Walk in Dovedale

A lovely sunny day in contrast to last Sunday's rain. Karen joined me in a circular walk along the River Dove which I did on 31st March. This time starting from Milldale so that the walk uphill to Alstonefield was at the start of the walk instead of the end. We parked up at the free car park in Milldale just after 10 in the morning so there were still plenty of spaces and after getting our boots on, headed up the quiet road leading uphill to Alsonefield.
As we reached the village of Alstonefield we couldn't help but notice that there was a "Hope Farm", a "Hope View", a "Hope Cottage" all close together. I looked for a "Hopeless" something but could see none!
Leaving the road by a small car park in the village centre, we headed across fields via stiles built into the walls and gradually gained height with views of Alstonefield and the surrounding area opening out behind. At a large Dew Pond we turned up slope and reached a stile by a mound where we disturbed sheep who were lying in the shade on such a warm day. We had to have a look at the guidebook to work out where to go next even though we could see our next target, Narrowdale, but soon found the way..
At the head of Narrowdale, it was tricky to find the route as according to the map it involved following a track between two drystone walls but the entrance to the track had a locked gate with a sign saying "No Public Right of Way Through Gate". There was a footpath sign pointing away from our route next to a wall with a second set of footpath signs a short way along. Following this route there was a stile leading across the track to an obvious route through a field which was parallel with our intended route if not the same. Following this it lead along one side of Narrowdale when we should have been on the path along the bottom. We worked our way down the steep grassy side to the bottom and could see where we had gone wrong earlier. Never mind, we were now on the correct route.
Following down Narrowdale passing an old "Lister" engine-powered pump, we soon reached a larger track leading to a lovely house all alone in a lovely position. Continuing down the large track, we eventually reached a junction and after turning right were soon at a foot bridge across the Dove next to Frank i'th' Rocks cliff with its small cave entrance. This is Frank i'th' Rocks Cave and is only a small chamber with a narrow passage leading to another smaller entrance a few metres away. It is up a slope and we sat at the entrance having a sandwich with the river below.
After our stop, we continued along the river seeing several herons fishing, until we reached the road back into Milldale by an old mill and a large house by a small bridge over the river Dove. We turned left away from Milldale and crossed the road to gain a path on the other side of the wall along the road and followed this as it gradually gained in height. After about a quarter of a mile we headed at right angles to the road up a steeper grassy slope and were soon at the top of the Dale with the road and the river quite a long way down below us.
We followed along the Dale side with views back along the way we had come and into the distance until after crossing a wall via a stile, we saw Dovedale continuing down away from Milldale. We followed down the short zig-zag path to the small Viator's Bridge in Milldale village which we crossed and after buying some sausage rolls and drinks at the small shop, we sat by the water and ate these as the ducks preened themselves nearby. Once the food was finished we walked the short distance to the car park and headed for home.