Advertisement
Published: August 6th 2007
Native species? Common pest?
There were lots of these little toad things in hill country near the lakes. Not sure if their presence is a good thing or not. Chris took this photo by the way. Walking: This Easter we decided to visit the Peak District to do some walking (or ‘rambling’ as it seems to be called over here!) through the National Park.
The Peak District stretches from the Midlands to the Pennines in the North (hell, hope that’s right) and according to the guidebook, it covers 1,404 sq km. The name is a bit misleading as the Peak District doesn’t really have lots of mountains. But there are enough beautiful valleys, hills, rivers, caves, limestone formations, lambs, birds, ancient rock-walls and endless rolling pastureland to make even the most hardcore rambler froth at the mouth.
The best thing is that the southern end is only about two hours drive from London and there are endless walking trails and some fantastic biking paths.
The first day we followed the rivers edge and managed to fill in a few hours doing a walk around the village of Ilam. Sitting up in a paddock overlooking the river, we were able to hear … absolutely nothing! Awesome. After lunch in a village pub we left the Park and paid a visit to Sudbury Hall. Another beautiful residence in the care of the National Trust.
Dat
two saw us setting out early after our essential full-English breakfast (those things should come with a health warning) to do the 8km loop up in the hills above Castleton. We were making such good time that we decided to extend the walk by a few km’s by including the area that surrounding Mam Tor. I’m certainly glad we did because the views of the valleys were lovely and we were able to watch the parachute and hand-gliders do their thing. Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones up Mam Tor. By the time we arrived, the summit was crawling with families but at least it was nice seeing people out enjoying the awesome weather.
After our efforts we made tracks out of the park again to Chesterfield. We wanted to see the Hardwick estate, which was once again a beautiful part of history that has been preserved by the National Trust.
Day three we made our way back to the village of Endsor to walk area surrounding Chatsworth Park and Gardens. This was possibly the prettiest place and Chatsworth House certainly is stunning.
Sidenote: Bess of Hardwick completed the house in the 1500’s after she was widowed
Limestone ravine
The entrance to Cavedale. The valley was carved by glaciers in the last ice-age. This section of the path is overlooked by the remains of an old castle on the cliff above. by Sir William Cavendish. According to the lady at NT, Bess married four rich and powerful men. Unfortunately (fortunately?) she was also widowed four times, each time becoming richer. By the time she was widowed for the fourth time, she was the richest woman in England, second only to the queen! Hardwick Estate that we visited on our second day was the ‘little’ house.
Back then she certainly knew the old rule: location, location, location as the whole area is beautiful and they even managed to get a waterfront property in the middle of England.
Our walk was only meant to be 11.3km but due to a map reading error (that saw us heading for a few km’s in the wrong direction) we ‘extended’ it slightly. By the time we had finished, we were pleased to leave as hoards and hoards of tourists had descended on the peaceful little valley.
After another pub lunch, we made our last visit to Calke Abbey which turned out to be quite unique and the Denby pottery village in Denby (yes, ‘Denby’ pottery… you know…) where there just happened to be an clearance sale on! Woohoo!
Oh yeah. Little
Chef. We should have known better. But our cheap accommodation on night two meant that we were staying on the outskirts of a town near the National Park. Quite simply, we were too scared to leave in search of better food… THIS WAS THE WORST MEAL WE HAVE EVER EATEN - hows that for a review?
Overall, an awesome trip with the most perfect weather for walking, lying in the sun, drinking and discovering another stunning part of the UK. We’ll certainly be back for more in the future.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0446s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
