Twenty eight walkers and one dog made the ten mile journey from Dronfield to the free car park in Harthill. Many of us hadn’t walked in this area which was one of the reasons for the great turnout.
We started out from the lovely village of Hartill across fields and skirting Loscar Wood on our way to the village of Thorpe Salvin where we stopped to admire Thorpe Hall. Chris spoke about the history of this Elizebethan manor house built in 1570 by the Sandford family.
After a short distance of road walking we took a path that lead us to the Chesterfield Canal. The autumn colours and bright sunshine showed the canal in its best light and it was a pleasure to follow the canal all the way to Kiverton Park Rail Station. We paused briefly here to watch a train pulling into the station. We continued along the canal until we reached the eastern end of the Norwood tunnel. Chris told us about the tunnel which is just over 1.6 miles long and collapsed in 1907.
We stopped for a coffee/snack in the fields on the way back to Harthill where we were joined by a friendly, some might say over friendly, horse who was very interested in our food. After crossing more fields we were soon back at our starting point.
Ten of us had lunch at the Beehive pub/restaurant which was very nice. The fish and chips were a popular choice.
Many thanks to Chris and Joe for leading us on the walk and for pointing out interesting places along the way.
