Pax Memorial Walk 2013 Photo Log, Part 2

Long delay in continuing this story: We went away, camping! That's another story. First time camping since I left Europe with Catherine and Pax in around March 1981. We'd been camping with E, my first husband, in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. That's a very long story so I'll go back now to 27th May 2013, travelling north on the "Staffordshire Way" up the River Dove.

There are many "Ways" to walk. They are waymarked with little signposts; it's a public right of way that takes you through woodlands, on small lanes, over hill and dale, and sometimes through private land and farms. The UK is dotted with cycle ways too, and often I prefer to walk on those because they are easy underfoot--but mostly because it's fairly impossible to get lost. They are a very clear path, which the "walking Ways" often are not. And if there's a chance of losing the path, I seem to manage it.

So as you might guess from this, although I started on the Staffordshire Way, and ended up there on the end again, I ended up on a "longcut". But it was interesting.

Here's the photo route.

Approaching the River Dove, just a few hundred yards from Dovebridge.

The Dove at this point weaves through fields, and to cross it there is there rather impressive little footbridge. It's a bridge from nowhere to nowhere. 

After crossing the field, I came to a stile and a few paths going in different directions. Although I had 3  maps in hand--a local walking map from the village, with written instructions, and a proper OS (Ordnance Survey) map, plus another official map of the Staffordshire Way, I wasn't positive which way to go. But there on the step of the stile was a little ladybird, and I figured she was leading me that direction, and it turned out to be correct (for once!)

Took a little detour to look at the old stone bridge. It's no longer in use; I crossed it and there's no path through on the other side. Traffic now speeds along a new bridge on the A50. But this one looks so much nicer. 

View of the Dove from the stone bridge, looking north. 

Happy moment, I know for sure where I am, I'm on the path! It's just a barely visible track through the fields. I hope there won't be cows.

Climbed a hill adjacent to woodland. This is the view looking back towards Dovebridge

Until this point it was a very peaceful walk; I think I'd only seen 2 people since I started out, and both of those were close to Dovebridge. Then, as I kept walking, I started hearing popping sounds, and they got louder until...the Way took me through a Shooting Ground. Don't worry, it was a safe path! These are the little shooting areas, targets, whatever you call them. 

This picture isn't all that is seems. Looks peaceful, doesn't it? But it wasn't! This was just a few yards through the shooting ground, and very closely  within earshot of the guns firing. But I guess the sheep are used to it and didn't seem to notice. 

This lamb had escaped from the field and couldn't his way back in.  The grass looked greener on the other side. Poor little thing was bleating and bleating trying to find a way back to his mum. It was easier to leave than it was to get back. I guess that's a parallel... 

Pretty spot on the riverside, where I sat and had my little picnic lunch. 

Leaving the woodland through the squeeze gate. Looks narrow! I couldn't figure it out at first as most of these stiles need climbing, but on this one, the middle bar lifts up and you squeeze through. 

Woodland walk in Derbyshire. The River Dove forms the border between Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and at this point I was on the Derbyshire side. 

Looking over at Staffordshire. But I've lost the Way! 

This horse seemed keen on having its picture taken. 

It looked like the Way, but it wasn't. 

Contented sheep.

Wooden ducks in the grounds of a posh private school. I ended up on a quiet lane that took me through the property. I found it quite significant as I had been thinking a lot about starting a charitable fund in Pax and Catherine's memory to sponsor the schooling for the poorest children in India and Africa, starting with some of the children in the tribal belt of Madyar Pradesh, the state where Bhopal is. Bhopal itself is a city but there are other rural areas that are desperately poor. Our friend Sandeep, the pastor who had helped us in the search for Pax's grave, does some work in this belt and he told us it costs about £60 to send a child to school for the year. I'll write more about that later, as it's an idea I'm exploring, but that was my main train of thought as I was walking along, so it seemed kind of significant to find myself in a school. (I bet that school charges more than £60 a day, never mind a year!!)

Here's the school

Didn't take photos for awhile as I had to take a long walk down a winding road until I reached the main road, turned left, and eventually made it back to the River. I wasn't really lost as I knew where I was on the map, but I ended up walking a lot further than intended. Eventually I reached the Dove again at the small town of Rocester.

Historical plaque on an old building, dedicated to Richard Arkwright the inventor of the spinning frame, which I guess was a big step towards the advent of the Industrial Revolution....

But the building (on the right) has been modernised, and new buildings added, and it's an Academy. So that's the educational theme continuing, 

I'm still following the River Dove, but I'm on the Limestone Way now. This should take me up to a Garden Centre where I can have tea and wait for Simon to pick me up (he's working in Nottingham today). Unfortunately, this was a good plan but it didn't happen. The Limestone Way seemed to have even fewer clear markings and I lost track of it. I ended up on a long detour, and by then I was really tired. I gave up trying to get to the Garden Centre and decided to head to a little pub in Denstone instead, looking forward to a long cold drink. But somehow... yes I lost the path again and ended up on a muddy woodland hill, scrambling down semi-dry stream beds trying to get to the path. At one point I could see it through a wire  fence, but there was no way through! But finally, I ended up on...the Staffordshire Way again. 

Not the River Dove this time, but the Churnet

My destination. Unfortunately, it was closed!! But more fortunately, Simon wasn't too far off so I sat and waited for him, and then we went to Alton where we had coffee and went to the cemetery for Pax's memorial ceremony.--Next post.

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures, just a small glimpse of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. This walk didn't have to be so long, especially if I'd had a bit more common sense and stopped in Rocester. I hope someone who's reading this might like to accompany me next year on Pax's anniversary for this memorial walk or another one. At least now I know some of the ways NOT to go in order to stay on the Way.

Life's roads don't always take us where we expect, do they. That's the particular pain of being a bereaved parent. You thought you were going somewhere; you have a child, you expect them to see them grow up, have a life of their own. But it doesn't happen. The path you took didn't take you where you expected. I never expected to be here now, with no living children. It is just so difficult to believe. But it's real. This is where I am.