Peak district boundary walk

Buxton to Wormhill.

25/03/2018.

The day dawned bright and sunny. What a great morning to start our new adventure, for today was the day we set out to walk the Peak district boundary walk. A 190 mile walk around the boundary of Britains first and arguably most beautiful national park. We shall be following the route in short day sections, probably taking us about a year [but then you never can tell...The Pennine way took us over 2 years to complete.] I'm really looking forward to visiting all the rarely visited nooks and crannies around the edges of the peak park. The walk begins in the elegant spa town of Buxton, I would have liked to have had a look around the town before we set off, but with a long day ahead we decided to get cracking. We parked by the Town hall and set off along High street, before long we were free from the town.

What a difference in the weather from last weekends snows, to the spring like conditions today, The sound of birdsong and the sun on our backs made for a cheerful mood...it was Dafodils to the right...Lambs to the left and wall to wall blue skies, seemed a bit strange to see blue skies again. I almost broke into a whistle..As we left Buxton behind we took a look back to admire the impressive Ashwood viaduct.

A nice steady few miles eased us in gently..i always find that it takes a mile or two to get into a walk.With good views and easy ground underfoot we were soon on autopilot.We passed through the hamlet of Staden and then on to the small village of Cowdale [ no cows and not much dale]. Before long we found ourselves on the rim of Deepdale. One of the many Limestone dales around these parts. Such a beautiful place, we didn't want to rush it so we sat in the sun, soaking up the scene, drinking coffee and eating Kit Kats..i do like a KitKat.After 20 minutes or so we took the path that zig zags down into the dale, crossing the stream at the bottom.

No chance of a fast passage along the valley as the path is so rocky, screes running down from the slopes. We slowed down and picked our way between the ankle twisting rocks.

Very quiet along here today, just as it should be. We passed Topley pike quarry to make it down to the River Wye one of Derbyshire finest rivers said to be popular with Anglers due to its large numbers of Grayling, Brown and Rainbow trout. We saw a few fluff chuckers trying their luck along the banks. At Blackwell mill cottages we crossed the river to follow the path into Cheedale. Must be great to live here in one of these cottages I have long admired Cheedale as the river and rock scenery is superb along here.

The path leaves Cheedale after a couple of hundred yards to follow a steep path [Pennine bridleway] up and out of the valley There are some tremendous views along here. The views are one of the main reasons I go walking. A walk amidst scenery this good makes you feel great. Steep ground doesn't matter, I fact I love that ache in the legs after a climb.

We had planned to walk as far as Peak forest and catch a bus back to Buxton, But this was a sunday and buses in the countryside are few and far between, so we would walk as far as Wormhill, have a bit of lunch,peruse the map and plan a route back to Buxton. Over a sarnie there seemed one obvious route back but the path went through an area of quarries, not fancying that we decided to simply retrace our steps. It was no hardship.The walk turned out to be 14 miles long which is the furthest we have walked for years. A year or so back I suffered with a bad foot at first we thought it to be Plantar fasciitis but an X.ray revealed it to be a bone fracture. Writing this a day after our walk with no pain in my foot, I think I can say it has well and truly healed....Back in Buxton we had to have a celebratory pint...so many pubs to choose from, we opted for the old Sun where I was happy to see my favourite pint on the pumps...That Sneck lifter was like a gift from the gods.

I'm looking forward to next weekend now, getting back to chip a few more miles off. Nothing beats a good walk.