This is the second post of 4 from my trip to the Peak District National Park. I was traveling with V& T and we had arrived in Sheffield by train from Brighton the day before. We'd gotten out that evening to dinner taking the Tissington Trail (see the post here).
In the morning after our full English breakfast and time feeding the baby lambs (!!) at our B&B (Bassettwood Farms) we headed out for a hike at Dovedale.
There is so much to say. If I had to describe it in one word that word would be "prehistoric". There was something ancient about this place.
We parked at the Dovedale Car Park and walked north along the river. Here's where we were:
Although it was sprinkling a bit while we were here that only added to the atmosphere. I had never seen such a lush green color. In photos it almost looks unreal.
We stopped at the info booth to buy this lovely illustrated map.
Such interesting and strange names of the park highlights, at least to an American ear.
There's Thorpe Cloud which of course isn't a cloud at all, but is a limestone hill (a reef knoll). And then there's Ravens Tor and Pickering Tor - "tor" meaning hill or rocky peak.
Throughout my trip I found myself looking up all kinds of unfamiliar land-related words like "dale" (we would call it a valley) and "moor" (open land, often infertile and overgrown with heath, "heath" being "a dwarf shrub with small leathery leaves and small pink or purple bell-shaped flowers, characteristic of heathland and moorland"). Don't you love it when definitions are circular!
Even the "Peak District" isn't called that in the sense of the word "peak" that most people would assume. According to the wikipedia entry, "the landscape generally lacks sharp peaks, being characterized mostly by rounded hills, plateaus, valleys, limestone gorges and gritstone escarpments". One theory about the name is that it comes from "the Pecsaetan or peaklanders, an Anglo-Saxon tribe who inhabited the central and northern parts of the area from the 6th century AD".
Anyway, back to exploring Dovedale . . .
The stepping stones were delightful. Full of fossils to pour over.
We decided not to climb Thorpe Cloud but headed along the riverside path. Along the way we noticed some odd trees with coins hammered into the trunks. We thought maybe it was some form of art project, but it turns out to be a custom in this area - done for luck. Curious how old the oldest coins are and who brings a hammer on a hike.
You can see some more great photos of these money trees on this Amusing Planet blog post.
There weren't too many flowers along the path, but we did see some common spotted orchid which were so delicate and beautiful.
As we walked, there were little shallow caves to explore.
And towards the end of our hike, the Dove Holes which were larger.
Here are some more photos from our time there:
After all that walking we were ready for our "cream tea" back at the B&B (which, again, doesn't have much to do with tea - it's a light afternoon meal where you drink tea or coffee with scones, clotted cream and jam).
This day, we also tried to find the rare, warty great crested newt at Fere Mere ("mere" is another word for "pond") in Monyash, but no such luck. I guess we should have hammered some coins into the trees at Dovedale.
What a lovely day. Next up, Mam Tor.
You can see more photos of my trip in the Peak District album.
In the morning after our full English breakfast and time feeding the baby lambs (!!) at our B&B (Bassettwood Farms) we headed out for a hike at Dovedale.
There is so much to say. If I had to describe it in one word that word would be "prehistoric". There was something ancient about this place.
We parked at the Dovedale Car Park and walked north along the river. Here's where we were:
Although it was sprinkling a bit while we were here that only added to the atmosphere. I had never seen such a lush green color. In photos it almost looks unreal.
We stopped at the info booth to buy this lovely illustrated map.
Such interesting and strange names of the park highlights, at least to an American ear.
There's Thorpe Cloud which of course isn't a cloud at all, but is a limestone hill (a reef knoll). And then there's Ravens Tor and Pickering Tor - "tor" meaning hill or rocky peak.
Throughout my trip I found myself looking up all kinds of unfamiliar land-related words like "dale" (we would call it a valley) and "moor" (open land, often infertile and overgrown with heath, "heath" being "a dwarf shrub with small leathery leaves and small pink or purple bell-shaped flowers, characteristic of heathland and moorland"). Don't you love it when definitions are circular!
Even the "Peak District" isn't called that in the sense of the word "peak" that most people would assume. According to the wikipedia entry, "the landscape generally lacks sharp peaks, being characterized mostly by rounded hills, plateaus, valleys, limestone gorges and gritstone escarpments". One theory about the name is that it comes from "the Pecsaetan or peaklanders, an Anglo-Saxon tribe who inhabited the central and northern parts of the area from the 6th century AD".
Anyway, back to exploring Dovedale . . .
The stepping stones were delightful. Full of fossils to pour over.
 |
| Dovedale Stepping Stones |
 |
| Dovedale Stepping Stones |
We decided not to climb Thorpe Cloud but headed along the riverside path. Along the way we noticed some odd trees with coins hammered into the trunks. We thought maybe it was some form of art project, but it turns out to be a custom in this area - done for luck. Curious how old the oldest coins are and who brings a hammer on a hike.
You can see some more great photos of these money trees on this Amusing Planet blog post.
There weren't too many flowers along the path, but we did see some common spotted orchid which were so delicate and beautiful.
 |
| Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) |
As we walked, there were little shallow caves to explore.
And towards the end of our hike, the Dove Holes which were larger.
Here are some more photos from our time there:
 |
| Ilam Rock |
 |
| Goosander (Common Merganser) mom and babies |
After all that walking we were ready for our "cream tea" back at the B&B (which, again, doesn't have much to do with tea - it's a light afternoon meal where you drink tea or coffee with scones, clotted cream and jam).
This day, we also tried to find the rare, warty great crested newt at Fere Mere ("mere" is another word for "pond") in Monyash, but no such luck. I guess we should have hammered some coins into the trees at Dovedale.
 |
| Photo of great crested newt by Flickr user Kentish Plumber (https://flic.kr/p/r91keH) |
What a lovely day. Next up, Mam Tor.
You can see more photos of my trip in the Peak District album.
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