei and I was hoping for a look inside but alas it is now closed to the public.  I did walk around the area and it is indeed a sinister and disquieting place.  The guide book says the lower floor windows were bricked up so that the locals wouldn't hear what was going on inside the prison.

Beyond the prison is a fine old steamship moored at a dock and a sea plane museum.  I decided not to partake of the seaplane exhibit.

Linnahall

Back east towards the current port, there is a Soviet era building called the Linnahall.  Originally the V. I. Lenin Palace of Culture and Sports, it was built in 1980 for the Olympics (the sailing events were held in Tallinn).  It is now very much derelict and decrepit - graffitied walls, broken glass, rubbish and decaying concrete.  There are apparently plans to renovate the building at some point.  Is it worth it you may ask.

Linnahall

Returning to the old town there is a memorial to the MS Estonia tragedy of 1994 when 852 people died when the ship sank on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm.

KGB Prison Cells

Inside the old town again I visited the KGB Museum.  This is in the basement of a beautiful old building where in the Soviet era the KGB got up to nasty things in the basement cells.  Now the rest of the building has been renovated into a beautiful apartment building.

KGB Headquarters

Along the same street there are a series of beautiful buildings belonging to various Guilds - the Blackhead's Guild, St Olaf's Guild, St Canute's Guild.  All very ornate and wonderful.

Guild Hall Tallinn

Guild Hall Tallinn

From the old town I then went out to the more modern area of town through the Varnu Gate and on to the Opera House, Tammasaare Park (Tammasaare is Estonia's most famous author) and coffee and cake at the very excellent Cafe Lyon.  The Opera House has the absolute best parking barriers to their parking lot - conductor's batons.

Entry to the Opera House Parking Lot

After warming up with coffee I headed out towards the Central Market.  Along the way the modern shops and malls gave way to more dreary and unimaginative Soviet era blocks of apartments.  The market was not at all impressive but then the day was cold and damp and not at all conducive to an open air market.

Interior of St Mary's Cathedral

I returned to the Lutheran Cathedral on the Toompea hill where there was a choral concert that afternoon.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a marvelous concert in a wonderful setting.  I was quite moved.  A lot of J.S. Bach (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and the Magnificat) but some really nice pieces by Estonian composers too.

Leaving the church it was dark already and it was snowing.  The city looked beautiful with all the Christmas lights and the snow coming down.

I walked over to the train station where there was another market - this one a lot better.  Most of it was indoors in a renovated industrial building with all sorts of foodstuffs and lots eateries.  There was even an extensive antique section with all manner of junk that surely no one would ever want to buy.  There was also a great collection of graffiti on the associated walls and I had lots of fun taking pictures.

Station Market Area Tallinn

Station Market Area Tallinn

After dinner (same restaurant, I'm a creature of habit), I went to a jazz club called Philly Joe's (after Philly Joe Jones).  Playing that night were Lauri Kadalipp Social Jazz.  A four piece Estonian band who were just terrific.  Quite an unexpected pleasure.

Philly Joe's jazz Club

The next morning, Friday, was much brighter with even glimpses of blue sky, so I walked around the old town again, catching all the same sights again in a better light.  It really is a beautiful little city.  I did pay a visit to the Tallinn City Museum for a quick visit.  It wasn't particularly interesting except on the top floor they had an exhibit and film about the events that lead up to the break from the Soviet Union and achieving Independence.  An interesting period that was not that long ago - 1990.

Eliel Saarinen Building

It was then time to head back to the airport for my flight home.  While waiting for my tram, I did examine a fine building by Saarinen (Eliel Saarinen that is, not his son Eero who is more famous in the USA).  A fine building with lovely art deco ornamentation.  All these Baltic cities seem to have great art deco buildings, especially Riga.

Riga at Christmas Time

It was a short flight back to Riga where, with 3 hours to kill before my flight  back to East Midlands, I went into town again.  Riga was quite splendid with all its lights and Christmas Markets.  That is four separate visits to Riga for me, I feel like quite an expert on the town now.  

There are more photos here.

The Pinnacles National Park - October 2018

In early October we paid a short visit to Pinnacles National Park for a couple of nights camping.  Pinnacles are in the middle of California, on the eastern edge of the Coastal Range. They are a series of tuff and breccia volcanic peaks sitting adjacent to the San Andreas Fault Line.  

