Baslow, Hassop, Rowland and Calver.

I got off the bus at Baslow church and soon left the village by crossing the old bridge and then walking along an overgrown snicket. As soon as I had arrived in open countryside I noticed something in the distance over to my right.

If you enlarge the photo you can see that there are two oblong-shaped copses where some of the trees have been felled to spell out the letters 'E' and 'R' - I will let you draw your own conclusions.

I then continued uphill across the fields and along the road to Hassop. En route I noticed some foxgloves in bloom. These are flowering several weeks earlier  than the foxgloves in my garden; I have noticed this with all the plants in my garden. With me living at low altitude in Doncaster the average temperature is a few degrees warmer than it is in the Peak District and so you'd expect my plants to be flowering earlier, yet this isn't the case...even though my garden has a southwesterly aspect. The only reason I can think for this is that I have a large oak tree in my garden which sucks up most of the available water and leaves most parts of the garden in shade for prolonged periods.

It was only a few hundred yards across more fields to Rowland, a pretty little village situated at the foot of Longstone Edge.

Next I climbed up onto the edge, and was pleasantly surprised how much better my breathing was - I'm hoping I'm finally getting rid of my bronchitis.

The final section of the walk was along Coombs Dale, where there were some lovely displays of wildflowers.

I soon arrived at Calver, where I popped in the café and enjoyed a ten item cooked breakfast in the middle of the afternoon.

UPDATE: I've just received this informative reply from a member of one of the online walking forums of which I'm a member:

Hi there - I live in Baslow - what you saw on the hillside (under what is known locally as Crocodile Wood from its shape) was planted to commemorate the Coronation of Elizabeth II - it was replanted a few years ago. It is not felled trees which create the letters but larch which stand out against the darker trees in the rest of the patch.
Chatsworth did another one to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee (in Chatsworth Park) - this one was done in stone - so far as I know they were made to remove it by the Peak National Park.