The seven Castle members [and one dog] were in good spirits as we set off from Elton at 10am, despite the dank weather and an extremely irate local who wasn’t impressed with how we’d parked – ”You are not welcome here!” – so the unanimous decision was to just ignore him and quickly leave. Heading southwest in mist over the large fields of Elton Common with no paths visible, Sean kept us safely on track with his compass bearing, until we reached the road, and could soon turn off to join Long Dale with greatly improved views. Then a welcome coffee break under the larches of Little Bolderstone Plantation, before leaving the dale and heading vaguely towards Middleton. The option of a short diversion to explore the tumulus at Kenslow Knoll was rejected, as there now was some concern about the actual length of today’s walk [the meet leader’s piece of string representing 8 miles might have been doubled up in the planning stage]. Luckily route-finding and passing the very grand grounds of Mount Pleasant Farm, with great views down towards Youlgreave, provided some distraction from the vague possibility of finishing in the dark. Floyd, the dog, also provided entertainment chasing thrown sticks and expecting to be helped each time over all of the numerous stiles. Eventually reaching Youlgreave we turned sharply right to start heading directly back towards Elton, through more fields filled with cows [which Floyd didn’t like] and some steepish hills. Thank you Chris, Pete, Sean, Mary [and Floyd, Leon and Josie for your excellent company. There were no deviations that day on this, as usual, non-recce’d route, and no need for head torches as the 2 GPS’s said we’d completed either 9.4 or 9.9 miles in 5 and ¼ hours.
Vanda Boyd
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