Richard and Jenny chose this venue - one of their favourite places, and Sue and I and Sue W (Phil is out of action with an Achilles problem) were those honoured to accompany them today under the 'Rule of Six' constraints.
We made our way from the car park past the Farmyard Inn, which would be seen to be heaving with people when we returned later, and descended to a bridge over the heavily managed (by way of weirs and ponds) River Bradford. Then it was uphill for quite some way, past bright yellow Marsh Marigolds, and a dipper that posed just a bit too far away for a decent picture. Grey wagtails and nesting coots were also making themselves very obvious from the river bank.
After a while we reached an enclosure, the wall around which has been subject to a novel form of repair.
A little further on - a wild camper's dream, lovely filtered water in abundance from a spring. You might even expect to find a water bottling business hiding round the corner!
Soon afterwards, Sue spent ages setting up this self-timed photo that was cleverly photo-bombed by a dog walker.
Another small enclosure bore three decorated rocks, two of them with symbols and birds, and the one in the foreground exhorting these most pertinent words: "We meet to create memories and depart to cherish them".
The march through Elton Common is on a very straight, and neatly gated, path through nascent crops. As on the previous day in the Wirral, I wondered what this path would be like when the crops are fully grown?
The graveyard of All Saint's church in Elton was chosen as a suitable lunch spot, where Phil took a break from stripping and joined us for a leisurely stop.
Beyond Alport, the River Bradford, at one point managed sufficiently for an area to be deemed appropriate for swimming, rises slowly back to Youlgrave, passing at one point a cliff that looks suitable for climbing.
3 comments:
Great post - I love all the interesting observations. Thank you for joining us and for making my pre-birthday walk such an enjoyable one. Sue W’s assistance meant we discovered a new path back to Youlegreave which was actually a better route than in the book.
All in all a fantastic day!
Thanks Jenny.
An unusual number of novelties on this one. I stayed in the YHA at Youlgreave on my LEJOG.
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