Early Morning Sun on the Pinnacles High Peaks

There are two entrances to the park, an east and a west but no road through connecting them.  We stayed on the eastern side where there is the only campsite at Bear Gulch. I picked a nice quiet site just the right distance away from the toilets with no close neighbors.  After our site was set up along come a family with a baby who make an incredible amount of noise erecting their tent - hammering stakes in the ground so it would withstand a hurricane.  What was worse was the baby - crying incessantly. I know babies cry but this went on for a long long time. There were lots of other campsites why did they park themselves there.

The baby did eventually get settled and we all slept well at last.  There was a fair bit of rain in the night and for the first time in many a year the tent’s flysheet got tested.  All was well and dry inside.

The park is not very big and it can be hiked across in a morning.  We took something called the Bear Gulch Trail to a series of “caves” which we scrambled through.  They are not really caves in the classic sense merely tunnels formed by boulders falling into narrow gorges creating space to crawl through.

The Reservoir 

After the caves we climbed up to the reservoir area, a beautiful reservoir built to supply water to who knows who or where.  The water level was quite low in this late fall season.

After the reservoir we took the High Peaks Trail which climbs through the higher peaks of the Pinnacles complex.  There are some beautiful rock faces, much loved by the climbing community, and some interesting narrow pieces of the trail where steps have been cut into the rock.  The section known as the Narrows are quite steep and of course, narrow and are well protected by metal fencing.

We made our way back to Bear Gulch via the Condor Gulch trail.  Unfortunately today the Condors were not cooperating in showing themselves.  There is a breeding colony here that after the captive breeding program has successfully established itself in the wild.  Possibly later on back in camp there was a sighting of one soaring high over the peaks way in the distance.

There were other wild life sightings though - lots of Pileated Woodpeckers, Phoebes, California Quail and even a rare red-legged frog and a bobcat.  I don’t think I have seen a bobcat before and this one was a beauty.

In the evening due to a lack of acceptable wine we made a 60 minute run to fetch wine from the nearest town which is Paicines.  Not that it is a big town, blink and you miss it, but it has a store that sells wine, albeit cheap wine.

Balconies Trail

That night we moved campsites to avoid the crying baby but as far as we know the baby was quiet.  In the morning we broke camp early and I went for a run (training for the half-marathon at the weekend).  A gorgeous 5 miler along the Chacone Creek on the Balconies Trail. As the sun came up the early morning light was catching the peaks and the light was just wonderful.

There are more photos here.

Chesterfield Canal - September 2018

Near where I grew up in Derbyshire there is a canal, the Chesterfield Canal.  In its original form it ran some 46 miles from Chesterfield to West Stockwith on the River Trent which then allowed water access to the North Sea.  It was designed by James Brindley and was completed in 1777. It allowed goods and materials from the Peak District to be transported out to the Trent and thereby the North Sea and the world outside.  Among other things cannonballs were produced in Chesterfield for use in the Napoleonic Wars and stone for the building of Westminster Abbey were transported on the canal.

I have a very hazy memory from my childhood of seeing an old canal barge being pulled along by a horse but that must have been when I was very young as by the end of the 1950’s there was no commercial trade on the canal and it fell into disrepair and much of it was filled in.  

Railway Bridges near Chesterfield

Since the late 1970’s there has been an effort to rebuild the canal for leisure purposes and and there is now a 5 mile section from Chesterfield to Staveley that is restored and is navigable by canal boats.  This new section has become one of my favorite places to run - it is a great

surface and being a canal it is flat except for the odd lock.  There are some quite beautiful sections along the route and all the reconstruction work on locks and bridges has been done to a very high standard.

I ran with my phone the other day and took some photos along the way.  It is truly a treasure of the area. One day it is hoped that it will be completed all the way out to the River Trent again but the completion date keeps getting pushed back.  There is a new housing estate to be bypassed and a now collapsed tunnel to be rebored. That being said there is only 9 more miles of the original 46 miles to restore, but it is a difficult 9 miles.

There has been a resurgence of wildlife too.  In my youth everything was so polluted you rarely saw much wildlife, but now there are geese, swans, kingfishers, deer along the banks, and even fish in the canal.  

Chesterfield Church - the Crooked Spire, not too crooked from this perspective

The restoration work continues in Hartington, Staveley.

One of the interesting historical notes along the way is at Newbridge Lane between Brimington and Whittington.  Apparently in 1603, well before the canal was built, there was an outbreak of the plague in Brimington and there was a bridge at this site over the River Rother that runs alongside the current canal.  The bridge was pulled down to stop the spread of the plague.  The replacement bridge built after the plague was therefore called New Bridge.

There are more photos here.