Chris and I completed this day adventure together with Russell and Roza during our Christmas weekend in the Peak District.
This was a 14 mile circular trek which started and ended in the centre of Bakewell, a small town Derbyshire’s Peak District. This was a varied walk in terms of its terrain with its flat straight abandoned railway train at the beginning, muddy sections which followed the river, some uphill climbing, woodland and heathland. We also had a real mixed bag of weather which started with light rain and drizzle and ended with the sun… or not quite… the rain had stopped and the sun did try to make an appearance.
Russell had previously found, planned and led our walk which started and ended in Bakewell right from our accommodation. This was great as it meant we didn’t have to drive anywhere on this day.
We began with breakfast in the Bakewell Tart tea shop. This quaint traditional teashop sold all manner of Bakewell tarts from large ones to small ones to cherry bakewells with icing and a cherry on the top. Of course I had to purchase a piece to keep tucked away in my backpack ready for an en-route snack.
We left the Bakewell Tart tea shop at 10 am and headed out of Bakewell crossing the bridge over the River Wye.
We soon came to the original Bakewell Station which was first opened in 1862. This was once a busy station situated on the Derby to Manchester line until it was closed in 1967. We followed the Monsal Trail along the former railway track.
The Monsal trail is popular with dog walkers and joggers. We found a couple of former stations which are now coffee shops along the way.
We came to the village of Little Longstone and it’s pub called ‘The Packhorse Inn’. We didn’t go in the pub but it is popular with walkers who are welcomed to sit by one of their 3 open fires.
We passed the Little Longstone Congregation Chapel which was a small church looking lovely and festive with its Christmas tree.
From the Monsal Head viewpoint we could see the viaduct which was built in 1863 and misty views of Monsal Dale.
We came to this waterfall which was is usually a pretty tiered waterfall with its stream gently trickling over. Today it was more of a torrent with its higher than usual volumes of water.
At this point after crossing a bridge we came to a ‘Record Woodland Change’ sign. There was a notice asking people to take a photo and, using a QR code, to upload it to a website. This is for constant monitoring of the changing woodland.
We followed the muddy footpath next to the River Wye interspersed throughout with bright red flashes from many holly and hawthorn trees.
Following the river… Storm Pia had raged through the Peak District a day or so before which meant lots of twigs and debris throughout the walk.
We stopped here next to the River Wye for coffee and Bakewell tart.
At this point, this uphill footpath had turned into a stream and we had to carefully step around the rocks around the edge!
After a steep and slippery uphill climb through the woodlands, slipping on a carpet of wet leaves, rolling twigs and small boulders we made it to a wide expanse of moorland at the top. We came across a deep mine shaft which was covered with heavy concrete girders to prevent anyone from falling in.
The rain had eased off and we had lunch in this serene spot close to the mine shaft where Chris and I munched on a cold feta and spinach pasty, purchased from the Bakewell Tart shop earlier in the morning.
We passed through the village of Sheldon and the Cock and Pullet pub.
We next came to the Magpie Mine, a disused lead mine. This was the last working mine in the Peak District and is also a free tourist attraction. This mine has quite a turbulent history and was the site of 3 murders in 1833! Rival miners used to light fires to deliberately smoke each other out but unfortunately on one occasion 3 of them suffocated. This led to a murder trial but the 24 suspects were freed as nobody was sure of the actual culprit.
Finally the weather started to brighten up at around 2:30 pm.
Other than at the beginning when we followed the old railway line we hardly saw anyone else on this trail. Just one other group of 4 and a couple and that was about it.
We arrived back in Bakewell at around 4 pm just before it got dark.
This was an excellent and varied walk and it was good to push ourselves a bit. None of us had done a 14 miler for a while and we all felt exhilarated once we reached our warm cozy cottage back in Bakewell ready for showers, chill time and getting ready to head out to Piedaniels, a lovely French restaurant in Bakewell for the evening.
We are fortunate to have such diverse and spectacular scenery and many walking opportunities just 2-3 hours from our home. Writing these posts helps me to think carefully about such activities as completed, reflect back and fully appreciate them as mini adventures.
frombluetogreen.com 
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