Walk: 10am to 2:45pm - 9 miles
It would have been a shame to waste a lovely day, so early to rise (ok not exactly dawn), a quick 8:30am appointment at the doctors and then off out across the metropolis that is Sheffield and into the beauty of the Peak District. Although we'd walked in the Monsal area on numerous occasions, we've never walked much of the Monsal Trail so our plan was to park hear Monsal Head, then take the trail to Bakewell; a round-trip of 9 miles, have lunch in Bakewell before heading back. What a way to spend a day.
Thankfully due to the time of the year the traffic around Sheffield through rush hour wasn't too bad so our journey was a relaxed one and we arrived in the car-park at Monsal Head just before 10am. We were quite surprised that considering it was such a lovely day, that we were only the third car in the car-park. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
The first part of the walk is the steep path down, a drop of over 200ft in a short distance, which takes you onto the stunning viaduct where you can choose to walk either 4 miles west over to Wye Dale, or 4 miles towards Bakewell; we would choose the latter. You are immediately faced with a 490m walk through the dimly lit Headstone Tunnel which gives you an eerie start to your walk but an interesting and historical one. It doesn't take too long though before you emerge into the sunlight to continue along the well trodden trail.
Now, I know that about 80% of the traffic on this trail is of the two wheeled type, and that the walker is almost as rare as a Tory voter in South Yorkshire; but, THEY DON'T OWN THE TRAIL. That's probably a little strong for the vast majority of the cyclists who use the path, but there are so many who just tootle along side by side and just expect you to move off the path for them. Frustrating to say the least, but I suppose it's not really the end of the world is it?
After about an hour and three quarters we came off the trail at the old Bakewell Station and headed downhill into the town; and as always it was packed with tourists. We didn't really care how busy it was today as the primary reason for the visit into town was to eat, a late breakfast or an early lunch. Ah yes, that's a brunch.
One place that we'd always talked about visiting when in Bakewell but never gotten around to is Naughty & Nice which is a highly rated cafe with a great reputation for the sweeter things in life. We showed great restraint however in resisting the selection of sweets and ice-creams, I had an all-day breakfast and Donna a BLT. And I must say both were impressive.
After a short detour into a part of the town where we hadn't been before, a lovely sweet smelling public garden surrounded by old weather beaten buildings, we headed back up the hill to start the walk back to Monsal Head. I must admit that my right ankle was a little sore, probably a result of not having walked far for a few weeks; but not too much of a hindrance. Donna was as usual 'ache free' and just full of energy. It was around half past two when we exited the tunnel and then had to face the steep walk back up to Monsal Head, a bit of a challenge at the end of the walk but we battled on bravely.
And of course we had deserved a drink, so a double G&T for Donna and a 'horrible' pint of Strawberry Cider for me in the Stable Bar. I had really fancied a refreshing fruity cider before heading back, but Kopparberg this was not! However, it didn't spoil what had been a lovely walk out in the sun.
It would have been a shame to waste a lovely day, so early to rise (ok not exactly dawn), a quick 8:30am appointment at the doctors and then off out across the metropolis that is Sheffield and into the beauty of the Peak District. Although we'd walked in the Monsal area on numerous occasions, we've never walked much of the Monsal Trail so our plan was to park hear Monsal Head, then take the trail to Bakewell; a round-trip of 9 miles, have lunch in Bakewell before heading back. What a way to spend a day.
Thankfully due to the time of the year the traffic around Sheffield through rush hour wasn't too bad so our journey was a relaxed one and we arrived in the car-park at Monsal Head just before 10am. We were quite surprised that considering it was such a lovely day, that we were only the third car in the car-park. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
The first part of the walk is the steep path down, a drop of over 200ft in a short distance, which takes you onto the stunning viaduct where you can choose to walk either 4 miles west over to Wye Dale, or 4 miles towards Bakewell; we would choose the latter. You are immediately faced with a 490m walk through the dimly lit Headstone Tunnel which gives you an eerie start to your walk but an interesting and historical one. It doesn't take too long though before you emerge into the sunlight to continue along the well trodden trail.
Now, I know that about 80% of the traffic on this trail is of the two wheeled type, and that the walker is almost as rare as a Tory voter in South Yorkshire; but, THEY DON'T OWN THE TRAIL. That's probably a little strong for the vast majority of the cyclists who use the path, but there are so many who just tootle along side by side and just expect you to move off the path for them. Frustrating to say the least, but I suppose it's not really the end of the world is it?
One place that we'd always talked about visiting when in Bakewell but never gotten around to is Naughty & Nice which is a highly rated cafe with a great reputation for the sweeter things in life. We showed great restraint however in resisting the selection of sweets and ice-creams, I had an all-day breakfast and Donna a BLT. And I must say both were impressive.
After a short detour into a part of the town where we hadn't been before, a lovely sweet smelling public garden surrounded by old weather beaten buildings, we headed back up the hill to start the walk back to Monsal Head. I must admit that my right ankle was a little sore, probably a result of not having walked far for a few weeks; but not too much of a hindrance. Donna was as usual 'ache free' and just full of energy. It was around half past two when we exited the tunnel and then had to face the steep walk back up to Monsal Head, a bit of a challenge at the end of the walk but we battled on bravely.
And of course we had deserved a drink, so a double G&T for Donna and a 'horrible' pint of Strawberry Cider for me in the Stable Bar. I had really fancied a refreshing fruity cider before heading back, but Kopparberg this was not! However, it didn't spoil what had been a lovely walk out in the sun.
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