Exploring :: Milldale & The River Dove

Hi there everyone 😀

It seems like an age ago now that we had another trip up to The Peak District. After our fairly successful meander along the Bradford River at Youlgreave we decided to up the ante just a little for another day out with another walk in another beautiful spot.

Sat at our dining room table with the trusty OS map we planned what looked like a fairly easy walk, a little further than last time, taking in the River Dove at Milldale. We decided we would head out towards Dovedale on the village side of the river, taking in a bit of an incline early on, and finishing with a nice flat walk back to Milldale, along the other side of the river.

Arriving at the village we were lucky enough to grab a parking space in the car park just up from the village and wandered down to the river ...

It was brighter than we had expected and, though it was fairly early on, even the sheep were looking for the shade ...

Down by the river it looked perfect ... warm, plenty of sunshine, open toilets, ice cream shop doing a roaring trade and a few people paddling in the river ...

I guess alarm bells should have started ringing when we saw this sign but we just thought ... oh well, we’ve had no rain it should be fine. We did opt to retrace our steps and take the alternative path though ... as the footpath up the side of the toilets looked pretty much vertical and very overgrown ...

We retraced our steps and soon found the alternative route ...

... and were on our way ...

At the top of the track we headed left to take us back towards the original, more difficult, path ...

The alternative path was a bit overgrown but was manageable and we were both chuffed to meet up with original path so knew we were heading in the right direction ...

The original path took us up away from the meander of the river, through some woods, past an old building and then would take us back down to the river, where we were due to carry on until we came to a bridge, where we would cross and then return on the opposite side ...

Obviously my sense of distance has completely gone to pot as we soon came to a bit of a fork in the path and, as I could see the river down below I decided to head downward, whilst Martin consulted the GPS and said no ... I think it’s the higher path ...

Well ... I soon stopped in my tracks as I found the cattle, of which we had seen signs along the way, all laid in the shade down by the river ... after a previous scary encounter, which has put us both off fields with cows in for life I about turned ... as it happened Martin was right anyway and the path did go upwards ...

Now ... I'm not quite sure what happened here, but it's a bit embarrassing and I am blaming it on the heat but when I got about half way up I started to feel very strange indeed ... quite unwell ... a bit dizzy, a bit shaky and very weak and actually ended up just having to lay down on the hillside ... I felt a bit feeble as we’d only just really started out but I really felt like I couldn’t walk any further.

We did have a debate as to whether we should retrace our steps and not carry on but after a bit of a rest and a drink I felt a bit better and we decided that we didn't want to give up.

Not too far on and we headed into the woods and out of the sun ...

I thought the shade would help but I felt exactly the same again ... so we had another stop and I was starting to get a bit panicky ... I really did not want to be that fool that would have to call out mountain rescue.

Another sit in the shade and we carried on to the top of the incline which just about finished us both off and we have never been so grateful for the sight and comfort of a stile ...

Even though it didn’t seem a good idea we had another drink. We stayed there a good while ... sat on either side of the style, catching our breath ...

... and enjoying the view ... 

... and also knowing that was as high as we went ... it was downhill all the way now to the river ... a good walk alongside the river to the bridge then just over a mile back on the other side.

It was here we encountered the first other walker we’d seen so far ... coming from the opposite direction ... whilst he did confirm it was still a good way to the bridge he did also say it was pretty easy going, though there was plenty of undergrowth by the river.

Having rested a while we were ready for the next leg ...

... and it was that typically beautiful Peak District scenery, which never disappoints ...

Clear blue sky, rolling green hills, dry stone walls, plenty of green ...

... and a few of these locals ... who we do not mind at all ...

We soon passed the old building which we knew was about halfway between our starting point and the river and were definitely on our way back down towards the river ...

Before we knew it we were alongside the Dove ...

It was easy to see that the path would be impassable after heavy rain ... it was still pretty muddy underfoot in places and we’d not had any proper rain for a good while.

Whilst we were both feeling a lot better now we were on the flat the GPS told us it was still a fair way to the bridge and I was absolutely delighted to find some makeshift stepping stones that looked like we may be able to shorten our walk ...

