Dovedale to Youlgrave

12 September 2010 - Dovedale to Youlgrave

Distance - 17.4 miles

Weather - Overcast

We stayed at - The Farmyard Inn, Main Street, Youlgrave, Bakewell, Derbyshire, DE45 1UW Cost - £60.00

On our way to breakfast we were glad we had been placed in a room away from the main part of the hotel, as the hallways leading to the dining room bore evidence of post-party activity - squinty pictures, strewn flowers, empty and half empty glasses. Although we were sectioned off from the wedding party, we could see it had been a good night, as most people weren't eating much, but one guy was downing glass after glass of water and fruit juice! I was glad they'd had such a good time!

A decided plus point about this hotel, was that we only needed to cross a stile at the back of the garden to find ourselves straight on the Alternative Pennine Way, which we had decided to follow all the way (eventually) up to Melrose. I had managed to buy a copy of the out of print guide online - in fact my copy is a first edition, signed by one of the co-authors Denis Brook! We had decided to use this route, as the authors had deliberately sought out places of interest and had arranged stages around accommodation and provisions. Reading the preface of their guide had persuaded me they were my kind of walkers. The APW starts in Ashbourne, but we joined it at Dove Dale by the stepping stones. 

Dove Dale is a classic limestone valley and can be full of people, up to five thousand on a Bank Holiday, so we left a bit earlier than normal to catch it before all the Sunday morning day trippers arrived. The official start of Dove Dale is at the stepping stones, which are a bit of a cheat as they have been levelled and concreted into place. Looking back, we could see the first walkers starting to ascend Thorpe Cloud - we didn't climb this hill as it's already very eroded by the vast numbers of people who visit. The Dale itself is stunning, full of limestone cliffs and pinnacles, each with their own name, such as Lover's Leap, Reynard's Cave, Dove Holes and Tissington Spires to name but a few.

In Mill Dale, past the village of Milldale, there were fewer day trippers and some real walkers. There were stepping stones here too, which hadn't been sanitised by the Health & Safety Brigade. Alistair had a test of them and most surprisingly, he managed not to fall in! Just after the stepping stones we turned right to follow Biggin Dale, as opposed to continuing up the wonderfully named Wolfscote Dale. At the village of Biggin we stopped at the Waterloo Inn and had a proper pub Sunday lunch - really cheap and hugely filling. 

Just after Biggin, the APW crossed over the trackbed of the former Cromford & High Peak Railway, which is now the High Peak Trail. There was a most spectacular viaduct here, with a built in arch so that the farmer and his livestock could still access his fields. Nowadays a structure like that would just be an ugly concrete slab. After walking along the A5012 for a bit, we found ourselves in Gratton Dale, another deep wooded limestone valley. There were some teenagers dawdling along here, three abreast, in the opposite direction to us, who soon learned it's not polite to not take up all of the footpath!

I must admit I was getting a bit tired myself at this stage and our final dale of the day, Bradford Dale seemed to go on forever - even though it had the pretty River Bradford running through it. The final mile was also a stiff uphill into Youlgrave. Our accommodation at the Farmyard Inn was basic, yet clean and functional, in a separate annexe to the pub itself.  We also enjoyed a decent meal in their bar. In the centre of Youlgrave is what looks like a monument, but this is actually the original water supply to the village, piped to here in 1829.