David and Jacinta's Walks- 2023

 The Southern Gritstone Edges After a rather wet week, the weather forecast for Sunday was excellent, so we headed out early to Baslow. After a coffee at the pretty Café on the Green, we walked up the road and track, towards Wellington’s Monument. We have already seen its delights, so we struck out along Baslow Edge, towards Curbar. On a sunny Sunday, the place was crowded, with masses of dog walkers. As we approached Curbar Gap we came across the Curbar Highland Cattle. They're very used to humans and a lot of people were mingling with them but, in the past, there've been some nasty incidents with them so we passed by as quickly as we could. Curbar Cows We then walked onto Froggatt Edge which is always great; the views are brilliant and the sense of space is superb. We had a break and a snack above the edge. A break above Froggatt Edge Eventually, the walk comes down from Froggatt and across to the Grouse Inn (which we had visited on a previous walk back in April ). It takes ...

 Around Chatsworth A lovely, sunny day and really warm for the beginning of October. Described in the guidebook as a walk though an "incredible mix of man-made and natural landscape"- this was a walk that we had wanted to do for quite a while. Leaving Calton Lees in the Chatsworth Park, the first section of the walk goes up the hillside and across to a wooded knoll, passing many estate houses on the way. Then, all the height is lost as the walk descends to Edenor- a sort of model village almost, owned by the Devonshires. It was noteworthy because of the size of its church and the delicious cake that we were able to buy from a stall outside a house- it was the best ginger and apricot parkin that we'd ever had. Edensor church with hunting tower just visible in distance (no picture of parkin available...) The next section took us through the grounds of Chatsworth itself- always an imposing sight and we worked our way past the farmyard towards the woods. Obligatory picture of...

Chatsworth Park and Beeley Today called for a flat, familiar walk, with a nice coffee shop at the start. So we drove to Baslow, visited The Café on the Green and then walked from Chatsworth to Beeley and back. As ever, the first section is lovely. We spotted a heron: And there are great views of the great house: The bridge at Beeley Lodge Sheep and (in the far distance) deer were in abundance. Derbyshire's cleanest sheep, with the Black Sheep of the Family in the distance The village of Beeley is very pretty- clearly full of estate houses from Chatsworth- we were taken with Pig Lane and the evidence of pigsties. We sat in the churchyard and ate lunch and then meandered back to the start. 6.7 miles with 50m ascent.