PARWICH.ORG

Please keep us updated, this is particularly useful for those in 2WD.

Just spoken to someone who has driven from Chesterfield to Monyash and they had no problems, the road through Monyash just needs to be taken carefully.

12.30pm – Just come back from Monyash and the A515 is OK, there is a lot of snow drifting onto the southbound carriageway between Parsley Hay and the Biggin turn off,  with the fog coming down, just drive with care.

The gritter has come down the Alsop Road this morning after 8.25am and before 12.15pm, so that is good.

Last updated: 18:40. People returning to Parwich have so far reported no particular problems. Within Parwich itself, the sleet turned into rain this afternoon, before stopping. The temperature has settled at around zero, and the two main roads into the village are basically OK, even though they haven’t been gritted. Conditions on most roads in our immediate vicinity are slushy, slippery and wet, although the less used thoroughfares are becoming more glassy and hazardous as night falls.

A nasty ice ridge has developed on the Alsop road, not far from Emma and Rob’s on the edge of Parwich. Matt H felt plenty of scraping under his car this evening, and thought that it could easily damage some.

As no more sleet or snow is forecast until tomorrow afternoon, we can reasonably expect that tomorrow morning’s driving conditions will be a little bit better than today’s.

As from 15:24, the A515 south of Buxton has been reported as re-opened.

The Alsop road wasn’t gritted last night, which left it initially passable to 4X4s only. Jean C had to turn back earlier on, and Debbie W told us that the school bus couldn’t make it through – raising worrying questions as to how the emergency services might reach us.

However, according to Brian B at around 12:45 (in a 4WD), the Alsop road was much improved and “very clear”. Peter T confirmed that the road has improved, although the growing number of potholes is problematic and the final ascent to the A515 is still nasty; Brian F in his front wheel drive made it only on the third attempt. And once again, do beware of that ice ridge near Emma and Rob’s. So if you’re taking the Alsop road out of the village, the verdict seems to be: fine for 4WDs, probably manageable but still best avoided for 2WDs.

We don’t yet know whether the Alsop road will be gritted. A request has been made to the County Council, but no one was able to confirm or deny whether this will actually happen. If you see a gritter, please let us know!

As far as we know, the A515 was closed today in at least three places: northwards only from the market place in Ashbourne, at the Longnor/Monyash junction (B5055), and in both directions between the A5270 (Brierlow Bar) and B5035 (King Street) in Buxton. It was also flagged as “hazardous” around the Hartington area. However, the stretch between the top of the Alsop Road and the Via Gellia turn-off at Newhaven has remained open and usable throughout, and the southbound stretch of the A515 from the Alsop road to Ashbourne is “fine with care”. We think the A515 has now been fully re-opened in both directions.

The road through Monyash was reported this morning as “very bad”.

QEGS in Ashbourne closed at 11:45am this morning.

Conditions around Bradbourne have been described as slippy and treacherous, with cars this morning struggling in queues to get up and down the hill next to Netherton Hall. However, cars have been making it to Parwich from Bradbourne, with the gradient of the road working in their favour. The TM Travel 411 bus service between Parwich and Ashbourne has been running a regular (if heavily delayed) service through the day, and this also makes use of the lane between Bradbourne and Knockerdown/Carsington Water.

The latest word (17:00) on the Bradbourne lanes is that although the road condition is pretty good, problems occur when pulling over to let other vehicles pass – as you never quite know what you’re pulling over into.

Non-4X4 vehicles have been managing all day to get into Parwich via the southern road from the B5056. However, the road has been very slippery – particularly by the Red House (near the junction with the B5056), so the advice is to go easy on the brakes.

The builders at the Memorial Hall made it in this morning from Ripley & Ashover via Longcliffe in a car, but they said it was only passable with great care.

The milk van made it into the village, but it ran into difficulties on Monsdale Lane, just up from Spenedge (Don & Aud). A team of helpers managed to turn it around.

Postal deliveries were made as normal this morning. Thanks to our new postman for making it through.

The upper section of Creamery Lane (between the Monsdale Lane junction and Rathbone Hall) is more or less impassable to traffic – with the exception of the Peak Oil truck, which sprinted up to Val and Nick’s at 14:50. Kiln Lane is in a poor but slightly better state, but Matt H’s vehicle has become stuck by Rathbone Croft.

The estimated travelling time to Derby this morning was two hours. 2WD vehicles managed to make the journey, via the Via Gellia and the A6 through Belper. Matt H tells us that the return journey (via Ashbourne and Alsop) was problem-free.

The estimated travelling time to Buxton this morning was also two hours! Graham J managed to make the journey via Matlock.

It took Ian P 1.25 hours to travel from Parwich to Sheffield this morning: leaving at 6:25am and travelling via Longcliffe, Grangemill, Bakewell & Baslow. Ian tells us that his return journey was much easier.

The road at Longcliffe has been bad, and at one stage only passable by 4WD, but Ian (a 2WD driver) tells us that the road is now much better. The climb up to Longcliffe had been reported earlier as particularly tricky. We also heard that a lorry jack-knifed at Longcliffe during the morning.

The A6 to Buxton is OK, but side roads in Buxton are “lousy”. For Buxton-related travel and weather news, the rolling “ticker tape” at the top of the ever-reliable Buxton Weather site is being regularly updated.

Thanks to Rich G for alerting us to the BBC’s traffic updates for the Derby area, which are being regularly updated. It’s well worth bookmarking this page for future reference.

Do please keep us updated with any information you might have – it will be very gratefully received.

With another layer of fresh snow on the ground, and still more snow forecast for tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon and evening, any information on the current state of the roads would be very gratefully received. Our site stats tell us that the number of visits to PARWICH.ORG has increased almost threefold over the past few days, which suggests that a lot of you must be looking for this sort of information – so please do share what you know.

Travelling into Parwich from Nottingham this lunchtime – via Derby, Allestree, Kedleston, Hulland Ward, Carsington Water and Bradbourne – we experienced no particular difficulties until we joined the lane from Knockerdown to Bradbourne. Although the lane has been regularly gritted and is in a reasonable state for traffic, special care and attention is needed over this stretch. (There’s one benefit, though: by slowing right down, you’ll get a chance to take in the spectacularly beautiful scenery on either side of the lane.)

Care is also needed on the Hognaston bypass (which runs along the edge of Carsington Water). This was badly affected during Friday evening’s snowfall, with traffic unable to progress at much more than 5mph. The road is a lot better today, but it’s still far from being hazard-free.

Our one potential “sticky moment” came on the approach road to Parwich, north of the Ballidon turn-off but south of the Pikehall turn-off. There’s a difficult and dangerous stretch on this road, for maybe 150 metres or so around a particular bend, where the amount of slush and ice deepens dramatically. If your car has a low suspension, or if it doesn’t handle snow too well in general, then you are strongly advised to avoid taking this route.

We’ve heard that the Alsop road is in a better state than the southbound road to the B5056, as it is being gritted – but do watch out for those potholes, which are steadily getting worse.

Finally, if you’re unable to get up some of the steeper lanes within the village, then we recommend the Parsons Croft car park (by the cricket pitch), which offers a safer space to leave your vehicle.