The Monsal Trail and three of its tunnels ...

The newly opened tunnels on the Monsal Trail were the main reason for heading up into the Peak District in May 2011. After parking at Monsal Head we walked down the lane towards Little Longstone Congregational Chapel ...

 

 

  and the village itself ...

 

Just beyond the Packhorse we took the path across the fields towards the Monsal Trail ...



 The signs on the Trail had been upgraded.



 We turned right along the Trail and headed towards the first tunnel ...



 ... passing under a bridge linking the fields on either side of the cutting ...



 The cutting was soon below ground level ...





 ... and we were walking into Headstone Tunnel ...



 After a few hundred yards we came out into the bright daylight below the Monsal Head ...



 This is an area that has its admirers ...



 We followed the Trail north-westwards ...



 Away to our right there was an excellent view of Cressbrook Mill ...



 We entered Cressbrook Tunnel ...



 On leaving Cressbrook Tunnel we caught a glimpse of the River Wye below ...



  We entered our third tunnel of the day, Litton Tunnel ...



 Before many minutes had passed we came out into the daylight above Litton Mill ...



 We left the Trail and descended the path towards Litton Mill ...



 The butterbur was looking very healthy ...



 I noticed a floating apostrophe on a blue sign that perhaps I ought to bring to the attention of the Apostrophe Protection Society ...




 Beyond Litton Mill we followed the path beside the River Wye ...

 We were soon back on the Monsal Trail, passing over the River Wye a long way below ...



 We followed the path rising from the Trail to Monsal Head itself ...



 As the path rose out of the valley there's a good view of the viaduct below ...



 The whole area was a very healthy green ...



 For the last few yards of the walk the footpath passed through sweet cicely on both sides of the right of way ...



This walk was followed on the 15th May 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 5.95 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 185.95 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 15th May 2011 ~ 707.69 miles

  41 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging just over 4.5 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

One morning in the month of May ...

There's a good-sized car park in Tideswell Dale and it has toilets ! That can sometimes be a great relief.

Take the path south from the car park ...

 

Further down the dale, there's one of the Peak Park 'poetry benches' that I am tracking down ... in a lazy, uncoordinated way ...

 

There's also a giant wooden water vole !

 

Tideswell Dale is one of the Derbyshire Dales lovely limestone dales ...

 

I reached Litton Mill where the old mill has been renovated and restored ... and is now luxury apartments. The property at the easternmost end is the Old Gas House. As I stood there about to take a photograph a woman appeared from in the house and pretended to do something down the side of the property. All the time though she was staring at me and giving me rather suspicious looks. I approached her and told her not to worry I wasn't taking a photo with a view to doing anything else ... so was it alright if I took a photo ?

She agreed ...



 I continued down the valley with the River Wye on my right and sunshine shining through the Spring leaves ...



 It was shortly after this that a man walking up the dale told me to look out for a mole on the path ~ "it looks dead to me". This sounds interesting I thought. Once I got there though the mole 'came to life' ...



  This short video actually appeared on BBC TV's Springwatch programme BUT THEY FORGOT TO MENTION MY NAME ! Not that I let it bother me ...

This stretch of the River Wye in Millers's Dale is probably one of my favourite stretches of rinverside walking ... anywhere ...



 I think it's delightfiul ...



 Further along the path I could see men working on the old railway line above ... what were they doing ? Well it subsequently transpired that they were laying a new surface and preparing to open up all the tunnels on the Monsal Trail ...



 Quite where Millers Dale becomes Water-cum-Jolly I'm not sure but I think it's generally accepted that this part of the dale is Water-cum-Jolly ...






  Like Litton Mill Cressbrook Mill was in danger of falling into disrepair until a few years ago but now it has been converted into luxury apartments ... with a few holiday flats thrown in.



   I'd now reached the point where I had to start the return section of the walk ... 

[to be continued ...]