Peak forest...Peak district boundary walk.

22/04/2018

Time for another walk, we chose to knock a few more miles off the Peak district boundary walk today. We found a quiet spot in Peak forest to park the car and set off .Quite warm, wish I had put my shorts on. It's been 3 weeks now since we set foot on the Pdbw, where does the time go, 3 weeks but it only seems like yesterday. We rounded the corner onto the main road and were greeted by a shocking scene, some numbskull has ripped all the Daffodils up, why would somebody do this?

We crossed many fields today through lovely Limestone White peak scenery, many fields mean many stiles...Squeezer stiles..Stone step stiles and Ladder stiles. we slowly made our way over them with no trouble. Alfie [our dog] on the other hand found them a real struggle and we had to lift him over many of them. He's nearly 11 now so jumping too high is beginning to become a hard task..years ago he would have leapt over these walls without hardly touching them.
Quite warm today with hazy sunshine but before we knew it the sky became grey and sullen..i do hope it doesn't rain. The good thing about the PDBW is that it will take us to many places that we have never walked before, this is certainly true for todays walk as the whole route was on new footpaths to us. I like to visit new places but I find that I spend half the time looking at the map, checking that we are going the right way.Stopping to take time to look around from time to time..i enjoyed the view of Eldon hill and a distant Mam tor from here.

The fields were filled with sheep and lambs. Some right little characters. Mainly Texal sheep a big thickset sheep that I always think are ugly critters. I think they are originally from The Netherlands.At Bolt edge we saw a change in the landscape as we left the White peak, we had entered the dark peak. From Limestone to Gritstone.Ahead lies a more barren landscape, wild moorland, higher hills, a mouth watering prospect...A long decent now towards Chapel en le frith although thankfully the route does not enter the town. It was raining now so the waterproofs came out of the rucksack [why are they always at the bottom?]...We passed through the pleasant little hamlet of Blackbrook.

In the next mile or so we passed over a couple of roads, we were on the lookout for somewhere to park up next time. A place called Slackhall looked our only option. So with a parking space sorted we now needed to retrace our steps back to Peak forest. The weather was clearing from the west beyond Eccles pike.

We had a spot of lunch beside a stream near Blackbrook...Sausage[vegetarian] sandwiches, Marmite crisps,fruitcake washed down with Green tea..boy that chunk of fruitcake tasted good...walking back was good, the map went into the rucksack, time to relax, take it easy.Back on the path to Bolt edge we looked back to the country we would be walking on our next visit. Ahead lies South head, one of my favourite hills then it was downhill to Hayfield, but that will be next time. no hurry. I think we have done about 16 miles of the route so far, so that leaves about 174 miles...I'm enjoying the walk too much to hurry it.

Back to Bolt edge we had to drop down through an area of Gorse bushes, I remember thinking how glad I hadn't put my shorts on. A sharp down then a stiff pull up and we were passing through Middle Barmoor farm. 2 dogs ran out to greet us, barking wildly "oh no here we go" I thought but they turned out to be the most friendly dogs I have ever met. The farmer came out, a Sgt Bilko lookalike. Don't worry about them he said they will lick you to death. He sat on the ground talking to Alfie [who just ignored him]. He said they didn't get many walkers passing through here, we had a chat and all the while he sat on the ground, i remember thinking how strange it was to be talking to someone while they sat on the ground...Anyway his dogs licked our faces one more time and we were on our way. Friendly man, friendlier dogs..if every one was this laidback the world would be a much better place.

Nearly back now...we decided to follow the road back for half a mile or so to avoid some of those stiles..only 10.8 miles but my feet don't half ache...I'm thinking a soak then a few beers...perfect day.