Dovedale

I'm still taking things slowly but I thought, just to ease me gently back into blogging regularly, that I would share today's walk with you.

It seemed ages since we'd visited Dovedale so this morning off we went to walk there.

We walked from the car park and over the bridge to the opposite side of the river - the paths seemed better and more even underfoot since our last walk here.

Today the sun was shining - a welcome relief from all the grey, damp and rainy weather we've been experiencing of late. After a few days spent around home it was lovely to get out and about again!

The famous stepping-stones - these too seemed different to those we saw on our last visit.

Through the gate - well squeeze stile - and on to the path to Milldale - we'd decided not to walk all the way to Milldale this time so here is a link to the post I wrote about the village a while ago.

The path climbs up and away from the river bank for a while.

Up the stone steps to the rocky outcrop at the top and down the steps at the other side.

After a while we turned and retraced our steps back along the riverside; this time looking towards Thorpe Cloud. If you enlarge the photos you can see people walking along the ridge up towards the summit.

I love the view of this hill from the village of Ilam - it is one of my favourite views - here is a link to a post I wrote about Ilam a while ago now.

We crossed the river at the stepping stones and walked back along the path on the opposite side. After coffee and homemade biscuits back at the car we set out on our second walk which took us around the base of Thorpe Cloud.

We walked across the bridge again and up through the sheep on the hillside. The views were stunning.

The building you can see in the foreground is the Izaac Walton Hotel; behind it is Ilam Hall, now a youth hostel.

The summit of Thorpe Cloud; perhaps one day we will get up there but for today we were skirting around it.

Following the well-trodden way down to the path in the valley

which took us back to the path towards Milldale by the stepping stones which we crossed for the second time on our way back to the car park.

Here are a few more scenes from our morning's walk