In our mountaineering club, Burton Skyline MC, we have an organised monthly climb on a Sunday - this is as well as the many informally arranged outings - but we have members who don't climb, they walk. Fi has tasked herself with organising a monthly walk on a Saturday, and today was the day.

We met at Hulme End carpark, free to those of us with a PDNP permit, and enjoyed a very varied walk in the Derbyshire Dales area with plenty of up and down. There were a few cherry plum trees along the path, both red and yellow, we ate quite a few!

There was one frightening occurrence where the public footpath went through a field of cows and very young calves. Mick took his six year old dog through quietly on a short lead and there was no reaction, so Dave approached the footbridge into the field with his three year old dog hoping for a similar passage. His dog is much more lively than Mick's and one of the cows made a move. Dave let his dog off the lead, but Copper stuck with Dave... then they retreated from the bridge and walked further along away from the cows, to where we'd crossed the stream. The cow charged, bellowing, crossed the stream and threatened Dave and Caroline,  we tried calling Copper but he wasn't going to leave Dave! Eventually the cow retreated over the stream and Dave, Caroline and Copper were able to come up the hill and join the group. Scary!

There was a notice saying that cows with calves can be aggressive, but my understanding of the situation is that cows known to be aggressive shouldn't be kept in a field crossed by a public footpath... but no doubt there's small print and grey areas. No wonder I'm not keen on cows!

9.35 miles
1,148 ft elevation gain