David and Jacinta's Walks- 2025

 Cave Dale and the Great Ridge The weather seemed set fair, but we weren't too sure how much time we'd have for a walk. Looking at the routes in our "Day Walks in the Peak District- 20 classic circular routes", route 6 "Cave Dale and the Great Ridge" looked ideal: if we started from Castleton rather than the suggested Hope, we could either do the full walk, or cut it short by returning to Castleton from Hollins Cross. Fortunately, we were able to do the entire walk. As suggested by the weather forecast, it was very breezy with quite a wind chill. This was quite pronounced as we walked up Cave Dale. It seemed strange, because of the sheltered nature of the dale! Despite this, the sun was out and the colours were great. On the way up Cave Dale One of the features of the walk was that parts of the walk were visible most of the time (although, obviously, not from the depths of Cave Dale). As we neared the top of the dale, we could see Back Tor and Lose Hill- tow...

Goyt Valley and the Peak Forest Canal It looked as if the morning would be dry, but with the prospect of rain and wind by lunchtime. Therefore, we chose to do the Goyt Valley walk from 20 Circular walks in Greater Manchester. On the one hand this is a pensioners' favourite, a largely level walk with two short, gentle climbs, but on another, it is an interesting amble through the industrial heritage of the area. Starting at Marple Station, the walk climbs up to the tow path of the Peak Forest canal. The canal was built to allow the movement of limestone and later cloth from huge quarries in the Peak District hills to farmlands where lime was used to make farming the clayey soils easier. We walked to Bridge 19 where an unusual "corkscrew" bridge (which allowed the horses to change banks without being unhitched) was noteworthy. The route became quieter at this point and we crossed the so-called Roman Bridge over the River Goyt, a packhorse bridge, built some 400 years ago. J...

Hartington and Three Dales We decided that we'd like to south for a change of scenery, and we knew that Hartington had at least one nice café (which we'd visited in October 2024). The OS map showed some excellent potential and we weren't disappointed. The walk took us south below the "bump" of Pennilow, a distinct promontory, into Morson Wood and into Beresford Dale below the grounds of Beresford House. After a kilometre or so, Beresford Dale turned into Wolfscote Dale with impressively hight walls- true limestone country. Into Wolfscote Dale The path suggested that this was popular walking country but we met only a few other walkers, including a gentleman with two aging boarder collies- we chatted with him for a while; it turned out that he has an apartment in Chamonix. We should have asked him if he rented it out! We passed quite a few nonchalant sheep making the most of the slopes. They're probably used to lots of visitors at the weekends and in the summer....

Chinley and Mount Famine We felt like a longer walk today, but time was a little limited so we went to Chinley- the old faithful. The Green Lane Social Café was open, so we enjoyed a coffee before parking up in Stubbins Lane and setting off along Maynestone Road. We took the steep path up to Cracken Edge- although the weather was warmer, it was clear that it was still frosty at the higher levels. Frost on the Chinley Churn quarries Frost on barbed wire We crossed the road at Peep-O-Day and followed the steep path up the side of Mount Famine. Nearing the top of Mount Famine; Kinder in the misty background Jacinta braved the prow for the annual photo, after which we stopped for lunch in the lee of a handy wall. Jacinta and South Head The rest of the walk was more or less downhill all the way (except for a slight sting in the tail), passing a flock of sheep enjoying a meal of hay in the quarry below Bradshaw Fields. A walk of 5½ miles with 440m ascent.

A Stroll to the Sett Valley Café Our first walk out of the year, and a very modest start. We drove to Hayfield and took a leisurely stroll along the Sett Valley Trail to the Sett Valley Café where we enjoyed a coffee and a sweet goodie each. The Café is lovely and the staff friendly (the proprietor knows us now). We booked for breakfast on our wedding anniversary as we'd been there for the past couple of years. The only slightly weird thing was the collection of items in the planted bed by the tables outside! A modest start to the year- two miles and negligible ascent.