Thursday 26 December 2019

Eighty-five chains to Hazelwood station

An unashamed exploration of spirit of place and landscape for Christmas Day. Down the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway from Duffield to the next station, Hazelwood. My starting point is a footpath that bisects the line west of Duffield, near the cemetery. We are 133 and three-quarter miles from St Pancras, where the old Midland Railway started from. One mile is 80 chains (66 yards) in the Imperial system.

Since earliest childhood, peering down from Jacob's Ladder footbridge, West Ealing, as the Greenford branch curved away from the main Great Western line, I've had a fascination with 'what's just around the corner. Curves like this draw you in; they behove further exploration.


The curve gets tighter, woodland encroaches... (Remember, this line was built with the ambition of linking Derby to Manchester and Liverpool. It got as far as Wirksworth, just nine miles from where it began.)


Yes, and there it is - in the distance, the bridge taking Nether Lane over the railway line.


Two views of the bridge itself - below, looking south. At the end of Nether Lane, 300m away, is the busy Wirksworth Road and at the junction, the Puss in Boots pub. Hazelwood station lies just to the west of the bridge. The only station along the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway not to have been restored back to its original use, it is a private house adjacent to a timber merchant's yard.


Below: looking north, towards (in the distance), Hob Hill (1.6km/1mile) away. It's a vertical climb of 100m.


Below: Hob Hill, a bleak hilltop with Views. A place associated with pagan ritual (as in 'hobgoblin'). A downhill walk from here, a 90m drop in altitude to Duffield.


A good landscape photograph for me is one that evokes the precisely the same emotional response when looking at it as when I took the photo - it's about qualia of memory, the subjective conscious experience of Being There. These work well for me.

This time last year:
Christmas round-up

This time three years ago:
Derbyshire at Christmas

This time four years ago:
Across the High Peaks

This time five years ago:
Derbyshire's rolling landscapes

This time six years ago:
Our Progress Around the Sceptr'd Isle 

This time seven years ago:
Out and about in Duffield

and...
Christmas Break

This time eight years ago:
Boxing Day walk in Derbyshire

This time nine years ago 

This time 11 years ago:

This time 12 years ago:

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