Date of Walk - 2nd May 09
Conditions - Warm. A bit cloudy with a decent cooling breeze. The sun did rear it's head from time to time as well.
Distance - 6.57 miles in well pathed dales. Based on a walk here by Radder, so I'll try not to post the same photographs.
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As I say this was a walk based on part of one done by Radder so I won't be typing much (honest). The walk was part of my walking mates "am I ok" recovery plan and the fact we decided to help a friend out by walking the dog/woofit/hound* a suitably tiring but paw friendly distance.
Below is a picture of Buster (the said woofit) and of course the OS map is courtesy of the Ordnance Survey and is Crown Copyright.
Suffice to say that Buster was very excited in the car going, but was strangely quiet on the way back. Especially quiet considering that I lost my pager by leaving on the car roof which resulted in a nice electronic jigsaw as I left it there when we drove off - I mean he could have said something
As with Radders walk, we started in Hartington (lovely village) and passed the Youth Hostel. Now things have obviously come on since I last spent time at a Youth Hostel some 30 years ago. I definitely don't remember Cappuccinos and Panini’s being on the menu! Still I was aware of how the YHA had changed and was glad to see this one looking impressive and busy.
After doing some back tracking to actually pay for the car parking - the town was packed, but the car park was strangely empty, we set off across farm land to the entrance of Biggin Dale.
The walk itself goes through several dales and was fairly busy with people of all ages. The route we took goes through Biggin Dale, Wolfscote Dale and Beresford Dale. All of which had glorious white peak countryside on offer.
Soon you come to the turning out of Biggin Dale and into Wolfscote Dale.
Wolfscote Dale is very much like a quieter version of Dovedale. I dread to think what that would have been like on the day. I'm sure the car park and shops there would have done a roaring trade. Anyway Wolfscote Dale...
This next picture would have been a lot more interesting as on the opposite side of the bank (no I don't know how they got there, there isn't a path) was urban dad and his family. Urban dad was obviously ok wearing jeans and trainers, cos he had his over size map case for Google Earth to see and a big stick. Sadly what he didn't have was a path, the support of his family and kids or a dry path across.
He was trying to cross using the weir.
The weir - that has mostly moss covered stones and big bits missing. We sat eating waiting for the inevitable splash, but sadly (and costing me money as I wouldn't have pictures to send to You've Been Framed) someone directed him to a more sensible spot. Hey I work in IT I get my laughs where I can!
So more of Wolfscote, getting more and more White Peak as you go along.
We were going to skip this bridge but a few dog owners didn't have their dogs on leads (despite many warning signs and plenty of sheep and lambs about) so we took a detour across it.
Still as we entered Beresford Dale I got my first attempt at a misty watery type picture (this is 1 of 100 - I kid, I kid, more like one of 6
). Obviously I'll try again on something more impressive.
Still there were many small weirs and stones to practise on.
Finally a sign to impress upon us the arduous and lofty route we'd taken.
In all seriousness though and excellent days bimble along with some very well behaved company. I doubt he'd manage Kinder Scout in the wet (short legs you see, he'd disappear in the mud) but we may invite him out again.
Thanks to Radder for the inspiration.
* Delete as you see fit
© Dazza
