We began the walk at the village of Taddington, high on the plateau above the River Wye. Here is a view looking back over the village as I climbed westwards towards Chelmorton.
Chelmorton came into view before too long. The southern end of my walk, at Sterndale Moor, is way up on the hillside on the far left of the photo.
On the final descent to Chelmorton, I passed Bank Pit Spring, once the water supply for the village. The stream running down from the spring was known as the Illy-Willy Water, apparently.
Here is the view as I turned south into the village.
The pub and the church are in close proximity at the top end of the village.
The house at Town End Farm looks very imposing.
I continued south to the main road before turning to take this final view of the village, looking north towards Calton Hill. You may just be able to see the word "England" and an English flag on the hillside - no doubt put there in the vain hope that England might do well in the World Cup!
I climbed the footpath beyond the main road towards Sterndale Moor, crossing this small valley.
At the top of the climb, Sterndale Moor came into view, with signs of modern quarrying. The village itself is quite modern, with industrial housing.
The object of my climb to Sterndale Moor was not the village itself, but the start of Horseshoe Dale, which runs more or less due north down to Deep Dale. The upper part is spoiled by pylons. Here is a view looking back from near the A5270 at Horseshoe Curve.
After crossing the main road, I continued into the more interesting section of Horseshoe Dale. This view is looking back south towards the main road....
....and this view looking north towards Deep Dale.
Back Dale joins us from the left.
Into Deep Dale - and you quickly appreciate how it got its name.
Last time I was here, in mid-February, the valley was much barer. On that occasion, the group descended the Dale from the left, crossing a raging stream before turning north towards the A6 road.
Where the raging stream had once been..... there was just a dry river bed and lots of nettles.
Carrying on further into Deep Dale, the going was difficult due to the very stony nature of much of the route.
Finally, I came out of Deep Dale at the busy A6 main road and crossed to join the River Wye.
I turned east along the bridleway that runs alongside the river towards Chee Dale. At this point the walk was closely shadowed by the old railway line from Buxton to Bakewell and Derby. For a short distance, the line is still in use, but further down it has been converted into a bridleway. The path and the river are crossed by several railway bridges as the river follows a tortuous course through the landscape.
In-between bridges, the route was very pretty. Topley Pike is up on the right in this shot....
...but the bridges kept appearing, one by one as the railway engineers had made the railway line as straight as possible.
At Great Rocks Dale, the present railway line turns sharp north, leaving the remaining trackbed towards Bakewell free for walkers and cyclists. In this shot, Great Rocks Dale is behind the cottages. The River Wye runs left to right under the bridge in the middle of the shot. This is where I rejoined the route the other members of the walk had taken today - though they were well ahead of me by now!
I crossed the bridge and turned right, along the river bank to Chee Dale. The nature of the scenery changes quickly into a very narrow, steep-sided valley.
Most of the cliffs are obscured by foliage at this time of year - but at least the river was low enough to continue the walk. When the water is high, this part of my walk is impassable...
...and here's why! The river passes through two narrow gorges. Stepping stones are provided along the north side of the river, under the overhanging cliffs.
Here is a closer view of some of the stepping stones.
The path crosses the river a couple of times on wooden bridges.
...before reaching the second set of stepping stones.
This view is looking back to the west.
The overhanging cliff is very dramatic here, where the river has worn away the stone.
On both banks, climbers were testing their abilities on the rock faces. You can see a couple just above the middle of this shot. The hill behind is Chee Tor.
Beyond Chee Tor, the valley opens out considerably. This view is looking back west, with Chee Tor on the left.
At the footbridge, I took a sharp left on the footpath up the side of the valley towards Wormhill. Here is a closer view of Chee Tor from higher up the side of the valley.
This is the view looking east towards Miller's Dale.
Wormhill is a small, but interesting place. The village stocks are proudly displayed.
The village's most famous son is James Brindley, the 18th Century civil engineer who was responsible for the construction of much of Britain's canal network. He is commemorated on this plaque.
The church is hidden away in trees, well away from the road through the village.
A big surprise was to find the rest of the group eating lunch in the churchyard.
I walked on just ahead of the group over fields to the head of Monk's Dale. This view is over towards Miller's Dale.
The treetops of Monk's Dale eventually came into view to my right, in-between the hills.
Ahead was the start of Peter Dale, which is more or less an upper continuation of Monk's Dale
I turned south on reaching the road and was immediately confronted by the head of Monk's Dale.
The Dale is quite narrow and heavily wooded for much of its length. Walking was treacherous and awkward underfoot, with lots of rough, slippery rocks to negotiate. Half way down the Dale, it opens out into a very pleasant valley with grassy slopes. This view is looking back up the valley.
This is a similar view from a little further down the Dale.
The path then enters another long section of woodland. Eventually, the route crosses this bridge and climbs the valley side briefly, before a sharp but short descent into Miller's Dale village.
The footpath ends at the side of Miller's Dale church.
Opposite is the remains of the Miller's Dale Meal Mill.
After a brief respite, the rest of the group and I continued across the River Wye by the mill and climbed steeply up the southern side of the valley towards Priestcliffe. On the way up, we crossed the old railway line I referred to earlier - now a footpath and cycleway.
The view westwards along the Wye Valley was really spectacular.
At the top of the climb, we were back on the hilltops close to Priestcliffe. This is a view east towards Bull Tor and High Dale.
After crossing the A6 again, we crossed the fields to Taddington village, passing through the churchyard on the way to the main village street.
London is only 157 miles from Taddington... but I think we had all done enough walking for such a very hot day!
Sincere thanks to the Sutton-in-Ashfield Rambling Club for another very interesting walk.
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