Well I was off like a shot and I have to say if there had been one missing and I’d had to walk ankle deep in water I would have done. It did look like it was a popular short cut as there was a definite well trodden path through the undergrowth on the opposite side ...

So there we were ... heading back to Milldale, along a much more well traveled path, but in the heat of the sun with very little option for shade ...

It was so pretty though and I all but forgot about how awful I'd felt earlier on ...

Coming out into a wide open part of the walk ...

... I couldn’t resist a sit on the bank, boots off and feet cooling in the water ... it was lovely ...

It was but a short walk back from here to the Viators Bridge ...

... which we crossed to take us back to our starting point ...

We were lucky enough to find a bench by the river, where we sat for a while, just taking in the view ...

... before I headed to Polly's Cottage for ice creams which made everything worthwhile ...

It was still roasting hot and there was plenty of paddling going on but not for us.

We headed back up through the tiny village to the car ...

...  and, not feeling hungry enough for our picnic, decided to head for Wetton Mill where I swapped boots for walking sandals and had a proper paddle ...

What a day ... on the whole we both enjoyed it but I did frighten myself a bit early on ... we definitely need to get a bit better on interpreting those pesky OS contour lines when planning our next wander.

Back home and we realised we had actually walked just a little less than we did in Youlgreave, but for us, it was a lot tougher ... we definitely need to try and get a bit fitter 😳😳😳

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The Reading Corner :: August

Hi there everyone 😀

Well ... it was a pretty busy old reading corner for August, with more reading done than I have in a good while. I am blaming Jack Reacher ... though I did leave it a couple of weeks before starting on my 4th of his tales in a row ... the second in the series ... 

Die Trying

Lee Child

I was interested in finding out if there was any link to the first one ... The Killing Floor ... which I read in July ... and just exactly how, if they did, his tales fit together.

I was expecting another first person account from Jack, but this time we were back with the more familiar third person account, which kicked off with Jack finding himself in another tight spot by page 3.

It was straight in ... no explanation as to how Jack had moved from Margrave in The Killing Floor, where we last saw him boarding a bus for California ... to Chicago where this new situation was unfolding.

Perhaps all would become clear as things progressed or perhaps his tales are totally stand alone.

There was one small reference, part way through the book, about his brother dying the year before but that was it and Jack was soon up to his neck in it with another strong female, the type of which he seems to be constantly attracted to, and in spite of the horrendous situation they find themselves in there is always room for a bit of romance ...

There was one point where it did get particularly hairy ... reminding me of a time when I thought potholing might be a good idea and I experienced the squeeze of The Cheese Press in the Long Churn Caves ... though to be fair Jack's experience made this look a bit like child’s play

As expected all was well that ended well and, though it seemed that Jack could perhaps have had the girl, he gave a normal life a narrow swerve and went on his merry way and, I’m sure, straight into the middle of more madness and mayhem.

King of Kings

Wilbur Smith

Having decided to have a bit of a break from Jack Reacher I opted for an old favourite ... Wilbur Smith and King of Kings.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read any of Wilbur Smith's books and even longer than that since I’ve read about the Courtneys and Ballantynes. It wasn't long though before I was lost in Africa in turbulent times with Ryder Courtney and his young family struggling to get a silver mine up and running in the middle of the harshest of terrains.

They were thwarted at every step but managed to overcome adversity to win through in the end.

There were lots of references to previous adventures and it was only when I finished the book that I realised they were referring to another of his books The Triumph of the Sun, which I will definitely be on the look out for.

Trip wire

Lee Child

It was back to Lee Child's Jack Reacher for the third in the series for my third read of the month.

This one started off very differently. Jack was ‘settled’ in one place ... if you can call a few months settled. He even had a couple of jobs, needing to supplement his army settlement, which was not going to last for ever.

Things soon started kicking off though and we got to find out a bit more about Jack's previous life and some of the people he had been close to whilst in the Military Police.

It was soon becoming clear as to who was who and how it all fit together but not so clear as to how things would end up, though of course Jack would be sure to come out of things smelling of roses ... although, as in previous tales, it was difficult to predict what would happen to the girl ... who this time really did seem to be Jack's one true love.

