28th January Running to Riber (R2)

For the past 8 years I have often stood looking out of the window at TOM's admiring the stunning view over the town of Matlock and its associated hills and fields. Dominating the skyline is the now derelict Riber Castle, a 19th century Grade 2 listed house overlooking the town.

Whilst not really a castle, the structure is known locally as "Smedley's Folly" because of the difficulty of getting water to the hill summit, after it was built by the industrialist John Smedley in 1862 as his private home. It has since been used as a boys' prep school  and then with the coming of World War II the Ministry of Defence used the site for food storage. Unused until the 1960s it was then home to a wildlife park until Sept 2000. Recent plans to turn the shell of the castle into luxury apartments have failed repeatedly. 

Prior to meeting TOM, my only previous encounter with Riber Castle was through the film 'Dead Man's Shoes starring Paddy Considine, which used the town of Matlock as its setting. So on Saturday, never having been there, either by car or on foot,  I thought it was a good enough location to head to for R2 of my Sixty at 60.

As for the run itself, a nice flat and then downhill section to start with for the first 15 mins or so, which allowed heart , lungs and legs to find a rhythym, before the sudden sharp climb up to the castle across fields. Here my trail running shoes would hve been a much better option that my road runner shoes which had minimal grip trying to 'run' up the grass and simply served to produce a two steps up, one step back momentum. 

As for the castle itself, well there were signs of possible redevelopment taking place, but it was an empty, dilpidated fenced off shadow of its former glory days. Still the view across the valley was superb even if I did struggle to pick out exactly which one was TOM's house away in the distance.

I had hoped to find a route over to High Tor so that I could complete a loop back down to sea level but that proved impossible  due to the fencing or my lack of orientering knowledge. So I retraced my way from this high point, managing to find a stone track that was only just less slippery that the grass had been on the ways up and after several mins of tentative steps trying  not to go arse over elbow I emerged back into the heart of Matlock. A good and different run to add to my portfolio for 2024.