Miller's Dale, Wheston, and Bradwell

There was no sign of any Global Warming today; at times it was unpleasantly chilly and I reckon it's been one of the coldest summer days I've ever experienced.

I had another uncomfortable journey on the bus today. It was full to the maximum capacity as it left Sheffield bus station, two walking groups and a church group (I think) going to a seminar in Buxton added to the numbers. Fortunately, the members of one of the walking groups got off at Fox House, only twenty minutes into the journey. This helped quite a bit though, it meant that the man sitting next to me could move a few inches away from me and put his left leg in the aisle. He seemed to have been rather unsettled about me having to ram my left knee into his upper thigh (I suppose my having to regularly rub my own knee to keep the blood circulation going didn't impress him at all) - I was more more concerned though about a young man standing a few feet away who was drinking a takeaway coffee and trying not to spill it or fall over.

As the bus passed through Tideswell it was obvious that it was 'Tidza Wakes and Welldressing' - even at 10:30 it was very busy. I got off a few miles down the road at Miller's Dale. It was drizzling a bit by now and so I struggled with my 'Poncho-in-a-Bag' - ending up looking more like a refugee from the Glastonbury Festival than a serious hiker....it did the job though, keeping me dry for the next half an hour or so until the weather cleared up.

I walked up the road to the point where I could access the Limestone Way, soon passing the farm with a particularly tricky 'bisexual gate' (it swings both ways and it's bloody difficult to get the bolt in the right hole.) I was high above Monk's Dale at this point but I didn't fancy taking the valley bottom path; it would have been far too challenging for me at this time of year...overgrown, wet, and boulder-strewn. I did walk along Monk's Dale a couple of years ago but the ground was frozen solid; the temperature hadn't got above freezing for several days and so conditions underfoot were favourable...and, of course, the undergrowth had died back.

A few hundred yards beyond the farm I could enjoy a nice view over to my left; the weather was murky but it's possible to make out a rather pretty hill with cows and sheep on its flank, I think it's got a nice shape...it's called Knot Low.

I reached the road at Monksdale House and then continued towards Wheston, passing by a clump of three dead trees.

I then walked down a byway called 'Water Lane' and reached the road that leads to Tideswell. I turned left and headed westwards, away from Tideswell, and stopped to photograph a sign, the warning being something I would never had thought of as being a major hazard in the Peak District.

I crossed the busy Buxton to Chesterfield road and continued northward along a country lane until I reached my next section of footpath; a steady climb uphill towards Bradwell Moor. At the side of the verge there were a lot of these pretty yellow flowers, I don't know what they're called, but I reckon they wouldn't look out of place in anyone's garden.

Towards the top of this path there's a storage tank, or small covered reservoir, which looks rather sinister.

The final section of the walk was across the southern edge of Bradwell Moor. There are a lot of old mine workings and rakes and this type of terrain seems to encourage the growth of wildflowers. I took photographs of my favourites.

The first one is the early purple orchid, but I don't know what the others are.

I made good time down into Bradwell, where I paused to look in a shop window - I'm not sure what they were selling though.