Dove Dale from Milldale

We left the car in the small public car park in Milldale and first stop was the kiosk which sells refreshments to buy some sausage rolls. We sat by the old sheep wash in the river while the mallard ducks swam hopefully by us in case of any food being dropped.
Afterwards we crossed the “Viator's Bridge” and made our way along the riverside path in the direction of Thorpe and when we arrived at the two large rock shelters known as Dove Holes, we followed a narrow path on the left which gradually rose through a small wood to break out into pastureland higher above Dove Dale where the path became indistinct.
We followed this alternative high level route for some time heading eventually back down towards the river not far below the footbridge by the limestone spire of Ilam Rock.

After crossing the footbridge we made our way back to Milldale on the Staffordshire side of the river eventually dropping back down on a narrow and slippery path.

Kinder Scout

I had today to myself as Karen was visiting friends in Rugby. I parked in Edale car park and noticed some sort of event going on as the adjacent sports field had a large marquee and loads of tents pitched. Checking with Google later it appears that this was “Spoonfest – The International Celebration of the Carved Wooden Spoon”!
Anyway, the weather forecast wasn't brilliant (rain showers and possibly thunder later) and although overcast, at least it was still dry as I set off to pass the Old Nags Head Inn in the village. It was warmish at about 16°C so I was wearing just a shirt to start. I crossed the wooden footbridge over the very low river and then along the route leading up to Kinder via Golden Clough, below Ringing Roger. I was going to follow the path on Ringing Roger but there was a group ahead and I didn't want to wait while they made their way along the path.
Not long after reaching the edge path near the top of Golden Clough some light rain started and it was getting windy so I stopped for a moment to get my Rab Bergen waterproof jacket on.
I could see that the cloud level was nearly at the level of the plateau with the top of Grindslow Knoll covered and soon even where I was became covered in mist.
Once I reached the top of Grindsbrook Clough I veered of the edge path making for the field of boulders on the skyline to the north-west. On the way I saw a female grouse and her brood of chicks. The chicks scattered into the heather and the mother ran off trying to distract me from her brood. There were also a couple of mountain hares which ran off as I approached.
I found a comfortable spot out of the wind and also sheltered from the rain by a boulder. I sat here for a while and brewed up some tea as I brought a gas stove and brew kit for a change.
I then made my way back to rejoin the edge path and skirted round the top of Crowden Clough. Again I planned to stop in a sheltered spot but now to have lunch and thought I may find a spot somewhere among the tor of Crowden Tower but the wind was in the wrong direction coming from the south up and over the edge of the plateau. Instead, I wandered off a short way from the path again and found a perfect spot again behind a large boulder.
I sat there and ate my sandwich and again brewed up some more tea and watched as the mist was flowing up from below the plateau and then blowing across the peat bog making sections of the landscape disappear and reappear.

I then rejoined the slabbed path and retuned back the way I had come and then made my way back towards Edale village by following the Grindsbrook Clough path.

Biggin Dale, Wolfescote Dale and Beresford Dale from Hartington

It was quite a bit cooler at around 17° and mostly cloudy with sunny periods so it was a lot more pleasant walking today.
We left the car in the centre of Hartington village and left the village following uphill passing Hartington Hall Youth Hostel and then after crossing a couple of fields, followed the stony track called Highfield Lane, until it arrived at the minor road into Biggin and the top of Biggin Dale.
After following Biggin Dale we eventually arrived at Wolfescote Dale and the River Dove. Here we stopped for a few minutes for a drink and a snack and then made our way along the dale to its end at a gate and small footbridge bringing us to a large open flat section of pastureland.

On the other side of this pastureland, we crossed a larger footbridge to arrive at Beresford Dale. After walking along the Dove for a while,we left Beresford Dale to again reach several fields of pastureland and a well-marked footpath leading back to join the village of Hartington.

Back Tor, Derwent Edge

After parking at Fairholmes car park in the Upper Derwent Valley near Derwent reservoir, we set off to follow the path passing below the Derwent Dam. This reservoir and dam are famous for the part they played in the action of RAF 617 Squadron “The Dam Busters” during the Second World War.
After following the flat track which follows one side of the reservoir, we left it to walk along the very beautiful Abbey Brook Valley.
It was a very warm and humid day with temperatures around 25º C and it was nice to meet cooler air the higher we climbed and also a bit of a breeze.
We eventually reached a path paved with large limestone slabs which we followed north to the small top called Lost Lad which has a Pantograph on top next to a large cairn, which gave the names and directions of various hills and peaks which could be seen from this point. The air was nice and clear and we had good views of Kinder Scout with Fairbrook Naze standing out particularly, the Great Ridge dividing the Edale nd Hope Valleys and many other hills. Karen even spotted Mininglow in the distance and its little group of trees on top.
From here we dropped down a bit and then up, again on a slabbed section of path to reach the large gritstone tor called Back Tor which is surmounted by a trig point column. This must be being maintained by someone or other because it appeared to have a fresh coat of white paint, We clambered up on the rocks of the tor to benefit from the cool breeze as much as possible and eat our lunch but we spotted a group of wasps which were flying in and out of a small circular hole at the base of the trig point column so we sat a short distance away.
After finishing lunch, we clambered back down from the high point and again continued on the slabbed path which continues along the rest of Derwent Edge, to reach a crossroads with a second slabbed path which leads from Derwent Reservoir to Strines in the direction of Sheffield.

