Finally got out of Norfolk for a glorious weekend away with @Notears.
We were actually headed up to County Durham for an early Christmas weekend with his family but we decided to stop for a night in the Peak District so we could get a good walk in before heading further north.
Having gone out for a romantic dinner in Bakewell, we stayed in a sweet little Air BnB just outside of Buxton, called the Coal Shed. Our hosts had spent their time during the pandemic restoring the dilapidated, overgrown coal shed at the bottom of their garden into a really smart, modern and very compact little guest house that was perfect for our cosy night in together. Apparently they had done all the stonework themselves! Very impressive. It was lovely waking up early the next morning to enjoy a very frosty sunrise over the hills.
We ended up at the Longshaw Estate - A National Trust property on the east side of the Peaks, not far from Sheffield. We parked the car on the roadside just up the hill on the ridge above the visitors car park so we could enjoy the views across the valley before heading down to Padley Gorge.
Then we made our way down into the valley to find the start of the trail. There were quite a few people about, including hikers, dog walkers and even joggers but we managed to lose the crowd so we could feel like we were out in the wilderness. It was magical, trekking alongside the bubbling brook with the low winter sun gleaming through the oak and beech trees.
The gorge deepened as we went on, so that we were looking down at the water as it jumbled along its rocky bed. There were a few times I just had to scramble down the gorge to get closer to the water and then climb back up again.
I always love the meandering of rustic paths though the woods - I find them beautifully alluring.
The trail eventually brought us down into the gorge and to a sweet little wooden bridge across the water where there was a fallen tree into which coins had been inset. I am unsure as to why...perhaps, a wishing tree?
Eventually we came out of the woods and onto the top of a ridge, opening up more awesome vistas across the peaks, the fog hanging low in the valley.
We hiked back along the ridge above the treeline, following a path that lead us back around to the visitors centre. We stopped for tea and a cheese and onion pasty before heading back up to the car.
By the time we had reached the car it was gone 3pm, the light was fading and the fog was coming down. However, we had planned to visit Ladybower Reservoir and Derwent Dam on our way out of the Peaks and we decided to swing by as we were heading out of the peaks that way anyway. We had a lovely romantic stroll by moonlight to the bottom of the dam - which wasn't far from the carpark - and had fun taking photos with the night settings on our phone cameras. We were actually quite blown away by the quality of them, given that we could barely see for ourselves. The dam itself is a sight (and sound) to behold! It makes one feel very small standing at the foot of it.
Wanting to make the most of being there, we also had a very dark scramble through the woods up to the top of the dam where we could look down the length of it to the west tower and see the great body of water that is being restrained.
And then it was definitely time to go. We were both knackered and I still needed to get us to Durham - at least another 3hours of driving. So we worked our way back down to the car and hit the road. By this time, the fog was well settled in and we weren't going very far, very fast. I think i averaged about 15mph until we got out of the Peaks!
We went on to have a super lovely weekend with the family and we're both exhausted from our trip!
Have you ever been to the Peak District National Park in the UK? Which are your favourite spots to visit? I definitely want to spend more time exploring it in the future! Although maybe in the summer next time when we'll have longer warmer days and much less fog!
(All picture are taken by myself or @notears from whom I have permission to use them)
Dear @thealbytross,
Do you mind supporting the HiveBuzz proposal for 2022 so our team can continue its work next year?
You can do it on Peakd, ecency,
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/199
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Have done! thanks guys 😄 Happy new year! Lets hope its a good'n eh?! x
Thank you for your support @thealbytross, much appreciated!
We went to the Peak District for a long weekend some years ago. It was actually back in 2012 because I remember we went to a little village called Flash near Buxton, said to be the highest village in England (or UK?) and the Olympic torch went past it as well. It was June then, so definitely a great time to go, as we enjoyed it so much.
By the way, can you please pin your post on pinmapple, https://pinmapple.com/ as stated on the community page, otherwise we can't curate it, no matter how good it is 😀. In order to get your post on Pinmapple, just click on the 'get code' at the top of the map and follow the instructions or check out the FAQ to get your post on the map. Cheers
Oh, sorry! I'm new to this. I think that should be done now?
Nice, I haven't heard of Flash - that's a great name for a village. I'll have to check it out next time I visit! Thanks for the comment 🙏
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
Thanks @ecency! Really appreciate the support ☺️
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations @thealbytross! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 700 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1421.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
wow. looks like you had a good night on the curation circuit! even if no-ones here to say anything...hehe.
Some of those pictures are super magical - I especially love the second on of the padley gorge. Really lovely shot.
Also I was tickled by the notice at the dam! haha. thats pretty special. Id happily pay a fiver to commit a nuisance in the reservoir!