Bradford Dale and Lathkill Dale ...

I walked along beside the river from Alport passing Rheinstor Rock ...

The sun shone on a cool spring day ...



I reached the delightful packhorse bridge as I drew near to Youlgreave ...

Someone who had passed this way before had lost or mislaid a camera ...



After crossing the road in Bradford [part of Youlgreave] I continue upstream with the river now beside me on the left ...




  ... and crossed the old clapper bridge ...



The cottages and gardens of Bankside rise in an unplanned fashion above the river ...



I turned around further along the dale to take in the path behind me, there was no one around ...



The river can be very still ...



As I walked up the dale I wondered how many other dales have a manhole cover in the path ?



  Looking at these photographs I can almost feel the chill in the air ...

I swung right over the bridge towards the top of the dale ...

 

The path on the western side of the dale rises up to the car park in Yougreave ...



Once I had got to the top of the main road running down through Youlgreave I followed it to reach the old Co-operative store ... now a Youth Hostel ...

 

The Church of All Saints stands at a staggered crossroads in the village, rising high above the road ...



  Depending on where you look parts of this church date back to the 12th century ... or is it the 13th or 14th ?

Walking down Coalpit Lane towards the River Lathkill, a couple of nosey so and sos interrupted my reverie ...



Coalpit Bridge takes a bridleway across the river before climbing steeply up the side of the dale into the fields above ...



 A heavily used footpath took me back to Alport. There was a time, not so long ago, when this path was unfenced ...




This walk was followed on the 18th March 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 3.85 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 66.57 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 18th March 2011 ~ 594.62 miles
 
16 of 2011
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

Around Bradford Dale ...

Another short walk, this time from the layby at the side of the Youlgreave road, Alport.

This time we followed a path on the western side of the River Bradford towards Bradford village.

It's strange but, I think, the photgraph above cries out for a couple in Victorian dress walking away from the camera. Whether it's because the path looks like a lot of path used to look like in Victorian photos, namely surfaced and/or well walked, I don't know ...

Once we'd got down to the bridge at Bradford ...



... we crossed over to the other side of the river and took the less popular path on that side. I always try and take the path less travelled ...

We looked back to the bridge and the cottages there. Bradford is part of the village of Youlgreave. 



It was just after this that I took my first photo with my new HTC phone. I had rather hoped it would be able to take and send good quality photos ~ it doesn't. Ain't life crap in that respect sometimes ? 

Anyway, we walked on across the fields towards the south-western end of Bradford Dale ...



We stopped at one of Middleton's Sites of Meaning, by the clapper bridge over the river at the top end of Bradford Dale, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Then we carried on into the dale, descending some rather unusual steps for a country walk ...



Natasha was off ...



... crossing the small spring, which you can see just ahead of her in the photo above. The water was so clear ...



Bradford Dale was largely deserted. Once again we'd come out when most walkers were heading home ... 



Although it was springtime there was little sign of colour and new life ... until we came to a clump of marsh marigolds [or perhaps it was just a clump that I could get near enough to photograph] ...





After that we kept on down the dale, looking out for fish in the river and just enjoying the sounds of running water.

Unfortunately my camera at this point must have decided to only take dark photographs [obviously it was the camera's fault] and so I have no others left to include.

I tell a lie. After the walk we made our first visit of the year to the Devonshire Arms at Beeley. It may have taken itself out of our list of Favourite Pubs but it still rates high on our list of Pubs That We Love Sitting Outside Whilst Eating Crisps And Having A Pint Of Old Peculier.

Here's the proof ...



Aaah ....

Date of walk ~ 10th April 2010

Length of walk ~ 3 1/2 miles [I know ... pathetic]

Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 193 miles

14 of 2010