A warm, sunny day saw me out with the Sutton-in-Ashfield Ramblers for a walk in the Peak District on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire borders. I joined a small group of adventurers who split from the main group to take in some of the higher ground en route. This involved one or two precipitous climbs and descents - but wholly worthwhile! The only shame was that early morning mist never cleared completely, obscuring many long distance views.
We began the walk at Hulme End, once the terminus for a hopelessly uneconomic narrow gauge railway. The old station has been turned into a visitor centre and car park.
The Manifold Valley is quite flat and wide at this point, as we headed south along the Manifold Way. The sun was struggling to show through the mist.
The valley narrows quite sharply near Ecton, with tree-lined slopes.
Here is a shot of the River Manifold itself.
We continued downstream towards Ecton. Just before Ecton, the valley widens slightly.
Dale Bridge, just below Ecton, was the decision point for the group - whether to follow the Manifold Way on towards Ecton Bridge, or to head up the hill past Ecton village, onto Ecton Hill.
A few of us chose the latter course. Here we are, climbing up the narrow lane through Ecton.
At the top is a very interesting-looking house, with a tower and bridges across from each floor to the nearby hillside. I had to shoot directly into the sun, so could not get the best of images.
On top of Ecton Hill, it was relatively flat. This view was taken to the south east, with the sun filtered away by the mist.
Looking the other way, the part of the Manifold Valley we had recently traversed was laid out far below.
From here, we descended gently towards Wetton Mill, still heading south along the Manifold Valley.
The final approach to Wetton Mill was down a narrow ravine and through a farmyard at Dale Farm.
Soon, we were back down in the bottom of the valley. The river looks a little wider here.
Wetton Mill was very busy with tourists and bikers. There are tearooms here.
This is a view from the car park, looking back upstream towards the bridge.
The hillside at the back of the tearooms is dominated by this small crag.
We then continued south along the Manifold Way. The trackbed of the old narrow gauge railway was visible by the road - now converted into a roadway itself for a short distance.
A short way south of here, the old railway track crosses the road, which heads up the hillside eastwards to Wetton. From this point, we were walking on the old trackbed, which continues alongside the river.
We arrived at the footbridge just below Thor's Cave. This sign gives details about the cave.
The cave itself can be seen here, high up to the left of the photo - again a difficult shot, as I was shooting directly into the sun.
Our smaller group bravely climbed the steep steps and slope to the cave itself, which is situated high up above the valley. This is the final approach to the cave.
The cave dominates this part of the Manifold Valley. This is the view northwards along our earlier route.
Once inside the cave, its massive size may be fully appreciated. The entrance chamber is very tall.
Inside, the footprint of the cave is T-shaped, with narrower side galleries. The left hand one is tall, but quickly narrows as it descends into the hillside.
The other side opens out into a narrow, second entrance to the cave. We then quickly descended down a narrow gully. This is where our small group quickly realised that our little diversion from the main party was suddenly getting very adventurous!
What goes down must come up - or something like that! Having survived a short descent, we then has to ascend another very steep, treacherous slope to reach the top of the hill. One of our members did manage a brave smile though, so it can't have been all that bad!
The final ascent to the top was much easier. The cliff above Thor's Cave gives some amazing views up and down the valley, far below.
This is a view looking southwards. Grindon church spire is just visible in the mist at the top/middle part of the photo. For once, I was glad that the mist was filtering the sunlight. The western side of the dale would have mainly been in deep shadow, in full sunlight.
Northwards, there was a clear and spectacular view up the valley.
The descent eastwards towards Wetton village was a real anticlimax after all that excitement - pretty, but far less dramatic. Here is Wetton Church....
.. and a view in the centre of this quiet, remote village.
I then rejoined the main group for the walk northeast towards to top of Wolfscote Dale. This ws a very gentle walk across fields and along trackways. Sheep were very much in evidence.
There were also lots of young lambs, seemingly very curious about the long string of human beings hobbling across the fields. Maybe it was our dress sense they found so interesting?
Beyond Narrowdale, we followed an old trackway for some distance.
Eventually, the southern end of Beresford Dale came into view, seen here in the middle distance.
We turned south into Wolfscote Dale, following the River Dove. This section was also covered in a walk I did with the Sutton Ramblers towards the end of last year.
On that occasion we followed the path along the valley bottom - as did the main group this time also. I joined the splinter group - by now down to three members - to climb the north side of the Dale and continue southwards along the top of the ridge. In comparison with the Thor's Cave adventure, the climb was relatively tame, but the views were magnificent. This one is looking south from near the northern end of Wolfscote Dale.
This is the view from the same point looking northwards into Beresford Dale.
Frank-i-the-rocks bridge is visible in the centre of the photo.
Further south, the views along the valley were equally stunning, as shown in these three shots. As with the Manifold Valley section of our walk, I was glad here that the mist was filtering out a lot of the sunlight.
At Biggin Dale, we ran out of hillside and had to descend again to the valley bottom. This was our final view from the top, looking south along Wolfscote Dale.
Back down alongside the River Dove, it seemed a completely different world. We passed a long section covered with daffodils.
We continued slightly further south along Woldscote Dale this time, following the Dove to the bridge below Shining Tor. This was the view along the valley from the bridge.
Shining Tor offered another excuse to climb steeply up the side of the valley to the top of this excellent viewpoint. Here is the view looking southeast down the Dove.
...and the view north along the part of the valley we had just traversed.
Beyond Shining Tor, we turned east towards our finishing point on the A515 main road. The walk here was again very flat.
And here is our finishing point,
at the Alsop-en-le-Dale Car Park. This is on the Tissington Trail, which may just be seen in the middle of the photo, beyond the far side of the road.
This was another excellent walk organised by the Sutton-in-Ashfield Rambling Group. Many thanks to them and to Ian for leading those of us who braved the more adventurous parts covered by the splinter group.
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