We were joined on this walk by Emily, Julie’s niece and Maisie, a delightful corgi-cross with a particularly wobbly bottom.
We parked near Ashford church and at 4.30pm began our walk, passing The Ashford Arms and noticing a lovely display
of wisteria hanging over the porch of a stone cottage, before crossing the A6020. We walked over a bridge which crossed the river Wye and saw more wisteria as we left the main road and moved into a grassy field where a young family were playing football.
With the river on our left we were delighted to see two pairs of Canada Geese with tiny goslings (geeslings, as one of our party described them). One pair had 5, the other had 4 chicks. On a narrow path now bordered by clusters of forget-me-nots, we spotted two swans near to a weir, everywhere being so tranquil, it was calming to be walking in the evening
air accompanied by the occasional bird song. The grassy banks were covered in buttercups and dandelion clocks and rising above the weir were many trees of different colours, one being a cedar tree, spreading its flat branches out to the sides.
We arrived on the outskirts of Bakewell, through a squeeze stile and onto a main road, past Aldi. There were many
displays of deep purple lilac growing in the gardens as we walked past Lumford Mill Offices and its tall chimney. Opposite Lumford Cottages was a beautiful riverside area with mowed grass leading down to the river. We stopped at number 2 Lumford House as we saw a mother duck with her 10 ducklings just inside the garden gate. The owners of the house were standing in their porch taking photos. A sign near the house said “Please keep your dog on a lead. Thank you from the ducklings”.
With the river on our right, we walked into a field known as Win Meadow and were attracted by the calls of a duck and
noticed she had one duckling with her on the water. The others were probably hidden in the banking. We arrived at
Bakewell Bridge and turned left to go up to the station. In a field in the near distance, Steve pointed out half a dozen
alpacas/llamas.
At the ‘Old Weigh Bridge’, a small, stone building with a yellow window, we made our way onto the Monsal Trail, bordered all the way along with more forget-me-nots, bluebells, honeysuckle and in one area a patch of garlic. A man passed us, dragging a small trailer with three big logs in it. Arriving at a bench, we sat to eat our snacks then continued down the trail feeling the weather had turned from calm and mild, to a strong, cold wind. After a long, long stroll, ( you can probably guess that I was getting tired), we eventually turned off onto a tarmacked road and passed Thornbridge Estate.
Steve pointed out an industrial building where Peak Ales are brewed. As we walked the path beside a field of cows with young calves, the mother cows noticed Maisie and all anxiously walked purposely toward their curious offspring who had started to walk to the gate near to us. We crossed the main road and up some stone steps, the cold wind dropped and we had wonderful views around us before we thankfully strode downhill towards Ashford, the church and the
cars. Incidentally, Maisie was still full of energy; five and a half miles wasn’t long enough for her.
Thank you to Steve for leading a walk which turned out to have a number of delightful moments of nature and wildlife.
Please join us for the next walk on Sunday 1st June when we will meet at the church gates at 4pm.
Evelyn Lowe