We met at Narlows Lane carpark, me, Fi and her husband Rich, then set off on an eight mile circular. 

Pretty soon we went into a field and found a dead crow (I think) on the fence next to the stile... what on earth..... I can't imagine it got tangled in the barbed wire, crows are smart, so what happened?

I took the larger photo because it just says Derbyshire Dales to me, with the steep slopes and intersecting angles, and it marked the beginning of a long descent to the River Dove. There were soooo many nettles either side of the path, I don't think I've ever seen so many and for such a distance! It wasn't an easy path to walk, full of limestone chunks, and by the end we'd had enough.

We ate lunch and then had a short walk along the river to Ilam Rock where our next trial began with a very steep ascent up a mud path to the top, where the photo of Fi and myself was taken. I was dripping with sweat and exhausted, Fi, the younger, not so much! 

I'd warned them how steep it was, having come down it with Rhian earlier in the year and not really being keen to do it again in either direction, but the decision was made and we went up. Luckily walking boots are good in dryish mud, you've just got to be confident... but it was relentless and exhausting.

The remainder of the walk was a bit of a trial for me, but it was done, including a field full of cows and bullocks who, thankfully, ignored us.

Dinner tonight was the easiest possible, a lentil, mushroom and chestnut ragout from the freezer, (which I will definitely make again), and potato and carrot chips in the airfryer :-)

8.79 miles
1,556 ft elevation gain