Autumn colours, and the BEST place for lunch!

I went to Matlock Bath to meet up with my daughter for lunch. Of course, I took the camera, as the leaves are at their best now. It inspired me as well, so Sue & I, instead of walking home for lunch, drove to Beresford dale just beyond Hartington, for a picnic and to take some photo's. Here are the results - I hope you like them.

Here's Matlock Bath from the river.
The building on the ridge is the treetops cafe. Not a bad view for them.

The park, deserted mid week.
The fountain in the park.

Copper carpet.

Here we go, some people like motorway cafes, others a nice, warm canteen. Sue & I love this sort of place, and we're lucky to have it on the doorstep.

I think we were maybe just a couple of days off perfect here, but it was still lovely.

I think last weekend would have seen the leaves at their best.

Looking up Beresford dale.
If you walked up this path and just kept going, you would end up in Hartington in about 3/4 of an hour.

The Beresford dale road ends here at the river.
A super place for a picnic at any time of year, but I love it best when it's this colour.

One of the small weirs, created so the fish would populate the river, and to control flow.

Now, with the water 'laced' with my new camera by making the shutter stay open longer.

The riverbank and its carpet of leaves.

There's Sue, waiting for the picnic!

I crossed the bridge to get this shot of Beresford lane, where the car was parked.
The river was quite full, after the recent rains.

This is the 'squeezer stile' for the bridge.
Note the 'hole' lower down to allow you to get your boots through.
It's amazing to think these things were all cut by hand, look at the lovely decoration, there was really no need or purpose for that, it was just simple pride in the job.

The new bridge in the dale.

An upright shot of the lane to show the trees more.

It's all just water under the bridge!

Lovely light through the trees.

Finally, as we were driving back for our afternoon stint, refreshed by our picnic in paradise, I couldn't resist taking this shot of the lovely walls on the hills around Hartington. I always say this, but a photo doesn't do the scene justice, it was really beautiful, and the sky was so lovely and blue.

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Ladybower, Alport Castles, Howden Reservoir, Cronksley Moor cabin, Slippery Stones, Derwent Valley

We were EXCITED!! We had a WHOLE DAY to devote to walking and, when we looked out of the office window - on the tops, we saw SNOW! YIPPPPEEEEEEE!

Knowing that usually, in the High peak of Derbyshire, there is more snow than on the lower ground, we got booted up and ready to walk the whole day in what promised to be a winter wonderland. However, the further North we went, the less snow we saw. Were we disappointed? Well, take a look at the view that greeted us. Would you have been?

No - us neither!

Don't forget, you can see a larger version of any of the pictures by left clicking on it with your mouse. If you want to save the picture to your computer, right click on it and select 'save picture'.

We decided to park at Fairholmes visitors centre, at the side of Ladybower reservoir. Our route was then over the top of Hagg side to Lockerbrook farm, then onward and upward to Alport castles, the largest natural landslip in Europe.

The morning sun lit the reservoirs to a shimmering expanse and it was beautiful. Despite the lack of snow, today gave promise in lots of other ways. The light was particularly good for photography. The walk up through the woods made us feel good to be alive!


I paused to look up - this is what I saw.
The pines reaching for the warmth of the sky.

At the top of the woods, this small gate leads out onto the hillside and we were greeted by the fabulous blue hues of our winter sky, tinged with just a sprinkling of snow.

We turned left, and got our breath back along the flat track with views forward to the Southern edge of Kinder Scout. That hunch you see on the horizon is Back Tor on the Lose hill to Mam tor ridge. You can always pick out its distinctive shape.

Here's Sue, ready for the day, with Woodlands valley behind her.

We walked along the edge with only the odd sheep for company.

Now we walk mid-week, we get much more peaceful walks.

The business part of the walk!

Alport Castles.

This is quite a dramatic picture, but it's much more so in real life. The side of the hill has literally slipped down into the Alport valley, leaving a distinct edge that we walked along.

Looking back along the edge.

Note the three walkers to give you some sense of scale.

After the Castles, we turned sharp right and dropped steeply back down towards a finger of Howden reservoir, but we then turned left again at the bottom, and started the long climb up onto Cronksley moor. The day was still really clear and living up to the mornings promise. It was cold, but perfect for walking. We saw lots of impressive icicles hanging from the peat.

Here's a happy lad!

Our goal for lunch - our favourite shooting cabin, where we had lunch. Surprisingly, there were two other couples there and we spent lunchtime in pleasant conversation.

The road onwards was a dream come true, with inviting views of Derwent edge. Although the days were now drawing out, we'd neither the time, nor the light, to visit the edge, which would have added maybe 2 hours to our route (which was already 7 hours long).

