Hartington Village Shop
After parking in the centre of the busy village of Hartington, Karen and I walked a short distance towards the village Public Toilets, where there was a notice pinned on the door saying “Frozen Water” as the pipes must have been frozen after the recent frosty weather!
Behind the toilets there is a small gate leading to a path which immediately leads to pastureland and wide views of the surrounding countryside.
The sky was clear and the sun was shining straight at us from its winter low angled position as we carefully crossed large frozen puddles. Luckily the few muddy sections were mostly frozen as well, which is the benefit of walking at this time of year.
The route brought us to a gate leading onto a small plantation which was made of a range of deciduous trees such as ash, oak and sycamore.
Soon we were walking along the bank of the River Dove with the neighbouring county of Staffordshire on the opposite side and after crossing a wooden footbridge by a ford, we crossed a large field and through another gate into the start of Wolfescote Dale. Unfortunately the clouds moved in and except for the small odd spot of sun, it was overcast for the rest of the day.
There is a flat path most of the way along this dale right next to the river, and we noticed that there weren't many birds around other than a Dipper and a Heron.
As we approached the junction with Biggin Dale, we heard the sound of hounds and men shouting in the distance with the odd tootle on a hunting horn and could see several hounds high up on the daleside with a few men scattered about.
Frank i'th' Rocks Cave
We sat on a flat area near the junction and ate our lunch before leaving the River Dove and heading up Biggin Dale as far as another junction next to a ruined building constructed of drystone walling. Here we followed the left-hand branch heading uphill out of the dale to a walled path.This led to Reynard Lane, a quiet minor road which leads straight back to Hartington village.
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