The Peak District 2022

A Few Days Walking

The last 3 days have whirred past at high speed and today is our final full day which, as normal, brings in some sadness at the thought of leaving tomorrow.  But before I let the doom and gloom settle, I had better let you know what we have been up to.

After a brilliant day of climbing Back Tor on Tuesday, Mel and opted for a more sedate Wednesday and walked to Bakewell.  Mel was beginning to suffer from serious shopping withdrawal, and it was only fair to let her visit a few charity shops.  She had done her homework and google proudly informed her that Bakewell was the largest town in this part of the Peak District – Mel’s heart soared and mine fell.

The walk across the fields was lovely and one thing I would say about this part of the world is the excellent and well-marked footpaths, and after a couple of hours, we arrived at Bakewell.  We had already decided to catch the bus home and as time was limited, I became the master of the watch as the buses were few and far between back to the site.

Very quickly, we established that ‘large’ in Peak District terms was very different from large in Surrey terms and it wasn’t going to take long to get round the shops.  There were quite a few charity shops where I took my position outside whilst Mel foraged but apart from those and some tourist tat shops, Mel’s ability to spend money was curbed.

To kill some time, we thought a nice lunch would be good and we began to source a suitable venue – an easy task one would assume.  But not so and we sat down, perused the menu, and actualy left two cafes as the choice offered was dire.  How difficult was it to offer more than a sandwich?

We ended up wandering into a hotel and felt a bit more optimistic.  The sign said ‘wait here to be seated’ but no-one came to seat us, so we went in search of someone.  It was one of those big places where there was a restaurant, bar, hotel and even its own café.  We asked a man there if we could eat and he said they didn’t serve food till 2pm.  It was 1.53pm!  He realised what he had said and told us to take a seat and wait.  The 7 long minutes we waited did give us time to ponder why they didn’t serve lunch at lunchtime and instead waited till 2pm. We didn’t manage to come up with a logical answer. 

We both enjoyed a lovely lunch – Mel had chicken supreme, and I had a fancy pants burger.  It was one of those which was so big, it had a wooden skewer holding it together and I began to wish I had asked for a ‘deconstructed’ one.  I didn’t finish it all.

We still had an hour before the bus, so we headed to a couple more shops and being Bakewell, we had no choice but to buy 2 tarts – one for Mel alone and one for my entire team at work to share.  Mel loves cake/tarts! We also decided to buy our dinner from there – a very healthy takeaway cream tea. I don’t think I will have lost any weight, despite the miles walked, as I have eaten a lot of scrummy food.

Locating the correct bus stop proved problematic as we needed stand A, and we could only find stands B, C, D and E – no A anywhere.  Time was ticking on, and I was beginning to get stressed.  Google maps sent us in the wrong direction, and I soon thanked Bakewell for being so small as we went round it twice hunting.  Finally, we admitted defeat and had to ask at the tourist information centre.  Fortunately, the staff there were well informed and quickly told us where we needed to be which was a long way from the other bus stops.  But why should we expect A to be with B, C, D and E?

We get on the tiny bus which already appeared to contain approximately 300 school children and set off.  The journey took 9 whole minutes, and the best thing of the day was, according to Monzo, being charged an enormous 10p for the journey for the both of us!

The following day, we woke up at around 8am, had a cup of tea and then went back to sleep until 10am – this is the life!  Once up, we had breakfast and headed out to the moors once again.  It is so barren but beautiful in its own way and we enjoyed trapsing across it – following another walk poached from the internet.  Nothing dramatic happened and we made it safely back to our darling Ethel.

On the final day of our holiday, we were contemplating having a quiet one and doing nothing, but Mel announced she would like walk around the Menal viaduct and tasked me with plotting one with my new best friend – plot-a-route.com. 

This was another lovely walk and although it was only 5 ½ miles, the hills were insane.  We started on the viaduct in the valley and then climbed up the sides of the gorge and I forced myself to remember to control my breathing.  Then we walked across the hills and down the other side, then along the river Wye before climbing back up to the viaduct.  Time for an ice cream!

We have been here for 8 days and walked on 7 of them.  Whilst the distances have not been like the daily lengths needed next year when we complete the Dales Way, the Yorkshire route doesn’t have the peaks that we have walked this week.  I am sure our leg muscles are rock hard.

It has been a fantastic break and as ever, we have contemplated hiding Ethel somewhere she can’t be seen so we can stay a while longer.  Unfortunately, we must head back to the real world and to work. The next holiday booked for 2 Ladies Travelling is at Christmas where we head to Suffolk.