Five Dales in Derbyshire
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rolling derbyshire farmland
A recent trip to visit friends in the village I used to live in in Derbyshire saw five of us walking five dales in the White Peak area of the Peak District. The White Peak is a limestone plateau with limestone dales and is a gently rolling landscape compared to the more rugged, moorland and upland of the Dark Peak, slightly further north.
dry stone walling at its best in litton
Starting at the village of Litton, we crossed farmers fields with their maze of dry stone walls to enter pretty Tansley Dale and picked our way down to a stile which heralds the start of Cressbrook Dale at the bottom of the valley. We then took a gently sloping path up the flank of the hill which, at the top, has lovely views across the limestone landscape.
tansley dale
the bottom of TaNSleY dale and the start of cressbrook dale
cressbrook dale
the limestone scenery of cressbrook dale
A short descent back down into the dale and a gentle, wooded walk next to a babbling stream brought us out past Cressbrook Millpond and into the wonderfully named Water cum Jolly Dale with its rocky limestone cliffs and crags popular with climbers, running alongside the River Wye.
This flat, pleasant path opens into pretty, wooded Millar's Dale dominated by Raven Tor, a huge overhanging limestone cliff, also a mecca for climbers. At the end of Miller's Dale, part of the Wye Valley's Site of Special Scientific Interest for its geology, grassland and woodland, we stopped for a drink enjoying the sun, as most of the last mile or two had been in cool and shady woodland.
cressbrook millpond, water cum jolly dale
Then it was on into Tideswell Dale, where the quiet road leads to Tideswell village with its 'Cathedral of the Peak'; the huge Church of St John the Baptist. A lovely Sunday lunch was enjoyed at the Horse and Jockey in the high street, then a simple stroll up and out of the village and over the fields back to Litton completed the loop. A fabulous walk with good friends.
beautiful scenery from tideswell to litton