2014 - England and Scandinavia - Week 1 - Peak District

Summary of this Trip: 

• Four weeks in England - one in Peak District, one in Lake District, one in Penzance and one in somewhere else.
• Five weeks in Scandinavia - Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The last two weeks in Norway being a walking tour. 

Friday & Saturday 23 – 24 May – 

View from home morning we left

These two days were all about getting there, getting jet lagged and getting everything sorted for our first week in the Peak District, England. 

The only concerns we had in getting to England were the ongoing and escalating tensions in Thailand with its recent military coup, the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts at loggerheads and the ever diminishing freedom of movement in Bangkok.  Julie and I purchased reversible shirts in Brisbane airport, one side Red and the other Yellow.  Feeling we had all bases covered we climbed aboard the plane feeling very diplomatic indeed. 

On arrival in Bangkok we were advised that passengers moving between the International Airport and the city must have passports and other documentation on them at all times and that they will be searched at checkpoints on the way in.  The reason for this was to ensure all passengers travelling between the airport and Bangkok had their passports and other documentation on them. Fortunately we were transit passengers and remained in the airport between flights.  We sold our hardly used reversible red and yellow shirts for a slight loss given the exchange rate variation, commission and the fact that the purchaser had a bigger gun.

The flight to London was good, if you like 12 hour flights, preceded by a four hour layover, an eight flight, two hours of waiting for a flight and a one hour car ride from the Gold Coast to the Brisbane Airport.  This was a good lead up for the four hour drive to our destination in the southern Peak District of England. The driving rain, being in a new country, a new car and driving a manual car for the first time in a while all contributed to a stress free start to our holiday.  I have to say once again that I love driving in England.  The road culture is a lot better than in Australia.  The drivers are much more courteous and with a lot less aggression.

Driving and rain = driving rain

Driving out of London in the driving rain we headed north on the M1 which has a speed limit somewhere below 200mph.  Needing a coffee and a bite to eat we decided to leave the busy motorway and tried the town of Kettering to no avail so we decided to head further north towards Mansfield via the far more picturesque back roads.  This time of year the countryside is so lush with the trees in full foliage and the flowers blooming.  We just love the beautiful green countryside filled with so many birds and farm animals.  Rolling hills covered in yellow canola flowers disappeared in the heavy rain blanketing our views. 

We came across the small town of Market Harborough and a wonderful garden nursery with a huge tearoom serving great food and coffee.  Being just 12 degrees outside, we sat inside a glass covered greenhouse under a warm heater and watched the rain on the roof above us.  A fellow customer said to Julie “a lot has changed around here, hasn’t it” to which Julie replied “we landed at Heathrow this morning and have never been to the area before”.   It turned out the woman had visited Australia three times including recently for a 3 month trip which included the Whitsundays and the Gold Coast and she has family in Adelaide – it’s a small world.  

Picking up a few supplies we jumped back in the car and headed to Matlock in the very south of the Peak District for a big shop of all the things we would need for the next four weeks in England.  Loading it all in the car we realised we didn’t get any food so I looked after the beer and wine while Julie went back into Sainsburys for some rolled oats and other things.

Our cottage - West Bank

Check-in time for our English Country Cottage was 3pm and TomTom told us we would arrive on time if we left Matlock now.  Driving the back laneways over the southern part of the Peak District was beautiful, as was our little cottage located in the farming paddocks of the tiny village of Kniveton just north of the slightly less tiny village of Ashbourne, Derbyshire.   Jean, the owner of the cottage and our next door neighbour for our stay, greeted us and showed us how to turn on every heating device scattered, and often hidden, throughout the cottage.  We looked over the fence to cows with calves and sheep with lambs as we planned our walks for the week. 

Sunday 25 May – The heavy rains of yesterday eased overnight and we woke to a foggy and rainy day.  The continuing rain changed the order of our walking plans as we headed off to the start of our first walk then after half an hour of driving we plugged in a new destination to do our second walk first.  We felt the more sheltered walk would be better 

Lime tree driveway to Calke Abbey

We decided to walk first around Calke Abbey, “a forgotten baroque mansion owned by Sir John Harpur” near Ticknall.  The beautiful two mile long estate driveway lined with huge Lime trees, aka Dragon trees, gave warning of the grandeur of this stately mansion.

