A newly-restored steam locomotive entered service this weekend, at the Apedale Light Railway’s “Made in Staffordshire” gala. The loco in question – Kerr Stuart “Joffre” class no. 3014 of 1916, had last steamed in public some 65 years ago, and when I met it at Gloddfa Ganol in 1979, it looked like a lost cause. Not so!
To see the outcome of this major restoration project, in action, visit “Apedale and the Joffre” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries
Four miles in one of the quieter parts of the forest, with varied woodland and one or two attractive clearings. It is Walk 2248 – Wimperhill Wood and Longdon Orchard on the Walking Britain site. So there’s no Google map this time (it’s almost impossible to see the path for all the trees) – do take the 1:25,000 though…
A walk from (delightfully named!) The Bog. It was a bright sunny afternoon when we left home; by the time we’d walked to Shelve Pool it was raining – I’m sure it wasn’t forecast. “It will only be a shower” as we sheltered beneath the trees. It was only a shower, fortunately…
Great refreshments at The Bog Visitor Centre, housed in the old school
A walk through Chestnut Coppice and the riverside path to Apley bridge, back via Astley Abbots and Boldings Pools
A walk on the “Fenn’s, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve”
A walk from Hay Bridge, via Chelmarsh reservoir, to Hampton Loade – and back along the riverside path.
Curiously, the Yorkshire Dales poster uses a few lines of Housman’s “A Shropshire Lad” to extol their virtues…
Across the glittering pastures
And empty upland still
And solitude of shepherds
High in the folded hill
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