Lathkill Dale (Circular) – (Derbyshire) – 28/05/10 – 6 Miles – Helen (Luther & Molly)

Firstly this little walk is straight out of Country Walking Magazine’s Spring 2009 edition (for those of you who fancy trying it for yourselves). So as luck would have it we had a perfect and sunny spring day that wasn’t too hot, given what the weather had been a few days prior. Anyway having parked at Over Haddon, and enjoyed watching (?) some grotesque guy make a near full change of clothes in the car park (after his walk), we picked up the river Lathkill and made our way past a variety of weirs and caves before reaching our first landmark: Batemans House. This being part ruin and part disused mineshaft. So having taken turns to make our way down the steps, read the signs and turn the mineshaft lighting handle we were off again.

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Our next landmark was apparently Carters Mill (as it sounds). However even with the help of a pair of portly walkers (who probably said the same about me) we somehow missed the fact that it was actually a line of bricks in the riverbed. Helen by now was keen to try out her new camera, so a fair amount of time was spent faffing about on that, whilst throwing assorted dogs into the river (my photography as always, was of course sharp, concise and to the point). Thus when we finally reached the 2.25 mile point where the wooden bridge crosses the river, we seemed to have been going for an awfully long time. By this time however more photography and faffing about was in order, which I seemed to suspect was the reason why the two couples sitting there thinking they had a quiet spot, choose to move off.

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Our next task was to climb a very long flight of stone steps (as if the mineshaft wasn’t enough) before passing through a couple of fields in the direction of some farm buildings. From there we continued into Low Moor Wood before emerging into another large and clear field. There we encountered a group of young community walkers who made a fuss of Luther and Molly. Yet although we started to leave them behind, they soon caught us up again when Luther started panicking about the best way to get over a stile. However with their encouragement he finally did it.

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We then continued down a road before picking up a signpost on our left to head us back towards Over Haddon via a local farm. Unfortunately we had to pass through a field of cows who seem to be becoming a real nuisance presence in the countryside these days (or is just me?). Anyway we passed them without incident, went through a field, and then headed downwards via a twisty wooded path. There we encountered the river again, and some curious dogs peering out of a car window, before we embarked on the final short but steep road climb back to the car.

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Walks since last blog entry:

1 x 7 mile Osterley Park loops.