The family chapel

Lake lifering

Lime kilns

Inquisitive young deer

It’s located in enormous rolling grounds with its own cathedral sized family church, several large ponds big enough to warrant their own life rings, a deer farm, a cheap farm (must be for birds) and, now abandoned, limeyards from the 1800’s.  After 9klm of walking through such grandeur and not seeing anywhere near half of the estate we left the forgotten Sir John alone and went in search of internet access for our computer and iPad.

Calke Abbey

England has more grand Abbeys than places that sell wireless broadband.  After several attempts to find an O2 store in Nottingham, we (well I did actually) gave up.  Today’s lunch was at the Manor Hotel which served the usual pub food of chips with a range of accompaniments together with a fine selection of English beers.  Having our fill, we set off to West Leake for our rain postponed morning walk. 

Views to Nottingham and Gotham

Our first stile for the season

Parking beside West Leake church we crossed the road and soon were in fields of canola and assorted grains growing in dry stone walled paddocks of their own.  The rain cleared and we had sun above and mud below us for the walk.For a couple of hours we wandered the ridgeline enjoying the panoramic views of the area.  In the distance we could see the O2 devoid city of Nottingham and in the foreground the village of Gotham.  Dominating the skyline for most of the walk were the eight huge cooling towers of the Radcliffe-on-Soar power station.  Returning to our car we headed home pleased with our first two walks in and around the Peak District.

Monday 26 May – 

Start of walk

A Bank Holiday in England which means fetes, fairs and flaming crowds.  The day dawned with clear sunny skies and a cool 6 degree chill in the air.  Our target today, Dove Dale, was relatively close (about 10 miles away – that’s 15 kilograms for us Aussie’s).  Dove Dale is described as the Peak’s most famous dale.  Up and away early we arrived at our starting point at 7:15am and drove to the pay carpark that doesn’t open until 9am!  Travelling past its locked entrance we travelled up a single lane road and found a park beside the Dove River and right at the start of the walk. 

Start of walk in Dove Dale along the River Dove

Money does grow on trees

Morning tea

Crossing the little wooden bridge we followed the river upstream though a deep dale (valley) with landmarks that included Thorpe Cloud (hill), Lovers Leap (cliff), Tissington Spires (eroded cliff), Reynards Cave (cave), Pickering Tor (cliff) and Ham Rock (spire). 

In the cool, crisp morning air, under clear skies and with the place to ourselves, except the occasional local walking their dog, we were well rewarded by this beautiful walk.  The babbling creek flowed over several old weirs, very tame ducks watched us walk by and all the time the rising sun filtered into the valley floor where we travelled.  Eventually we rose out of the dale and spent the second half of the walk traversing the high farm fields filled with newborn spring lambs and calves and yellow flowering canola. 

Establishing how lost we are.

Ham Rock

Wandering through these dry stone walled paddocks brought back memories of the last time we were in England.  Yes that’s right folks we got lost again.  Well not really lost, just absent from any location that bore any resemblance to the directions and map we had.  Using our finely honed skills developed from our trip two years ago, we soon became un-lost but still uncertain as to which way we should go because as soon we went, we get lost.  We find the technique of getting lost exposes us to many more experiences that other walkers would have as they would be on the right track.  

Some of the extra experiences can be enjoyable but these are rare.  Surprisingly, on this walk, getting lost saved us time so unknowingly, we must have stumbled across a shortcut.

We did find our way back to the car after again enjoying the beautiful scenery and extra experiences of the Peak District.  As we came closer to our car which, when we left it, was the only one in the area we were surprised to see long queues of cars waiting to get into the now open paid carpark.  Even overflow paddocks had been opened to accommodate the yet unfulfilled demand.  Feeling very pleased with ourselves that we had the prime and free carpark in the region, we joined the crowds flocking to the now very busy track we walked along over three hours earlier and up to our car.  There parked in its prime position and with no other cars around it was our car.  It was then we realised that we were illegally parked up a lane only to be used by authorised vehicles two of which were waiting for us to move.  Quickly dumping our pack in the car and looking very “authorised”, we drove out of the area fortunate not to be fined (apparently we had broken two rules/laws) and left the crowds behind.  

