Hen Cloud

Hen Cloud from The Roaches

(Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-70mm @ 33mm, 1/500s @ f/8.0)
Another photo from my walk along the Roaches on Monday. Hen Cloud is an outcrop of gritstone on the same line as the Roaches but separated by a saddle. Both the Roaches and Hen Cloud, along with nearby Ramshaw Rocks, are popular climbing areas.

Peak National Park

Peak National Park sign

(Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 10-24mm @ 14mm, 1/500s @ f/8, HDR of 3 images)
Has summer arrived at last? This is the iconic sign for the Peak District National Park. The more modern signs are not nearly so distinctive. For those that don't know, the wheel like object is a millstone. The Gritstone mined in Derbyshire was the main source of millstones for England in the past. This photo taken near Onecote in Staffordshire.

Doxey Pool

Doxey Pool on the Roaches

(Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-70mm @ 17mm, 1/500s @ f/8.0, 3 image panorama)
Doxey Pool on the Roaches is a mysterious place. The pool, never dry, sits near the top of the ridge. There is no stream flowing in or out. The water is a dark peaty brown, nearly opaque. Doxey Pool is associated with the legend of "Jenny Green-teeth", a monster that inhabits the allegedly bottomless depths. Jenny is said to have long, weedy green hair, talons and sharp teeth. She will appear and grab anyone who enters the pool and drag them down to their watery grave!

Well Dressing

Brown Edge Well Dressing

(Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-70mm @ 53mm, 1/125s @ f/10)
We are now well into the well dressing season for the Peak District. The village of Brown Edge in the Staffordshire Moorlands is not actually in the National Park but does maintain the tradition by dressing three wells. This years theme is fairly obvious, the Jubilee and the Olympics. The wells are traditionally dressed using flower petals, foliage, lichens, mosses and seeds pressed into a bed of wet clay. Those in Brown Edge this year have used a large amount of coloured gravel which, while not traditional, stands up well to the ravages of the heavy rainfall we have been having.

An Olympic theme

Jubilee Boat

Narrow Boat Decorated for the Queen's Jubilee

(Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-70mm @ 36mm, 1/60s @ f/7.1)
This narrow boat, moored at Froghall Wharf, is decorated for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Cheddleton Station

Class N7 0-6-2T at Cheddleton

(Panasonic Lumix TZ10)
I had a turn as Crossing Keeper on the Churnet Valley Railway on Jubilee Saturday. Here we see our new guest locomotive, a class N7 0-6-2T on loan from the East Anglian Railway Museum, complete with Jubilee bunting, taking the visitors up to Cauldon Low.

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House

(Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-70mm @ 70mm, 1/500s @ f/10)
The photo, taken from near New Piece Wood, shows Chatsworth in all its glory. In Stand Wood above the house to the right is the Hunting Tower, one of two remaining Elizabethan features (the other is "Queen Mary's Bower" near the house). To the left of the photo can be seen the Emperor Fountain. This was built in 1843 for a visit by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and was, at the time, the greatest gravity fed fountain in the world reaching as high as 300 feet. It is rarely if ever run at full power now but is still an impressive sight for the hour of two it is run every day. By the way, the Tsar never came!

Closer view of the house with the Cascade Fountain behind

The house and the River Derwent