Youlgreave, Bradford, Elton, Stanton Lees, Stanton Woodhouse, and Rowsley

[This is the walk I planned to do last week. ...but the bus at Bakewell didn't show up.]

I caught the local bus from Bakewell to Youlgreave and walked down the hill to Bradford.

I then walked along the bottom of the valley right next to the River Bradford; I stayed on the right bank as I was going upstream but had to climb out of the dale to the western end of Youlgreave, taking a charming footpath which seemed to go right through some people's back gardens. A bit further on I was able to get back down into Bradford Dale again. Walking alongside the river I noticed that it seemed to get wider and deeper the further upstream I went; very unusual, maybe there's a sinkhole further downstream down which some of the flow disappears. I had to cross over to the other bank eventually though.

The next path, going through the camping and caravanning site at Hopping Farm was new to me, although it soon joined up with a much more familiar path going over to Elton.

I passed through the village and then joined the Limestone way for a few hundred yards, which I soon left to take a route staying to the north of Winster. I then went down the closed road into Stanton Lees..  

I remained on a northerly bearing for Rowsley  from where I caught a bus back to Bakewell. I had to wait over an hour there for a bus going back to Sheffield.

Monyash, Bradford, Alport, and Haddon Hall

Public transport went according to plan today; I arrived at Bakewell at 09:20 and then caught the 09:40 bus to Monyash. Earlier, when I got on the bus at Sheffield though I was mistaken for an old age pensioner for the first time ever by the driver when he didn't realise or recognise that I had a disabled person's bus pass that is valid for travel at any time. I didn't get shaved this morning, as is usually the case when I go walking, there's not enough time...maybe I looked really rugged and rough. I keep telling people though that since my twin diagnoses of diabetes and vitamin D deficiency and my subsequent successful treatment I'm feeling, and looking, twenty or even thirty years younger. You can't fool all of the people all of the time though.

I arrived at Monyash at ten o'clock and the weather was still a bit murky as I was taking photographs in the churchyard; about half an hour later the sun came out, and stayed out for the rest of the day.

I left the village by taking the Limestone Way footpath, heading out towards Youlgreave, passing through One Ash Grange Farm where there's a shrine with small plastic figurines depicting The Nativity. I then reached Cales Dale, the path down was steep, narrow, and slippery in places...the climb back out of the dale consisted of one hundred and seventy steps cut into the bare rock...but this was much easier.

A bit later, near a farm I was harassed by a large horse which had a fetish about my armpits and kept pushing its nostrils into them; I haven't a clue what the word is for this type of behaviour.

I continued walking along the Limestone Way until I reached the River Bradford and passed by the houses at the hamlet of Bradford itself before arriving at Alport.

I needed to walk through the grounds of a mobile homes park before reaching the next section of my route going along a country road...the route of the footpath is well signposted though.

The final mile and a half today was across an extensive area of open grasslands called Haddon Fields...there are some nice views.

I managed to get a decent view of Haddon Hall. The photo isn't very clear because it's at maximum zoom. I've never visited the Hall; I couldn't visit today anyhow even if I wanted to - it's closed to the public during the winter months.

Bakewell, Youlgreave, Middleton-by-Youlgreave, and Over Haddon

I was delayed in town this morning on my way to the railway station, I didn't miss my train though. The cause of the delay was chewing gum being removed from the pavement by a scrubbing/scouring machine that was using a high pressure water hose with the dirty used water being expelled by a jet at the back of the contraption...spraying everywhere for a distance of several feet in all directions. So, I had to wait for a couple of minutes until the operator had finished and moved on to somewhere else...it was a quite narrow walkway and there was no room for me to pass.

I arrived at Bakewell at 10:15 and immediately headed off down Matlock Road towards the footpath I was looking for. It was easy enough to find and I was soon walking up a farm track, and then briefly through an orchard before crossing some pleasant countryside consisting of meadows, woodland, fields, and pasture.

The weather was a bit murky, and it stayed that way all day - pleasant enough for walking though.

Just before I dropped down into Lathkill Dale for the first time today I noticed this home-made footpath sign - I wonder what point the farmer was hoping to make?

Descending to the river through the woodland was quite steep, the climb up into Youlgreave was a lot gentler though.

Youlgreave, or Youlgrave as the locals seem to prefer, is a large village and so it took me a while to walk to the western end where I took a path which led down through the woods to the River Bradford.

It was about a mile until I reached Middleton, a village that I hadn't visited before.

I needed to walk back along the road towards Youlgreave before picking up the footpath which headed due north across the fields to Over Haddon. I had to go down into Lathkill Dale again, and climb up the other side.

It was an easy walk along the road and then a gentle descent across the fields back to Bakewell, passing by Lady Manners' School, where it was the annual sports day.

For most of the walk today my legs were quite sore and very itchy - caused by the nettles, brambles, and thistles that I had to walk through not long after setting off from Bakewell. I was regularly needing to stop to have a good thorough scratch and this spoilt my day somewhat. This is the first time I've really suffered like this and I can't think why it should be...my trousers are proper walking trousers, long-legged and quite thick - so I just don't know why the material didn't protect me from the stings and thorns.