Walking up that Hill

Hello Lovelies,

I'm aware my "52 weeks" posts have been missing for a couple of weeks now. I just don't seem to be good at capturing the small things with my camera at the moment. But there have been many happy moments.

Yarndale was a major happy for last week , and this week another dale has thrilled me.

Maybe it was a glimpse of the gorgeous hills around Skipton that finally gave me the push to visit a place I've meant to journey to for the last ten years!

Right back when my boys were in playgroup I heard a little boy talk about his visit to the stepping stones at Dovedale.

White Peak is the name now given to the area above Ashbourne in Derbyshire which is at the very bottom of the Peak District national park. Dovedale is within this beautiful area.

The river Dove was flowing quickly thought the trees in the valley bottom when we arrived..........

Once we were across the bridge in the photo above , I let youngest choose which path to follow, along the river or uphill. He likes climbing more than walking along the flat, so I wasn't surprised when he chose the hilly route away from the river ...

This is a rubbish picture of the hill we set out to climb. Thorpe cloud had already wowed us from the approach road . It's steep sides and pointed summit making it a stunning site after travelling through typically flat midlands countryside.

The view of sheep in green fields and low rolling hills as we began to climb upwards looked more like midsummer than October .....

The route was easy enough at this point, but in the warm sun it still made you hot and short of breath......

It was nice to find an excuse to stop and  admire the view. We could see a little Autumn colour , a red Virginia creeper on this building and just a few trees beginning to turn red or orange. We were interested by the stately home just visible behind the creeper covered building. A bit of internet searching and I'm pretty sure it's Ilam Hall....a youth hostel....what an amazing place to stay on a budget !

On such a gorgeous day  this stone barn , shelter for the sheep, was a reminder of how  exposed this site is....

Do take a look at this stunning aerial photo of Dovedale in the snow. Thorpe Cloud is the Pyramid like hill towards the top of the image.

As we got closer to the top the gradient got much steeper and Limestone outcrops were everywhere....

Suddenly we were looking down on the little barn and the sheep........

Time to concentrate on the climb, watching your footing and thinking of the reward of reaching the top....

And what a reward ! "Oh Wow" is all I could say when I turned around at the summit and was greeted by the stunning view........

The barn looks so little down below now and you can see for miles.

 We sat on the rocks for a while and  absorbed the wonderful views. It's pretty windy at the top and I found it a bit scary but exhilarating.......

After a while , when we were all feeling a bit more rested we carefully walked along the ridge....this is looking backwards towards were we sat..........

As you can see there are plenty of other people around, it's not a place to go for solitude.  But it's easy to see why it's so popular. It took us less than half an hour to get to the top so it's well within most peoples ability.

And I just loved the view into the valley on the other side, that was hidden till you reached the top........

It reminded me of the Yorkshire dales and the light was wonderful.

The shadows of the clouds drifting across the hillside.....



At the other end of the ridge I ( very, very carefully ) peered down on the river below. Yikes, are we really that high !

Now it was time to descend Thorpe cloud, I think this photo gives you an idea of how steep this side of the hill is..........

It was not much fun trying to negotiate the  super steep path with it's loose  stones. Half way down I really wished we had gone back down the way we came up..........

Still, the views of the river Dove were gorgeous.........

And thankfully we all got down without any accidents..........

There were so many people near the stepping stones that  I didn't take many photos...........

I think we were all glad to stroll along the side of this pretty river while our jelly legs recovered.......

It's a shame the sun had gone by now........

But the boys minds were already thinking of this place we spotted when we first arrived....

It's not made of stone at all, it's a mobile catering unit...clever huh.

And what did my boys have their hearts set on ?....ice cream of course.........

Toffee ripple , mint choc chip and raspberry ripple .......a well deserved treat which was already being hungrily devoured by the time I snapped this picture  :0)

I loved making the most of another glorious Autumn day and really hope it revisit this lovely area again before too long....there is so much more we didn't get to see on this visit.
Jacquie x