UK cheechako

Yankee Tried To Kill Me!!!!

OK. Maybe that was a little dramatic. He may not have been trying to kill me, but he sure seemed to be out for pain! I'll let you decide for yourself.

Last month Yankee and I drove up to the Peak District to check out some quaint small towns/villages and do a little walking/hiking. Well, as it turns out the area where we wanted to hike really required proper hiking boots and I did not have any. We still had a good time exploring an old bookstore, where we found some great old books. We still wanted to do some hiking in the area so I bought some boots and we headed back up there the following weekend.

My first mistake was letting Yankee select the walk. He picked a 7 mile Baslow and Curbar Edges walk out of the Peak District Walks book. Here's the word-by-word description of the walk from the book:

A magnificent gritstone escarpment stretches along the eastern rim of the Derwent Valley from Birchen Edge northwards to Derwent Edge, providing both exhilarating walking and glorious views. This ramble traverses Baslow Edge and Curbar Edge, two of the finest sections of this long cliff, before plunging through thick woods to the banks of the Derwent and returning along the riverbank and across fields to Baslow.

Sounds pretty tame right? Well, maybe except for the "plunging through thick woods" part. Not to worry, we didn't do any "plunging through thick woods." Even though we had directions we missed the "not-so-obvious rocky path that doubled back steeply into the woods below." Not-so-obvious was an understatement to say the least. Anyway, we did wander through the woods, which were beautiful, but ended up at least a mile off course. Never fear though, we had our ordinance map with us and were able to get back on track. Of course that entailed walking along a two-lane road without a shoulder for quite a while. Oh, did I mention that it was a winding road with blind curves? Every time we heard a car coming we stepped off into the brush. My heart nearly stopped when a Ferrari zoomed past us - twice. Now that was exhilarating!

Unfortunately after this little detour we still had several miles to go. This 3 1/2 hour walk was looking more like 5 hours. And I'm not talking 5 hours of leisurely walking at an even grade either. We had to keep up a respectable pace, trudging through wooded areas, mucky fields, farms, etc. Yes, there are public footpaths that run through otherwise private properties. Very cool. We walked straight through the cow & horse barns on one farm and one of the workers just waived and said 'Hi'. Back home we might be run off with a shotgun if we walked through someone's property.

With about 1.5 miles to go, the directions said to follow Curbar Lane steeply uphill for 1/4 mile. This is where I really thought I might not make it. They weren't joking about the steep part, but the 1/4 mile was more like 1/2 mile. That is something I've noticed over here - oftentimes the distance stated in directions is grossly underestimated. Usually we're in the car and I could care less, but this time I was livid. I thought I might die right there on Curbar Lane. Thankfully I made it and the terrain wasn't too bad the rest of the way. However, it soon started drizzling and by the time we got to the car it was full on raining! Surprisingly, I wasn't too upset about the rain. I guess I was just so darn glad that we were finished walking that I didn't care.

Before we headed home we stopped by the Chatsworth Farm Shop where I rewarded my hard work with a snack. We also picked up some other goodies, including local herbed bison sausages. As the English would say they were 'gorgeous'. Very tasty. I sure am going to miss all of the local farm shops after we move back.

Here's Yankee as we start off down the public footpath.

This is me after maybe a mile or two. I hadn't begun to suspect Yankee's master plan at this point.

This isn't the best photo, but the stone cross is The Wellington Monument on Baslow edge, standing high above the village of Baslow. It is dedicated to the Duke of Wellington and a celebration of his victory at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. It was erected by a local, Dr Wrench, who as an army man, felt the need to counterbalance the memorial dedicated to Admiral Nelson on nearby Birchen Edge.

It's difficult to tell from the below picture, but the Eagle Stone is massive in size. Situated high above the village of Baslow on Baslow Edge, is this interesting rock. In years gone by, the young men of Baslow used it to show off their prowess and fitness for marriage by climbing to the top. Now it is just one of the many interesting rock formations to be found in the Peak District National Park. When Googling Eagle Stone I found this picture from the New York Times. Interesting.

That's Yankee standing on the cliff along Curbar Edge. I wish I could have gotten this shot without the other guys in it, but it was a fairly busy day out there.

Don't laugh - it was actually a little scary even where I was standing. But I couldn't look like a big baby, so I ventured further out. Of course I can't seem to get the picture posted here. I'll put it in a separate post.

posted by Yankee Girl @ 12:49 PM