The illegally parked car

That’s right there was a Fete on and by the size of the flocking crowds it must be a good one. 

The earlier deserted 1.5 car width back laneways were now filled with 1.2 car width BMW’s, Range Rovers and other far-too-expensive-to run-into vehicles all hell bent on getting to the Fete in the area we had just left.  Everywhere we went was now brimming with English folk making the most of the Bank Holiday, a sunny day and the myriad of Fetes and Fairs.  Even our little village where we are staying was having a “Whole of Village Garage Sale”.

We decided to hide away in our cottage for the rest of the day and plan the rest of the week in this area for when all the locals are back at work.

New pants!

Tuesday 27 May – off we headed on another cold (9 degrees) and wet day.  Our targets today were the central Peak District, a high peaks walk, trialling Julie’s new rain pants, locating the elusive internet shop to purchase wireless broadband (finally) and not to get lost.  In summary, we achieved everything except not getting lost.

To our great surprise we easily found the starting point of the walk and set off in the rain for what was supposed to be a 3.5 hour walk.  We immediately started climbing upwards through beech and pine forest eventually reaching the ridge which was to form the major part of the walk.  The ridge provided beautiful vistas over Ladybower Reservoir, Ashopton Viaduct, Derwent Moor and the surrounding mountains where the bitingly cold wind and drizzle were coming from.  The weather slowly got better all day where, in the end, we were walking in sunshine and Julie was down to just her new rain pants. 

Red Grouse

Morning tea was held sheltering behind the interesting Hurkling Stones overlooking the vista below us. 

Hurkling Stones

The stones are like several large stacks of pancakes that are in conflict with the surrounding flat gorse-covered Moors.  Having our fill of food and views and, with the rain now stopped, we headed off looking for the path to the left that would take us down from the ridge and back to our car.  Suddenly the gorse exploded beside us with wild flapping and squawking as the frightenly scary male Red Grouse took off trying to distract us away from his female and four chicks.  The further we walked the more Red Grouse and their new chicks we saw – oh and the further past the turnoff we should have gone down we went too.

Locked gate so the young lambs are safe

Being experts in the art of getting and being lost we were not concerned, outwardly anyway. We decided to keep waking to the next high point because for sure there would be a path to the left to get us down.  Eventually, after four such high points there was a definite pass, but down to where?  Using our now well-honed skills in in finding our way back to our car we once again did so.  Not before walking through picturesque lush pastures bordered by dry stone walls and filled with sheep and Julie’s favourite, cattle.  Now down at the reservoir we passed the location where a thriving ancient village once stood but is now under the waters of the reservoir.

There was a village(Derwent Water)  here for centuries

So a planned 3 hours 30 minute of walking time took 4 hours 59 minutes and a total of 15.5klm trekking.   It was wonderful as the weather cleared somewhat during this time and we really enjoyed our central Peak District Walk. 

Next we headed to Buxton for a late lunch and finally found an O2 shop.   We bought the necessary device and 2GB of data – the most we could buy as a “foreigner” then headed towards home.  

Arbor Low Stone Circle

Long barrow burial chamber

On the way, eagle eye Julie spotted a sign for an historic site which we had been trying to find yesterday so we drove to the Arbor Low Ancient Circles described as the “Stonehenge of the North” and an associated long barrow burial chamber. 

What was left of the circles & the burial chamber was interesting enough but nowhere as good as the real Stonehenge or the long barrow near Avebury we saw in 2012.  Having set out at 6.45 am, we arrived home at 4.30 pm satisfied we’d done a full days work.

Wednesday 28 May - 

Another late spring English day – overcast and rain/drizzle all day – minimum 9⁰ and a balmy 11⁰ maximum.  Because the weather was so nice we decided to do two walks so off we went at 7.15am before anyone was up and about, both now wearing our new waterproof rain pants.

