Walk: 10am to 2:30pm, 10 miles and 1,750ft of ascent
Last week I ventured out into the Peak District alone, apart from my trusty camera and tripod of course, but this week I would be out with 'real' friends :-) For a few weeks we'd been planning to go out for a walk, but, I hear you say "we'd", of whom does he speak. Well, colleagues and friends from work Malcolm Walpole and Colin Wray.
As we all work a few weekends it's not always straight forward getting time when we're all off and available, but today was that day. And, as an added bonus the god of sun was covering us in his warm blanket; despite the forecast of cloud???
So, after various pick-up's and drop-off's along the way (my good lady and friend Marie at work obviously) we arrived at Fairholmes car-park at the top of Ladybower Reservoir, and then set about looking for somewhere to park. I say that as what we didn't know was that there was a race around the area to the car-parks were absolutely rammed. However, we didn't manage to squeeze the Kuga in next to a tree and by 10am we were primed and ready to hit the trail.
The first part of the walk is a little under 2 miles and is just right to get you warmed up, it's a steady walk along the eastern edge of Derwent Reservoir with great views across the water. Then the hardest bit but maybe the most picturesque section, and thankfully the quietest. You really get the feel of the great outdoors. That is, once the group of teenagers with their music blasting out have gone in a different direction....thankfully.
We travelled along Howden Dean, and what I actually mean is uphill and along Howden Dean, this is long incline which although not the steepest it is where you do the majority of the ascent. The views are stunning, and the gentle rushing noise from Abbey Brook in the bottom of the dean is just so tranquil. After 2 miles you pick up the path across Little Howden Moor, then take a turn up to the famous stones at Lost Lad. It was here than we took lunch, and where Malcolm let us experience his Virtual Reality world. He'd brought along his new phone and VR headset and we spent about 20 minutes or so marvelling at the 3D world around us; before we came back into the real world and set off the 2.5 miles along the top of Derwent Edge.
What I love about this walk are all the rock formations as you trudge across the open moor, you have the Cakes of Bread, the Salt Cellar and the Wheel Stones, all from a similar era and formed in the same manner, but all with their own personalities. It was just after the latter formation where we took the path back down the hill to where we eventually reached the track along the eastern shore of Ladybower, only 30 minutes and we were back in the car.
The last part of our adventure was a 30 minute stop at the Ladybower Inn. A pint of some oddly named beer for Colin, a pint of refreshing coke for my good self, and a pint of soda water and lime for Malc; after all he wouldn't be seen to consume anything with sugar in it, or yeast, or salt, or......
Last week I ventured out into the Peak District alone, apart from my trusty camera and tripod of course, but this week I would be out with 'real' friends :-) For a few weeks we'd been planning to go out for a walk, but, I hear you say "we'd", of whom does he speak. Well, colleagues and friends from work Malcolm Walpole and Colin Wray.
As we all work a few weekends it's not always straight forward getting time when we're all off and available, but today was that day. And, as an added bonus the god of sun was covering us in his warm blanket; despite the forecast of cloud???
So, after various pick-up's and drop-off's along the way (my good lady and friend Marie at work obviously) we arrived at Fairholmes car-park at the top of Ladybower Reservoir, and then set about looking for somewhere to park. I say that as what we didn't know was that there was a race around the area to the car-parks were absolutely rammed. However, we didn't manage to squeeze the Kuga in next to a tree and by 10am we were primed and ready to hit the trail.
The first part of the walk is a little under 2 miles and is just right to get you warmed up, it's a steady walk along the eastern edge of Derwent Reservoir with great views across the water. Then the hardest bit but maybe the most picturesque section, and thankfully the quietest. You really get the feel of the great outdoors. That is, once the group of teenagers with their music blasting out have gone in a different direction....thankfully.
We travelled along Howden Dean, and what I actually mean is uphill and along Howden Dean, this is long incline which although not the steepest it is where you do the majority of the ascent. The views are stunning, and the gentle rushing noise from Abbey Brook in the bottom of the dean is just so tranquil. After 2 miles you pick up the path across Little Howden Moor, then take a turn up to the famous stones at Lost Lad. It was here than we took lunch, and where Malcolm let us experience his Virtual Reality world. He'd brought along his new phone and VR headset and we spent about 20 minutes or so marvelling at the 3D world around us; before we came back into the real world and set off the 2.5 miles along the top of Derwent Edge.
What I love about this walk are all the rock formations as you trudge across the open moor, you have the Cakes of Bread, the Salt Cellar and the Wheel Stones, all from a similar era and formed in the same manner, but all with their own personalities. It was just after the latter formation where we took the path back down the hill to where we eventually reached the track along the eastern shore of Ladybower, only 30 minutes and we were back in the car.
The last part of our adventure was a 30 minute stop at the Ladybower Inn. A pint of some oddly named beer for Colin, a pint of refreshing coke for my good self, and a pint of soda water and lime for Malc; after all he wouldn't be seen to consume anything with sugar in it, or yeast, or salt, or......
Comments
Post a Comment