A fry up was the order of the day again so a later start to the day to accommodate a lot of greasy calories entering my body!
I was heading for Blue John mines just outside Castleton. Have to say Castleton is not a favourite place but I justified the trip as it was a week day in April. The crowds should be all working from home!
I parked up and was on the footpath up to Mam Tor by 11.30. The notices were everywhere and hard to miss. Dogs on leads from 1st March until 31st July - due to those flamin’ nesting birds again. The path up to Mam Tor was relatively busy and every dog I saw was on a lead.
It felt hugely cruel, In fact worthy of a call to the RSPCA! Tilly clearly wasn’t impressed but Ben just got his head down and surged forward. It was a long slog up to the top (although a very good /easy pathway) so, in the end, the dogs were quite handy to take some of the strain of the climb.
There was a wonderful view from the top but very very windy. We took off (leads in place) across the ridge and up to Back Tor. By this time it was even busier and I was feeling so sorry for the dogs. I therefore decided to start heading downwards. As soon as I did the crowds disappeared completely and I felt comfortable to let them off.
I justified my decision on a purely mathematical basis. I worked out the probability of me breaking an ankle as 2 mad collies pulled me down a steep slippery hill was much greater than Tilly finding a bloody bird on a nest. Plus the consequence of getting an injured 16.5 stone, 63 year old man off the side of a steep hill was somewhat larger than a bird flying away from its nest for 30 seconds. A shame my colleagues at The National Trust couldn’t do the maths - maybe Richi is right?!
Once at the bottom of the hill it was back on with the leads as the fields were full of sheep / lambs - fair enough.
We walked to the outskirts of Castleton then struck uphill again, via Oden’s Wheel and then got on the “broken road” to finish the walk.
This took me back to the car. I have to admit, I couldn’t have gone another 300 yards - my feet were buggered. In the end it was 5.5 miles walking completed at a pitiful 1.9 miles / hour! In my defence there was a lot of up and down!
Arrived home to Brunnehilda at 4pm after stopping for a pint at The Anglers Rest (Millers Dale) and enjoying a warm sunny afternoon view of the River Wye.
After an hour or so of “doing nothing” I got to work on fixing the tap leak. As always with my DIY skills, nothing is ever easy. To get to the tap I had to take out a couple of under cupboard shelves. I tried taking off and tightening up the fixings a couple of times- no change so I frustratingly gave up.
Microwave tea, including another helping of Helen’s Goosagne! Treated myself to a £10 iFollow ticket and watched the Cobblers get a very nervy win at Sutton!
Packed up a lot of stuff in Brunnehilda as I’m looking for a pre 9am get away tomorrow. I watched the ever wonderful Succession in bed and did some more blogging. Bit of a result as well - sharing my big German bed with someone tonight!!
I’m not going to mark Topley Head Farm site as the pros and cons haven’t changed from the 4 times I stayed last year and there are still a lot more pros than cons! Although they have put up their prices up to £20 / night!
So, a nice 4 days. Lots of new walks, some lovely time spent with friends and no rain! Not sure when I’m coming back to Derbyshire. I’m tempted to say I’m going to wait for those bloody birds to have flown their nests but I suspect I will be back way before the end of July! Too much calling me back!
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