Bamford blast.

Today we decided to go up onto Bamford and Stanage edges. We had the company of Sue's son, John, who is getting into walking more and everyone who walks should see the view from Bamford edge!

We parked up in Bamford village, and set off up the VERY steep 'fidlers lane' (one 'd').

John was a bit taken aback by its steepness, but we plodded on up to the top.

Halfway up, this is the great view you get of Mam Tor.

It's very obvious which part of it collapsed and destroyed the road below.

You can read up about it here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mam_Tor

We reached the road at the top of the lane, crossed it and entered the 'kingdom of the bracken!' It's really deep and thick here, but lots of fun to walk through.

We reached Bamford edge, and marvelled at the purple landscape,

now that the heather was in bloom.

Today's forecast wasn't very good - 'light rain showers all day', but so far, so good.

The view of Ladybower and the viaduct was superb today.

I was so glad for John, as this is one of the best views of the reservoir.

You can clearly see the path up to the summit of Win Hill on the left.

Of course, I HAD to pose on the rocks........

If only I could send you the smell that was in the air up here.

The perfume of the heather was incredible.

Mum and son.

The sun caught the viaduct just at the right time, and I captured it.

We walked right along the edge, this is the view to our left as we made our minds up to

try and reach Stanage edge by crossing the peat moor between it and us.

BIG mistake, as boggy ground stopped us in our tracks, and after trying fruitlessly for ages to discover a route around the bog, we turned back.

There's the track we need to be on.

Here's the track we WERE on!

Come on you two, follow me (famous last words).

As we thrashed through this jungle of bracken, I harboured thoughts of adders.

I didn't share these thoughts though, and made sure I made PLENTY of

noise as I progressed (so the adders would know I was coming).

Tiny little fungi nestled among the damp bracken.

They are SO delicate looking.

That sky kept growling, but against all the odds, we stayed dry!

This was our lunch stop under Stanage edge.

Sue's camera was on the wrong setting, hence the weird colours.

A few climbers were testing their mettle on the gritstone today.

Usually, there are LOTS of old millstones to be seen on this path,

but at this time of year, most of them are hidden by the bracken.

Sue, coming down from Stanage.

A last look back as the sun played on the edges.

We made our way back to the car at Bamford, and were grateful for staying dry all day.

John enjoyed the walk, and we very much enjoyed having him along.

The walk was only seven miles, but it was still a good one.

Lazy Lathkill lumber!

Our last walk saw us decide on a local 'baby' walk, as we'd had a very busy time in the cafe, and our bodies were a bit rebellious. We decided on the lovely Lathkill dale, and walked from our door. The walk was just over ten miles.

The first thing I noticed as we left Bakewell was this plant.

If you ever see it on the ground, rub the yellow bud in your fingers and smell.

It produces a VERY strong, distinctive pineapple smell.

This set of stark branches reminded me of a wall sculpture at our home.

A look in the hedgerows saw that a lot of the plants had their seeds

ready to propagate a future generation.

But there were still LOTS of blooms to see.

Some very early berries.

We passed through the village of Over Haddon.

This is the old village pump

We hadn't had much rain lately, and the River Lathkill was nowhere

to be seen. This section was completely dry!

We didn't see much fungus either, again probably due to the

dry conditions, but I did spot this lovely patch on the dale floor.

The insects were working hard to gather much needed nectar

from the dwindling flower population.

Looking up the river Lathkill

Natural England www.naturalengland.org.uk had cleverly installed a bluetooth

device which you could download flowers, birdsong and pictures.

Sometimes (quite often) I question some of the spending that goes on,

but this time I think it's money WELL spent!

The sound you heard when this email opened was one of

my favourite birds, the Willow warbler.

This was a nice meadowsweet flower at the riverside

This sad little dribble was all that was in evidence where a waterfall should be.

At it's full glory, it can look like this;

A stalk of grass, seeded and ready to go.

We were now reaching the upper part of Lathkill dale. Ricklow dale and quarry was our

goal today. I had never walked up Ricklow - until today!

A nice scabia......

and 'Aarons rod' (so called because of its straightness)

The view down into the dale on the climb up to Ricklow quarry

After we reached, and climbed, the stone steps to Ricklow quarry (disused)

we were really rewarded by one of the finest patches of Rosebay Willowherb

we've ever seen! It was stunning to stand at the edge and look across it.

The air was alive with the buzz of bees grazing the flowers.

Last time I made a mistake with my butterflies - apparently, I can't tell the difference

between my small tort-arse-shell, and my elbow - so I'll leave this one to the experts!

We ALMOST didn't walk today, but as it had been a couple of weeks since we had, we decided to fly in the face of what was an AWFUL forecast. Although the sky looked bad, we didn't get anything more than a few spits ALL day, so we were very happy. It wasn't a great day for pictures, light wise, but there were still some nice subjects.

This dandelion head was superb. More yellow than I had ever seen.

We decided it MUST be a different version to the usual ones.

It has an almost dahlia or chrysanthemum look about it.

On our way back now, and we could see across the fields to Wardlow Hay Cop,

it's the pointy hill on the left of this skyline.

It brightened up towards the end of the walk, and we saw another impressive bed of Rosebay

by the road. Mixed in with it were the white flower heads of cow parsley.

A LOVELY contrast.

The maize is on full throttle now, and this footpath through it was a little difficult.

As afternoon shadows fell, we made our way back home.

Bakewell church spire welcomed us back home.

We live just above those red roofs on the right.

This lovely bloom was the last one before we ended the walk.