As the tale went on there did seem to be indications that the thoughts of coming back into mainstream living might just not be quite right for Jack and the mere thought of the implications of this were sending him into a bit of a blind panic.

As it happened we didn’t get to find out as, whilst the mystery was solved and, of course, Jack saved the day ... the book finished before the decisions as to whether Jack would stick around were made ... I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next though.

The visitor

Lee Child

Desperate to know how things ended up between Jack and Jodie and Jack's inherited new home in Garrison I dived straight in to The Visitor, the next in the series.

Well I was rewarded very early on and discovered that they were in fact still together so there was an element of flow to the series.

As the story hotted up and Jack was beginning to be useful to the FBI, initially under duress, it was clear to see that a dilemma was brewing. There was no doubt that Jack and Jodie were still seriously in love with each other, but neither was that enamoured with the others lifestyles, which were pretty much polar opposites. 

And whilst both had a really good sense of right and wrong, how each handled injustice against the little guy were a world apart.

Whilst I was confident the problem of the serial killer would be resolved I could only see one ending for Jack from a personal point of view.

I was really hooked on this one ... I read it in about 24 hours, straight off the back of Trip Wire.

In the end I was right that the serial killer issue was resolved, though I really did not not see it coming ... it was a bolt right out of the blue.

Jack and Jodie ... Well they didn’t exactly ride off into the sunset ... well not the same sunset anyway, but there is a glimmer of hope that there may be a happy ending at some point ... it will be interesting to see where this story goes.

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Random Ramblings :: Falling into Autumn

Hi there everyone 😀

The calendar tells me it's the 1st of September and, whilst the garden is telling me it's late summer, the temperature is definitely saying that it's autumn. There has been a real drop this week and I must confess to having to resort to just popping the heating on for the last couple of evenings as it's felt decidedly chilly within these old Edwardian walls.

Out back it is not looking chilly at all ... the garden's summer wardrobe is definitely on the warmer side of the spectrum ... with lots of pinks and purples, accompanied by the odd splash of bright and zingy scarlet ...
There is still plenty of life and colour in the hanging baskets too ... which, in spite of a lack of plant availability in the spring, have been a triumph this year ... put together from cheap Aldi annuals, Jackie's home grown geraniums and lobelia and bits and pieces saved from last year ...

We have made good use of the extra time we've had at home and have had some real luck with propagating and growing from seed. These salvia have been fabulous ... with cuttings taken from a broken stem on the plant that we bought from Hidcote last year ...
They are even starting to flower, which I was not expecting at all ...
We have been so chuffed with how they have gone we have taken another batch ... these are destined for Lesley & Tom's garden ...
We have also done really well with cuttings taken from basil and rosemary, though the lavender does not seem to be going so well.

The cobea was grown from seed and has done a fabulous job of covering the arbour ...
We have been waiting so patiently for it to flower and were beyond excited to see the first buds developing. Well, these have now started to flower and whilst we were thrilled we were a little disappointed when they appeared to be cream ...
Google told us that they start out this colour but do turn through pink to the glorious purple that we were expecting and over the course of a couple of days they most certainly did ... ending up just as we hoped ...
Another success from seed this year was our first baby cauliflower ... small, but totally perfectly formed ...
Following the success we had earlier on with growing herbs from seed ...
I planted a big bucket of parsley, which is doing really well ...
... and we've started to think about next year, with pots of honesty and love-in-a-mist well on their way ...
It's now that time of year when we are starting to think about what we need to do to get the garden ready for the winter months and this week we've managed to give the privet another trim ... the conifers are next.

Whilst the temperatures have dropped considerably, there has still been a little bit of sunshine and we managed another 'fleeced up' garden get together at my brother's where the little man was in fine form ...

Hopefully the weather will stay on our side for a little longer so we can keep getting together safely with friends and family for as long as possible.

Normally autumn is one of my favourite seasons, with late holidays, lots of birthday celebrations and family get togethers over Christmas and New Year. What this year will bring I guess nobody really knows ... but if we have to do things a little differently this year so that we can make sure that everyone is around for the years to come then ... in my mind anyway, it will most definitely be worth it 😀

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