The Roaches & Lud's Church
We all meet up at The Old House in Newbold for our trip to the Roaches. A land of rocks, trees and wallabies.
We headed to The Roaches, it was mainly an uneventful trip, but as we got closer the mist descended into a thick fog and Hen Cloud was shrouded from us.
On arri
val we found a parking place with no problem. Whilst we booting up, Hen Cloud had appeared and disappeared a couple of times so we knew we would be ok. It was not until we were about to set out that it was noticed we had parked in the disabled bay, with the car moved we were on our way. 
We started our ascent and followed the lower of the two paths with the ridge to our right so we got to see the climbers getting ready to start off.
The Path the took a sharp right turn and quickly we on the top and following the path the Roaches End.
This being the first Saturday after Guy Fawkes Night the sound of fireworks going off was not unusual but at this time of the day!!! If took sometime before we realised it was a 'live fire' training simulation taking place at the near by Upper Hulme training range. So we spent the rest of the listening to a raging firefight with small and heavy arms fire reverberating around us. That is the closest I ever want to get to a firefight.
The Roaches, w
here, incredibly, and not so long ago either, wallabies bounded. The marsupials were released in World War II from a local private zoo and managed to breed and survive it was thought until the late 1990's but as recently as July this year ( see here ) a sighting was reported in the
here, incredibly, and not so long ago either, wallabies bounded. The marsupials were released in World War II from a local private zoo and managed to breed and survive it was thought until the late 1990's but as recently as July this year ( see here ) a sighting was reported in the
area by a walker. Sadly, we failed to find any but with the gunfire reverberating around us it was of now surprise
The route offers good views around and about including Tittesworth Reservoir. But as we take the si
gnpost to 'Gradbach' the scenery starts to change as after the recent rain last night the footpath start to resemble a stream with sections of bog in places but then we come to a rocky out crop and a sign to Lud's Church' at this point we make full use of the outcrop and head up it to find a lunch spot prior to climbing up to Lud's Church.
gnpost to 'Gradbach' the scenery starts to change as after the recent rain last night the footpath start to resemble a stream with sections of bog in places but then we come to a rocky out crop and a sign to Lud's Church' at this point we make full use of the outcrop and head up it to find a lunch spot prior to climbing up to Lud's Church.With the lunch stop out of the way we head up the path to Lud's Church. Lud's Church is an immense natural cleft in the rock on the hillside above Gradbach, in a forest area known as the Black Forest.
The feature has been formed by a landslide which has detached a large section of rock from the hillside, thus 
forming a cleft which is over 15 metres high in places and over 100 metres long, though usually only a couple of metres wide.
forming a cleft which is over 15 metres high in places and over 100 metres long, though usually only a couple of metres wide.The entrance or exit as we walked it is what looks like a cave entrance with a steep drop down to the base of the cleft. We opted to walk past the way in and follow the path 
round until the Lud's Church sign came up and the followed the very boggy path to the entrance. We went down the steps into the cleft and were amazed at the grandeur.
round until the Lud's Church sign came up and the followed the very boggy path to the entrance. We went down the steps into the cleft and were amazed at the grandeur. Once we had walked through Lud's Church we returned to the path through the woods to a footbridge which lead us up hill to Gradbach Mill Youth Hostel as we ascended the will we came out into a duller day. Behind us the clouds and rain were mustering for an onslaught of bad weather. We were back at Roaches End and retraced our steps along the edge to The Roaches and with the intention of finishing the walk with the option of completing 
Hens Cloud but as the weather deteriorated our hopes of completing Hen Cloud disappeared too. So it was with sad hearts we descended back to the seat, with it's little ditty carved into it, and then to the cars vowing to return to complete Hen Cloud.
Hens Cloud but as the weather deteriorated our hopes of completing Hen Cloud disappeared too. So it was with sad hearts we descended back to the seat, with it's little ditty carved into it, and then to the cars vowing to return to complete Hen Cloud.
This is again one of those walks that we will return to in due course and one day we will see a wallaby for ourselves.
