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.