A very Merry Christmas to all my viewers!

.....and a happy, happy new year.

Girl on a horse - the one that got away!

We saw this horse walking up the lane to the woods. This picture wouldn't fit into the meander entry below, so it has its own section! I could have left it out, but I just like the picture, so decided to add it. Please go to entry below for full pics/narration on the days walk to Bakewell. Don't forget, click on the blog title to get a link to find out more about Bakewell, and click on any picture to get a bigger version.

Bakewell meander

This weekend, we decided to just do a little meander of about 7 miles. Where better than Bakewell? I started the walk at Rowsley, and just went up into Haddon woods, along the tops, then down into Bakewell for a really nice lunch at Ricci's. This is the BEST place for pizza and pasta. they make it fresh while you watch and wait, and the coffee is the BEST in Bakewell.

This is looking forwards to Bakewell from the path in the woods. As you can se, it was another lovely Sunday. I have been so lucky with the weather this year, and this unseasonably warm December has smiled on most of my walks.

The famous arched bridge of Bakewell. I've taken this picture a thousand times, and will probably take it a thousand more. How could you EVER tire of such a lovely thing? Today the light was perfect for pictures too.

This is a view of the bridge from the other bank (where I fed the ducks). This time of year, there seem to be a LOT of seagulls about?

I just love the gnarls and twists in this old tree in one of the courtyards.

I went back to the river, and tried to catch the gulls in some of their acrobatic lunges at the bread I threw up in the air.

You can see this one making his play for the prize!

Oh, how I'd love to live in one of these riverside apartments, but unless I win the lottery, it's just a dream.

Crossing the new (horrible) metal bridge, this is the view upstream past the weir. You can see the old (beautiful) bridge further upriver.


And that was it! We took to the fields for the steady walk back - mostly uphill. The effort kept the evening chill at bay, and a nice pint in the Grouse and Claret pub at Rowsley was my reward.

Annual Christmas walk

Last sunday saw the annual Christmas walk take place. This 'event' started as a non-walk every year, inasmuch as we (my brothe Colin and I, and maybe one or two extra), would do a really short walk (around 6 miles ot so), and have a languisingly long lunch (sorry for the aliteration). Anyway, I took to inviting one or two customers, who were also friends, and as word spread over the years, the popularity and numbers have grown. The latest 'band' were twenty-one strong, and here we all are, lined up at the start of the walk. I decided on Chatsworth park, as it's only about 2.5 miles to Baslow village (and a good Italian restaurant called 'Il Lupo'), and no hills for the poor souls to climb!

Striding through the park, they all look like PROPER walkers, don't they?

Here's the band (minue me - I took the picture) standing in front of the impressive Chatsworth house. The fountain was going too, but not just as I took this picture.

Here we are in Il Lupo, waiting to get going on the Christmas lunch. We didn't have the usual turkey dinner, but opted to 'go Italian'. I always find you get enough of the turkey, so this would be a nice change. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, although the wine was a little on the expensive side for the quality. Thirty quid for a fairly ordinary bottle of Chianti is NOT my idea of how to get customers to return! Apart from the house red, which I tried and found awful, the cheapest bottle was about seventeen pounds, as I recall.

Mind you, the price didn't put SOME people off!!!!!

.....but it DID affect some others rather strangely.....

The day was deemed a success. We were lucky with the weather, as it had given a terrible forecast, but we managed to dodge the rain, being indoors at lunch when it fell quite heavily. The walk was JUST the right length, and we didn't manage to lose anyone.

Roll on 2007.

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 1

Chee dale is lovely at ANY time of the year, so i always look forward to going there. Today, we parked in the village of Taddington, just off the A6 near Buxton. It's typical of a lot of the 'cottagy' limestone villages in Derbyshire now, inasmuch as it's had a LOT of money thrown at it, and a lot of the houses are people who have moved in and restored or improved. There are the odd one or two that look to be local owned though.

This is looking back to the village from the first hill. Don't forget you can enlarge any of the pictures simply by clicking on them.

As we crested the first hill, this is wha the sky looked like! Not very promising, you might think, but the day was to be good and clear, so appearances can be deceptive.

The next village we came to was Chelmorton. Another very much in the same vein as taddington. There had been heavy rain overnight, and water was running in a rivulet down the main road, as you can see.

This is Taddington church, it is famous for what is on the spire. From this picture, it just looks like a normal weather vane, BUT...........

Up close, you can see the golden grasshopper. I can't find any information on why this is, or what, if anything, it stands for? Anyone who can, please leave a note in the comments book.

The village also has an impressive trio of troughs. This sign, above them, tells the story, (although I hardly think the 'property of' note at the end was necessary!!)

Nice troughs, though.

Please go to part two (below)

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 2

This bush at the roadside is superb. I don't know what it is, but what a lovely show of berries! This is looking back up the 'main street' of Chelmorton.

A nice 'flower' of fungi.

We went into Deep dale via this little dale, Bullhay dale. There is not strictly a path, but people have used it for years, and there are stiles in the walls. This is a rather impressive adit, or mine entrance, created by man. It's the only 'over and under' one I know of.

This is the entrance to the more impressive, and natural, cave in Deep dale. It's quite a deep one and, although I've never been right into it, I have ventured as far as I thought safe with a torch. The thing with caves is, you need the right gear, and also overalls, as they are very muddy places! We saw rare moths inside (no bats though) and humorous graffiti with obviously spurious dates. You know the sort of thing; 'JOHN SMITH 1723' (written in biro!).

The sky had cleared by now, and a lovely blue sky and warm sun was ours.

Deep dale is scree sided for a lot of the way, and negociating it is a careful affair.

The warm temperatures had some fooled - this was one of many ladybird, and other insects, that were abroad that day.

Please go to part three (below)

Taddington, Chelmorton and Chee dale part 3

Fabulous blue skies now - it this REALLY December?????

SO warm, in fact, I was overcome! Lying on the warm limestone, it felt just like a late spring, or early summer's day.

The HUGE limestone cliffs above Wye Dale are some of the highest in the country, I believe?

I have stood on the top that you can see there, and the view is amazing. Not today though, today we were headed for 'the wetlands'!

After the recent rains, this is what the riverside path looks like. Looking at it, I'd say it was under water as recently as yesterday.

The stepping stones were STILL under water, but thankfully, due to being raised, were still passable - JUST!

Looking back along them, it was a close call as to if we could negociate the stepping stones. Good job we're intrepid!

A close study of the moss in Chee dale. it's a deep and damp dale, so moss grows in abundance.

The steep and wet sides of Chee dale produce some VERY impressive icicles in winter, so if we get a good one, which, if the holly berries are anything to go by, we will, I'll go back and get some photo's. I hope you've enjoyed this walk, see you next week. :-)