Good Friday

Hello Lovelies,

I hope you are having a good Easter weekend. I've been at work this morning and I'm working all day tomorrow....but I was off on Good Friday. And golly it was a good Friday.

With the forecast promising a sunny, calm day I couldn't resit a trip to the Peak district. We love Dovedale, I've posted about it before HERE and HERE . And most recently HERE

A little further along the river Dove is a pretty village called Milldale. It's easily walk-able from where we usually park, but for various reasons we have never reached it. 

After seeing some gorgeous photos of Milldale on instagram last week....Sarah, I'm looking at you...I decided we must finally visit.

I dragged the family out of bed at 7am, not easy with teenagers and we were on the road just after 8am. It's over an hours journey from where we live but the roads were quiet and the views that greeted us when we arrived were adorable.........

In my hurry to get on the road I'd forgotten our O.S. map of the area. This was a worry, but thankfully there was an information board in the car park with suggested walks....here we go boys, 3 miles...easy ( don't mention the hills ;0)  )

So we set off in search of the bridge, passing pretty stone cottages.........

Oh look the old Temperance hotel from the info board....now a luxurious holiday let by the river...called appropriately   Duck Cottage........

I loved the mini Daffs in the window boxes.

Dovedale  belongs to the national trust and they have an information barn here........

Inside there are helpful maps for visitors......

And reminders of just how popular an area this is..........

But at 10am all was quiet. Youngest was busy on the bridge taking photos when I rejoined the family......

Isn't it wonderful. How I love the old stone bridge and the jumble of rooftops behind. You can just about make out an old red phone box too.........

This is the well walked path away from the bridge, looking back towards Milldale........

It was such a perfect morning to stroll by the river, as sunlight flooded in through the still bare branches of the trees........

We couldn't resist leaving the path and walking by the river, it's such a magical sight as the crystal clear water tumbles over rocks.........

and it's setting in the deep valley is stunning.....

The sunlight bounced back as it sped over mini waterfalls,  swirling  and bubbling delightfully before continuing it's journey.......

It's just the right size of river here, don't you think. Not a stream and not a big deep body of water. Just a playful little river.......

the sounds it made were so soothing as it bounced over the shallow rocks.......

Sheep on a steep bank make me smile. A friend at work told me that on a school trip to Derbyshire the teacher told her class that the sheep here have two legs longer than the other two, so they can stand up straight on the hillside. She believed that for years....bless her.......

We were making quiet slow progress as there was just so much to see ( and in the case of youngest and myself...photograph)

Oh look, three men sized people...hubby and our eldest two........

The dramatic rock formations above us were getting more and more striking as we progressed........

and the sight of Catkins made me smile.........

In this log by the stream pennies were pressed into the cracks......

I think most had been there a long time........

The light was perfect and I felt so lucky to be here as a family group to enjoy this special place together.........

Youngest made me smile by offering to take a "blog photo" for me. He was in full on Photographer mode. "Walk that way, keep walking, stop now" he instructed me :0).....

Honestly I'm happier behind the camera than in front of it these days. Snapping away, trying to capture the beauty of it all.......

Here we were suddenly in the shade and it felt chilly compared to our sunlit stroll......

The high cliff to our left contained lots of caves and peculiar holes........

we stood inside one and gazed at the beautifully framed view of the towering rocky hill opposite......

A little further along we were back in the sunlight and youngest was getting photography help from middle son.....

I do love to see brotherly co-operation.

They were trying to get a good shot of this sweet fellow........

I've never seen this beautiful bird, with it's flashes of yellow and it's bobbing tail before......

It's a grey wagtail and at this moment I wished my camera had a better zoom and could capture such fast movement clearly........

My third ( yes third!) canon IXUS is limping along with multiple problems at the moment. I toy with the idea of getting a "proper camera" , a DSLR, but I know I just love a little  " point and shoot" despite it's limitations.

It's always easily to hand and sometimes it captures lovely effects like this...

We had arrived at Ilam rock and I stood on the bridge for a while gazing at the weird and wonderful rock formations......

Youngest was still snapping away too. The light was simply perfect for photographers like us :0)......

Soon we were climbing steeply up, away from the river .........

Climbing stiles and passing mossy walls.........

Some of the moss was amazing...like miniature ferns........

More hill sheep.......

and still we climbed..........

The route said "turn right just before Stanshope", but how far that was we just did not know.......

Here we passed an interesting looking, but super steep path that looked like it would have amazing views from the top. Why did I not go and see? I wish I had now, but we had not had a drink yet and I was keen to reassure myself were on the right footpath before stopping..........

Why did I forget that map!

After a long climb out of dovedale we finally arrived at Stanshope ( well I supposed it was Stanshope)....

time to turn right and keep climbing........

Nearly at the top, phew.........

And yes, a reassuring sign........

aaahh, the perfect spot for coffee.......

and a home made snack........

Flapjack

They taste even better sat on the grass, leaning your back against a warm stone wall......

Feeling revived we set off on the last leg of our walk....it was all downhill now.........

Running races happened........

untill it got very steep and there were slippery rocks.........

Ahhhh, nearly back. Oh how I love being up amongst the rooftops. It's a feeling you just don't get were we live and it reminds me of my childhood........

The final part of our decent was between more mossy drystone walls......

and it led to pretty Daffodils........

Back in Milldale we could see it had got busy while we were away.......

 Well it was a sunny bank holiday in our most visited national park.

It's no wonder it's so popular. How I loved all the houses and the utterly charming touches like these pots of ferns......

not to mention the bridge.......

We joined the queue at Polly's cottage where they sell food through the stable doorway.........

It was lunchtime and the boys had earned a hot sausage roll.........

Soon it was time to leave. Bye bye lovely Milldale........

I got a postcard from Polly's too. I know I took loads of my own photos, but it's always nice to have a printed version to stick on my noticeboard as well.........

When we got back to the car park it was, unsurprisingly, packed. I was glad we got up early and  avoided the busiest travelling time.

It was a very good, Good Friday and I'm so happy I can record and share these special times here.
Jacquie x