Thursday walk report – 5th September

Bright sunshine and a cool breeze provided a distinctly autumnal feel to the morning, as a party of six left Taddington and successfully negotiated our first obstacle of the day, the crossing of the busy A6 road. We followed the quaintly named Hollow 0′ the Moor Lane until we reached Long Lane, a track which led us to the bottom of Blackwell Dale. We crossed the dale and elected to take early refreshments before following the woodland path which descended to the Monsal Trail and then into Chee Dale. The normally clear waters of the River Wye were peat coloured, evidence of overnight rain at their moorland source, but all stepping stones were well above water level and we had a delightful walk along its bank, accompanied by grey wagtails, dippers and the occasional mallard.
Re-crossing the trail we found a suitable lunch spot in the sunshine, before following the Pennine Bridleway as it climbed steadily up to Pillwell Lane. The sun shone and views were extensive in all directions. The final stage of our walk took us through fields to Sough Top (438m). At this point we were aware of dark clouds gathering behind us, but the rain never arrived although we were treated to a superb double rainbow on our final descent into Taddington. An enjoyable 7.4 miles. Thank you Pete for devising the route.