Walk: 8:15pm to 2:45am, 16.5 miles and 1,000ft of ascent
I remember back a few weeks when I came up with the idea of a night walk. Ok, I'm not saying that it's original, or that we would suddenly become heroes taking on something original, but, it would be something a little different. I asked both Malcolm Walpole and Colin Wray if they fancied it, and both were keen, and as word got round a few others from work sparked up some interest. That said, in the end for whatever reason just myself, Malc and Colin pitched up for the walk.
So, I left home at 7pm, picked Malc up around 7:15pm and Colin around 7:45pm, and by 8:15pm we had paid the £3 parking fee; yes you still have to pay for parking, and we were making our way down to the edge of Ladybower. Now I know the area isn't new to us, but being a night walk we didn't want to risk going up into the hills for obvious reasons. Remember, it would be pitch black out there so there was no way we would venture up onto rocky paths on hilltops.
The route would be similar to the one myself and Malc took during the day a couple of months ago, in fact, after we had made the decison half way around not to bother going up over the hill, it would be the same walk as myself and Malc took.
By the time we had walked up the eastern edge of Ladybower and hit the dam at Derwent it was starting to get dark so our headtorches were 'lit', when I say headtorches Malc's was more like a WW2 searchlight, it was so bright. We continued along the side of Derwent, past the dam at the bottom of Howden reservoir and continued up to the bridge at Slippery Stones where we arrived around midnight.
We had to be really careful walking the path to ensure that we didn't stand on frogs (or toads, not sure really) as they were all over the place. For a good few miles it had been like playing hop-scotch as we danced past them. The bridge at Slippery Stones with it's lovely chunky bench was where we stopped for about 20 minutes to eat. When it's daytime it's a beautiful spot overlooking the stream, but at midnight and what had turned into a cloudy night you could see absolutely nothing without your torch.
The path would now take us back down the western edge of the reservoirs, about 7.5 miles in length and surprisingly we saw a number of cars parked up along the route back. Nobody in them, so either couples 'enjoying' their time in the woods or maybe some people camping beside the reservoirs, who knows. It was noticeable how much our banter had tailed off since we started the walk many hours ago, I think we were all starting to feel past our best.
We stopped for 10 minutes at Fairholmes car-park at the top of Ladybower, it was odd to see the cafe all shut as during the day it is such a busy and bustling place where you struggle to find a space on any of the benches on which to take a seat. I was so warm, I had worn nothing more than a t-shirt all walk, and wasn't at all surprised when we were driving back to see that it was still 20c well into the early hours.
To be honest I was really glad when we arrived back at the car, and I don't think I was alone. My feet were really hurting, painful joints and a couple of blisters forming. Having said that, it had been a great experience and an enjoyable walk with good friends who are really good company.
Now just time to drop the guys off and after a bit of a diversion due to closed junctions as a result of roadworks, I arrived back home a few minutes before 4am.
I remember back a few weeks when I came up with the idea of a night walk. Ok, I'm not saying that it's original, or that we would suddenly become heroes taking on something original, but, it would be something a little different. I asked both Malcolm Walpole and Colin Wray if they fancied it, and both were keen, and as word got round a few others from work sparked up some interest. That said, in the end for whatever reason just myself, Malc and Colin pitched up for the walk.
So, I left home at 7pm, picked Malc up around 7:15pm and Colin around 7:45pm, and by 8:15pm we had paid the £3 parking fee; yes you still have to pay for parking, and we were making our way down to the edge of Ladybower. Now I know the area isn't new to us, but being a night walk we didn't want to risk going up into the hills for obvious reasons. Remember, it would be pitch black out there so there was no way we would venture up onto rocky paths on hilltops.
The route would be similar to the one myself and Malc took during the day a couple of months ago, in fact, after we had made the decison half way around not to bother going up over the hill, it would be the same walk as myself and Malc took.
By the time we had walked up the eastern edge of Ladybower and hit the dam at Derwent it was starting to get dark so our headtorches were 'lit', when I say headtorches Malc's was more like a WW2 searchlight, it was so bright. We continued along the side of Derwent, past the dam at the bottom of Howden reservoir and continued up to the bridge at Slippery Stones where we arrived around midnight.
We had to be really careful walking the path to ensure that we didn't stand on frogs (or toads, not sure really) as they were all over the place. For a good few miles it had been like playing hop-scotch as we danced past them. The bridge at Slippery Stones with it's lovely chunky bench was where we stopped for about 20 minutes to eat. When it's daytime it's a beautiful spot overlooking the stream, but at midnight and what had turned into a cloudy night you could see absolutely nothing without your torch.
The path would now take us back down the western edge of the reservoirs, about 7.5 miles in length and surprisingly we saw a number of cars parked up along the route back. Nobody in them, so either couples 'enjoying' their time in the woods or maybe some people camping beside the reservoirs, who knows. It was noticeable how much our banter had tailed off since we started the walk many hours ago, I think we were all starting to feel past our best.
We stopped for 10 minutes at Fairholmes car-park at the top of Ladybower, it was odd to see the cafe all shut as during the day it is such a busy and bustling place where you struggle to find a space on any of the benches on which to take a seat. I was so warm, I had worn nothing more than a t-shirt all walk, and wasn't at all surprised when we were driving back to see that it was still 20c well into the early hours.
To be honest I was really glad when we arrived back at the car, and I don't think I was alone. My feet were really hurting, painful joints and a couple of blisters forming. Having said that, it had been a great experience and an enjoyable walk with good friends who are really good company.
Now just time to drop the guys off and after a bit of a diversion due to closed junctions as a result of roadworks, I arrived back home a few minutes before 4am.
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