Bakewell circular walk

Had an amazing walk today, was very pleased that i did the navigating for the first time and didn't get us lost, might have to finally learn how to read a map! As we left the car park on moor lane (a very narrow very quiet road) we made our way over to the first field of the day, walking past a little ice cream vendor i was very tempted but was a bit early in the walk, but it looked really nice. Heading through the first field looking over a never ending view of fields i started to panic as the only thing i could see was fields of cows, I'm not good with cows, but as i saw the calf's my heart melted and felt more comfortable.

We soon approached Low Moor Wood and back onto fields all along we had amazing views above the dales.We then hit the steep lime stone steps down into Cale Dale (was glad it wasn't wet, would have been a bit tricky if it had been) we walked back up the steep and rocky path on the other side which took us below the limestone cliffs where again the views were amazing, under the cliffs you feel very small.

Limestone Cliffs

We then head on through some farms passing a cave that may have been used for cooling cheese (it now has a statue of the baby Jesus, Mary & Joseph inside) we then pass medieval piggeries, in this little area there is a barn with a freezer that has ice cream in and an honesty box, which is a very welcome little surprise on a hot day like today. we then enter The National trust fern dale area and head towards Monyash, where there is a lovely little cafe Sean had a chip muffin and coffee and i had a bowl of what seemed like a never ending chips and a tea, i was very pleased to see a public toilet there as well as about 10 Min's down the route. As we carry on with the walk we were back on the fields as we head for Lathkill Dale we start off this part of the walk on a wide grass path, then becoming a narrow rocky path with steep limestone cliffs, we passed a large cavern from which the river Lathkill flows after periods of heavy rain, the path gets wider from here and moor wooded, walking by the river for 3 miles was very peaceful and beautiful. we walked past an interesting building (part of anyway) called Bateman's house a lead mine,home to James Bateman, the agent for Lathkill Mines in the 1840s. Its most unusual feature is that it is built directly over a deep lead mineshaft. the building has been made safe and will not suffer further deterioration and visitors can safely explore it.

Bateman's House

At the end of the river we start to follow a steep track up towards Meadow Place Grange and carry on through the fields back towards the car park, unfortunately the ice cream vendor was no longer near the car park, but i know that next time i should either get one at the start or set off earlier :)