We dropped off the moors to meet the young river Derwent. We forded this (and I got a boot full of VERY cold water), and then followed it as it wound down the valley towards captivation in the reservoirs. Here I am at the bottom of Cranberry clough, posing on a small footbridge.

This is Slippery stones bridge. When the reservoir chain was flooded, it would have been submerged, but it was disassembled and re-built at the head of the valley, where it now stands today.

Sue sits and reflects on a perfect day.

Not over yet though, as we still had to walk the length of the reservoirs to get back to the car.

A tranquil scene.

A small puff of cloud lends itself to a photo.

To really make it perfect, the water would be dead calm and reflect the land & sky.

I can't remember us having had a lot of rain recently, but the reservoir chain was full to capacity and the water was flowing over the top of the Howden dam.

Looking back to Howden dam, the sun just catching the Eastern tower.

A zoomed shot onto Derwent edge, and one of the many weathered rock formations.

We got back to the car about 5:30PM. It really had been so perfect today that we were sad it was over. We'd walked 15.6 miles, and taken in almost 3,000 feet of ascent. This was our last view of the reservoir before climbing into the car and wending our way home. Beneath this picture are a couple of short videos, the first time I've put any on blogger.

Here I am near the shooting cabin, showing you the panorama over Derwent edge.

I've not quite got the hang of the sound yet, so you can't hear me talking (but then it's all about what you can see, not hear).

And here's Sue, walking on after lunch.

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Derwent Dam Museum, Cronksley Moor, EXTREME BBQing!!!!

PLEASE! IF YOU DO TAKE A BBQ INTO THE WILDS, MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT OUT, TAKE ALL LITTER HOME, AND LEAVE NO TRACE.

Today I re-visited Cronksley moor. It's only three weeks since I was up there last, but Colin (my brother) came walking today, and we decided to carry a BBQ, with all the accoutrements, over 14 miles, and up 2400 plus feet of climb. We decided we had started a new craze - extreme BBQing!!! I'll tell you what - I had all the food, and I really knew I was carrying it, as my shoulders ached with the extra weight. Colin took charge of the wine.

Talk about lunatics, and asylums HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Anyway, here we go. The day dawned just as the weather man had predicted, a nice day. We set off from Fairholmes visitors centre on Ladybower reservoir.

We walked up the left hand side (looking up the reservoir), and stopped for a look in at the Dambusters museum, which is housed in one of the dam turrets. This is a privately run museum, and is open Sundays, and bank holidays. It's free to look round, and is a great place to learn all about the dambusters, the bouncing bombs, and also the building of the dams. There's a wealth of photo's, artefacts and nostalgic pieces in the museum, and the guy that runs it is always helpful and chatty. Some of the photo's are from private collections, never seen before and unpublished. If in the area, please take time to look in.


This is what the bombers would look though when they dropped the bouncing bombs to destroy the Rhur dams.

A replica of the actual bouncing bomb.

Some of the contents of the museum.

This memorial is to Tip, the faithful dog, who's master died up on the moors.
Tip stayed by the side of his body for FIFTEEN WEEKS in the depths of winter.

With all the damp weather we've had lately, the fungi is starting to sprout, now it's warming up a bit.
This is a fly agaric. Pretty, poisonous, and very hallucinogenic!

I don't know what these are called, but they look lovely.

THIS was our goal, the shooting cabin. I know it doesn't look much, and it's not, it's VERY basic, but on a wet day, there's no more welcome sight. Today though, the weather was perfect, so we soon set about rustling up lunch!

WAITER......WAITER - where's my lunch????
(Notice - wine already poured)

COMING right up, sir!

First course, garlic, ginger and blue cheese stuffed Portobello mushrooms, with French bread.

Main course - lemon chicken kebabs, sirloin steak, roasted baby peppers.

(Yes - the peppers are SUPPOSED to be black - you just peel off the blackened skin to reveal the sweet, juicy flesh, and boy, they taste GREAT!)

THIS is the life!

After the meal, we set about walking back. You can see a short video here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40D4A05ZxQ

There are a few berries showing on the moors.
We saw some bilberries, and these, which I thought were lovely.

The river Derwent below us. Not nearly as much of a torrent as three weeks ago.

Colin deftly negotiates a crossing. Again, three weeks ago, you couldn't see those stones he's treading on.

A gaggle of Canada geese.

After this, it began to rain lightly, then turned heavier. Luckily, Colin had a new brolly, so that kept us dry until we got back to the car. 

A really good day, leaving me pleasantly tired. This kind of tired is great, satisfying, and makes you feel like you've actually DONE something with your day. Hope you enjoyed the pics.
Les

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