Walk 8:45am to 1:45pm - 11.7 miles
Today would be a little different for me so I had mixed feelings about the walk. My wife and I started walking 2 years ago, and this was the first time I'd been off walking without her - just how would it be alone? We've seen plenty of people walking alone before, so it's not unusual, but I did feel a bit of a 'Billy No Mates'
I parked in the car-park at the top of Ladybower, about 400m away from the magnificent dam that separates Ladybower Reservoir from Derwent Reservoir - not sure if they call it Derwent Dam? It was the first time I'd seen the dam and it takes your breath away, a little like seeing Ribblehead Viaduct for the first time.
I set off along the east shore of Derwent Reservoir until it reached the outlet of Abbey Brook just short of Howden Dam - for those of you who don't know the area, there are three reservoirs all joined together by dams. I then turned east and started climbing uphill, following the steep sided 'gorge' of Howden Dean.
I followed this path for about a further 3.3 miles until it reached another path close to Round Hill. Much of the path was great for walking along, however there was a stretch of maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mile where the path became very narrow - around 6"- 8" wide and along a steep slope with a long drop down to Abbey Brook. On occasions I did undertake a 'semi crawl' with my hands feeling along the side due to the wind that was blowing up the cutting.
I took the 'new' path in a South, South-East direction towards Back Tor, and it was along here that I saw my first signs of life since I'd left the shore of Derwent. I stopped somewhere along this path for a bite to eat and a drink, but looking at the map I can't say where it was other than a 'pile of rocks' near Cartledge Bents - or is that what they call it?
Now this is where I went a little wrong, as I missed the path to the right where I intended turning which was just past Back Tor, the reason being that I thought that the turn had come too early so completely ignored it! The result, an extra 2 miles or so along to the Hurkling Stones, where I worked out my position, and then turned and headed down the hill towards Ladybower and the walk back along the road up to where I had started from.
Thankfully the 'detour' had only added 0.7 miles to the walk, so not a great deal of time. So, did I enjoy my first walk alone? Well it was different, and as my wife returns to working full weekends again in about 3 weeks it's something that I will do again. However, if I'm being honest it was nowhere near as enjoyable as having my wife by my side, taking the mickey out of each other, having a laugh, having someone to talk to, chatting about the views - really not quite the same. In fact, in some places I tended to turn it into a bit of a route march - so 10 out of 10 for exercise, and maybe 5 out of 10 for walking alone.
More photos can be found here
Today would be a little different for me so I had mixed feelings about the walk. My wife and I started walking 2 years ago, and this was the first time I'd been off walking without her - just how would it be alone? We've seen plenty of people walking alone before, so it's not unusual, but I did feel a bit of a 'Billy No Mates'
I set off along the east shore of Derwent Reservoir until it reached the outlet of Abbey Brook just short of Howden Dam - for those of you who don't know the area, there are three reservoirs all joined together by dams. I then turned east and started climbing uphill, following the steep sided 'gorge' of Howden Dean.
I followed this path for about a further 3.3 miles until it reached another path close to Round Hill. Much of the path was great for walking along, however there was a stretch of maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mile where the path became very narrow - around 6"- 8" wide and along a steep slope with a long drop down to Abbey Brook. On occasions I did undertake a 'semi crawl' with my hands feeling along the side due to the wind that was blowing up the cutting.
I took the 'new' path in a South, South-East direction towards Back Tor, and it was along here that I saw my first signs of life since I'd left the shore of Derwent. I stopped somewhere along this path for a bite to eat and a drink, but looking at the map I can't say where it was other than a 'pile of rocks' near Cartledge Bents - or is that what they call it?
Now this is where I went a little wrong, as I missed the path to the right where I intended turning which was just past Back Tor, the reason being that I thought that the turn had come too early so completely ignored it! The result, an extra 2 miles or so along to the Hurkling Stones, where I worked out my position, and then turned and headed down the hill towards Ladybower and the walk back along the road up to where I had started from.
Thankfully the 'detour' had only added 0.7 miles to the walk, so not a great deal of time. So, did I enjoy my first walk alone? Well it was different, and as my wife returns to working full weekends again in about 3 weeks it's something that I will do again. However, if I'm being honest it was nowhere near as enjoyable as having my wife by my side, taking the mickey out of each other, having a laugh, having someone to talk to, chatting about the views - really not quite the same. In fact, in some places I tended to turn it into a bit of a route march - so 10 out of 10 for exercise, and maybe 5 out of 10 for walking alone.
More photos can be found here
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