Oops wrong way

Our first walk was Ashford-in the-Water, very apt given the weather. Once again the very vague instructions for the walk got us lost so we ended up walking four thirds of this 9klm walk.  Our first two-thirds entailed setting off from the village of Ashford-in-the-Water and walking through the little village and uphill for 2.3 kilometres through rain-soaked grassy fields.  Realising we were not going to connect with the downhill path we needed to we turned around and retraced our steps.  We went into the village and had brunch in a little tearoom, replanned our strategy for the walk and set off in the car to Monsal Head.

Parking our car high up on a ridge beside a pub (what a surprise) we donned our wet weather walking gear again and set off down across a viaduct into the valley below.  A gorge/valley in England is called a dale, so Monsal Dale is a valley with a beautiful steam babbling along the bottom.  After completing another third of the walk we turned around and headed back to the car before our paid parking ran out.  Hence we did four thirds of this walk.

Walk two was in the REAL Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood may or may not have had fun with his merry men.  Either way when we were deep in the forest Julie thought she saw Little John and wanted a Friar Tuck as well, I Maid Marion - so everyone was happy.  The forest is nothing special and survives solely on the legend of green-tighted men robbing from the rich to give to the poor.  Nowadays the legend would be called the LPPP (Labour Party Policy Platform).

Sherwood forest

Thursday 29 May – for a change the weather was overcast and rainy/drizzly all day.  Morning temperature was 9⁰ and the max was 11⁰.  Today’s additions were patches of fog too. And have we mentioned the mud everywhere?  

Todays walk was located in the central Peak District in the Wye Valley. We found the car park at Tideswell Dale without any trouble, so off we set in our wet weather gear to explore Miller’s Dale, Water-cum-Jolly Dale, Cressbrook, Tansley Dale & Tideswell.  

Avoiding the mud?

 

A toad?

Cows not talking

The recent and current rains turned a lot of the track into mud.  Mud for 100’s of metres requiring us to scramble higher into the undergrowth either side of the path to avoid getting a boot full of thick black mud.

As far as not getting lost went, all went well until we arrived in the village of Tideswell where we had lunch in a pleasant café.  Getting to Tideswell was the easy part, getting out of Tideswell in the right direction and on the right track proved interesting.  The directions on our walk map were vague to say the least.  We wandered in circles for about half an hour trying to find our way out. Fair to say we know all of the streets in Tideswell.  Finally we stopped reading the directions and worked together to find the little lane down the side of a barn that ran parallel to the main road to take us down to our car we last saw 4.5 hours ago. 

After a quick trip back to Buxton to sort out our internet access once again, we arrived home and dined at the local pub 400 metres from we are staying, The Red Lion.  I had the pork belly “to die for” and it was.

Edale Church

Friday 30 May – no rain today and no sun either, however this was still an improvement although the temperatures remained cool at 9⁰ to 12⁰.  We again drove north into the central Peak District to the tiny village of Edale. 

Crossing the walk bridge at start of walk

Parking at the train station we walked past their beautiful village church, past their two pubs (of course) to tackle the steep walk up to the high ridge called Kinder Scout. We past interesting sounding landmarks such as The Nab, Ringing Roger, Nether Tor and the newly named by us, Are-We-There-Yet. 

The views down the lush green valleys below us were glorious as we walked along parts of the Pennine Trail on ridge for several kilometres to and along Edale Moor.  

Morning tea

From here the track descended rather suddenly, slipperyly and muddily. We slid and stumbled our way down 500 metres beside, over and in the babbling Crowden Brook which we forded many times on our way back towards Edale.   This walk was a somewhat long (12.6km with a 600 metre rise) and arduous one which resulted in tired and strained legs requiring many strange exclamations as we tried to protected our ankles and knees from the pressures of the scramble down. 

We arrived back in Edale after five and a half hours ready for home, but not before having the mandatory pub lunch in the local Old Nags Head Hotel beside a cosy crackling fire.

Nearly home

Over the past 6 days, we have walked about 90 km in and around the Peak District and are well pleased with our efforts to explore a part of England that was quite new to us with the Derbyshire Dales and Moors being well worth the visit.

This Post ends at the end of our first week.  If you like rain, cold and mud then the weather was wonderful.  We just love this country its people and its walks.

We are both well and look forward to bring you the next episode.