Her we turned left and followed the path as it turned in a large curve and then began to drop down towards another small valley with a stream which feed Derwent Reservoir. This brought us back onto the reservoir track not too far from Derwent Dam and then back to the car park.

The Great Ridge, Hope Valley

Again Karen remained at home in Winster and I set off rather late in the day after a rare lie-in to walk along the Great Ridge from Mam Tor to Lose Hill and back again.
It was fairly busy and again around 20 degrees centigrade, very humid nut luckily remained dry.

I had a short break at the summit of Lose Hill but there were piles of orange peel, banana peels, tissue paper and other bits of rubbish left behind.

Kinder Scout

Karen was accompanying her friend from Rugby, Lorraine, around the various gardens in Winster during the annual Winster Secret Gardens weekend.
There were country-wide weather warnings for thunder storms and torrential rain for today so I decided against my original planned trip to Snowdonia and stay in the Peak. I thought I would drive to Edale and see what the weather looked like and maybe have a walk on Kinder Scout.
There was a bit of light rain as I drove to Edale village and managed to find a parking space near the Old Nags Head Inn. Then some light rain started to fall as I was putting my boots on so I also git my waterproof over-trousers on and set off along the start of the Pennine Way heading towards Jacobs Ladder.
I veered off the Pennine Way route to walk up Crowden Clough and luckily there was a break in the rain so I could remove my waterproofs as it was still fairly warm at around 20 degreed centigrade.
I followed the southern edge path and was soon stopped by a couple asking where the path marked in the map heading towards Kinder Downfall started. I explained the marked route was simply marking a public right of way and wasn't actually a defined path you could see on the ground and they were happy to continue on the edge path instead to reach the Downfall even though it was a bit longer.
It began to rain again and a bit heavier than before so I stopped to get my waterproofs back on again. I passed several walkers walking in the opposite direction including a man in T-shirt, shorts and sandals who was absolutely soaked but seemed still cheerful!
I had a scout around the craggy section of Ringing Roger as I made my way off Kinder to see if I could find a sheltered spot to eat my lunch but there wasn't anywhere out of the rains so I continued on down the ridge.
As I followed down the lower section, I met two young men walking slowly upwards wearing camouflage pattern trousers, T-shirts and wearing huge military rucksacks. They saw me and one remarked that I seemed better prepared as they had though it would be “T-shirt weather”! I just mentioned I had simply check the weather forecast!

Anyway, luckily there had been no sign of thunderstorm and it was a nice walk despite the weather.

P8

Another breakfast in a quieter café at Monyash and we were off to first pay a visit to Hitch 'n' Hike near Bamford for the others to buy some bits of caving gear.
Moving on afterwards we arrived at the usual layby parking place for P8, which was nearly empty yesterday, to find it completely full!
So we parked by the cattle grid outside the farm across the road and left our £2 trespass fees by the back door as there was no answer when I knocked at the door.
After getting changed we headed across several fields to arrive to the entrance to P8 and again found water levels low.
We were soon down Idiot's Leap and after passing this short drop arrived at the First Pitch. Keith had brought enough ropes to rig both the normal route plus also the alternative higher route at this pitch. Karen wanted to rig and descend the usual lower option, while Keith and Alice were going to do the short climb up a rifty section and drop down the longer alternative pitch.
I like this longer alternative pitch and began to climb up to follow the other two but found ti too painful on my left leg so I clambered back down and followed Karen down the normal route which was already rigged with another party's rope so Karen had rigged our rope to avoid them getting tangled.
We were soon all reunited in the nice chamber below the first pitch and then climbed up to the higher level passage leading towards the alternative second pitch. We soon heard voices and found a small group of cavers with ropes rigged at the 'Bold Step' by the junction with Stalactite Passage.
We found Brian Potts was among them (so that was Brian's car in the layby, as we thought we recognised it)! It turned out that this was a small group being instructed by Nigel Atkins who we said “Hello” to and had a laugh with.
We continued past the group and Keith rigged the alternative second pitch as we heard the other laughing and joking and enjoying themselves greatly.
We made our way down to the downstream sump finding it very low, the lowest we had seen for a long time.
Next stop was the upstream sump which unsurprisingly was very low and quite a long way down its vertical passage.
Keith and Alice elected to head back towards the second pitch by following the low tube section of passage from near here while Karen and I returned by the same route we had followed earlier on the way in.
We were all soon again at the second pitch and after replacing our SRT kit which we had taken off, we prusiked up and passed Nigel and the others and headed back towards the entrance.
We didn't hang around by the entrance as there were horse files around, and one managed to bite Keith on the lip!