Above Stoney Middleton
Time taken – 1 hour
This walk was taken on a rainy Sunday afternoon in mid-December and was intended to be short and quick walk around Stoney Middleton and whilst not the longest walk I have taken opened my eyes to the beauty that the hills behind the Stoney “corridor” have to offer.
Humphrey and his little chum Ash set off from Trinkey Lane, by the allotments towards The Nook and Moon Inn, via a grassy path that runs securely by the road and ends at the Moon Inn car park.
We then walk halfway up High Street, passed the local Primary School, until we reached a lane that led off to the left and out onto the top of Coombsdale. Half way down the lane, before reaching the farm buildings at the bottom, we turned right through a small gate and a little further on through another where we reached open land.
Whilst little Ash can be trusted off the lead, Humphrey is a long way off form that level of trust. Ash at six months old has been well trained and well socialised, but Humph, my Rain Rescue boy, to the contrary it seems, at six years old, has little experience in good behaviour outdoors and will be lucky to get off the lead when he is twenty!!! He is a “bolter” and with so much land to “bolt” in, I am not risking it so am destined to be dragged across the Peak District for, what will feel like, an eternity!
The fields above Coombsdale provide a lovely view for miles in the general direction of Bakewell and Baslow. It was quite a surprise to me as even having admired the dale itself, whilst walking through, I had not envisaged it to extend so far. Also as you walked across the fields and nearing the drop to the Dale itself, you do get a spectacular view into it – quite a drop in parts!
On the day we walked it, the ground underfoot was very slippery so we walked further along the edge finding a more gentle descent so as not to end up in a crashing heap at the base – Humphrey did try to take the descent at speed but managed to restrain himself in the company of his small friend – ever the grown up – mature an sensible!
We returned to the Dale through a large gate and continued to the left back to the main road and football field in Stoney Middleton
Peak District winter weather is generally wet and quite often cold but dog walking in the Peak District, whatever the weather, is always a pleasure to me (and I would hope, Humphrey too) as it allows me to explore unfamiliar parts of familiar areas and continue to surprise myself.
As a shorter walk, this will be used again and again, I suspect, especially in the summer before or after allotmenteering as is just the right length to combine with a days digging!!!