Limestone Way May 3 and 4 2022

 Start of a two day trek along te Limestone Way. Castleto to Bonsall. 

This was my first attempt at backpacking a route, so I set off with a 28lbs pack on my back.

Anne gave me a lift to Castleton at the start of the walk. The start of Cave Dale was a short walk from the car park where Anne dropped me off.

This was my first time with a heavy sack(28 lbs) on a long walk. The climb up Cave Dale was a great start to the walk - brilliant scenery and a good climb to the top of the dale. I was using the Derbyshire Dales route leaflet which is an excellent summary of the route (obviously the OS map and GPS support were in my sack if needed). First section was Castleton to Mount Pleasant Farm. After Cave Dale the route was a pleasant grassy track with lovely views. After the farm I crossed the busy A623 and headed on a minor road for a short way before heading right on a rough , stony path down to the start of Hay Dale.

Hay Dale then led to Peters Dale , and the a bit of road walking (uphill) to a footpath along the edge of Monksdale before dropping down to Millers Dale. Apart from the road walking I loved this part of the walk...beautiful and peacful through the dales.

Viaducts below Millers Dale

Millers Dale

Flagg Church

After climbing up from Millers Dale to Flagg there was a straightforward route to Monyash. The Lathkill Dale Campsite at Monyash is brilliant. Great pitches with a picnic bench on each pitch. Pleased to set the Lanshan tent up OK with no drama. After a cup of tea (Maple Fire jetboil type cooker was perfect) I headed to the pub for a pint and meal.

Baby rabbit about 20 ft from my tent with not a care in the world!

Home for the night

Ready to go for day 2

I had a crap night ... couldn't sleep ... too cold, and then at daybreak pissing rain for about 3 hours. when I finally started packing ip my ankles had locked up and I was limping / stumbling about as I packed up. Really dissapointed that everything else was OK - no shoulder ache, no blisters, energy levels great, but my ankles seized up ! First few miles were painful but I soon got into it.

Next Section  May 4th- Monyash - Youlgreave - Winster.

As mentioned, the first few miles were painful, but I soon got into it. The climb down and up Cale Dale was steep - one really steep tricky bit going down and then the up was a muscle burning stairway to heaven!.

On the way out of Monyash

Old Pig Stiles at One Ash Grange Farm

Cale Dale Way Down

Cale Dale

Stairway to Heaven

The tracks across fields from the top of Cale Dale to the edge of Bradford Dale was straightforward.

Top of Bradford Dale

Lovely stone bridge over the River Bradford

Bradford Dale

Looking down the hill to Youlgreave

Looking down to the lake near Youlgreave

Looking back from the to[ of the hill looking back to Youlgreave

Robin Hoods Stride

Lead Ore House on the outskirts of Winster

After the climb up Duddon Lane it was a straightforward walk across Bonsall Moor to Bonsall Upper Town, where Anne kindly picked me up. Ankles shot....need to research how to strengthen them.

Link to a few short clipsLimestone Way vids

Great adventure. 26 miles through the heart of Derbyshire. OS OL24 and the Derbyshire Dales Limestone leaflet.

Derby - Smalley Friday 22nd April

 The challenge was to walk from the centre of Derby to Smalley. I caught the bus from Smalley to Derby and met Ben at the start point.

Apart from a small amount of street walking at the start and in Stanley Common the rest of the walk was on good footpaths including th Breadsall railway cutting

Ben did the route planning and map reading , so thta was a treat for me.

Great to get another (new) local walk in.

About 8 miles.

Bonsall Moor 9th April 2022

 This was another walk from the White Peak Walks book by Mark Richards, with the added attraction of a section of the Limestone Way (next on my long distance trek readar),

Parked at Winster play ground on the road out of the village and then walked back down to the village centre to pick up the Limestone Way to Bonsall.

The walk to Bonsall was straightforward  (I had on navigation error, but I was soon back on track)

The walk back to Winster was great ... navigation was OK and very enjoyable.

Around 6 - 7 miles  OS 24.

Masson Hill 28th March 2022

 First walk I have tried from the Walks in the White Peak book by Mark Richards. 

Start point was the car park at Cromford Wharf. Leaving the car park and crossing the road there is a gate leading to the footpath past St Mary's Church and Scarthin Rocks. After crossing the A6 and walking through the town centre past Scarthin Books I picked up the footpath signposted to Bonsall and Matlock Bath. 

From there it was a steady climb along the side of the Derwent Valley before reaching Ember Farm.

At Ember Lane the footpath is signposted to Bonsall. However, to get to the top of Masson Hill I had to walk through the farm which wasn't very walker friendly (gates that wouldn't open, grumpy farm dogs etc.), Pretty soon the footpath seem to fade away, so for the final climb, we just puashed our way up through the gaps in a bank of gorse on the hillside.

View from the top

Another view from the top

Looking at the map of the area Masson Hill is the highest point around at 338 metres.  I couldn't find the path off according to the book, so I retraced my steps back through the farm to Ember Lane.

The rest of the walk was straightforward, dropping down to Bonsall and then down the hillside along the edge of a quarry back down to Cromford.

St James Church Bonsall

Bonsall - bottom of Ember Lane

Scarthin Rocks

St Mary's Church

Great to try a new walk after months of local walks around Smalley.

OS OL 24. About 4 miles.