Dam fine weather.

Oh the British summer, one minute glorious sunshine, next a torrential downpour. The forecast was for a warm, dry day, so with waterproofs packed we headed off to Ladybower Reservoir. Matt had planned a route, which he kept fairly quiet until we got there. I must say that I was expecting a fairly flat walk around the sides of the reservoirs.....wrong!! We parked up just prior to the visitors centre at the water side and proceeded to walk in the direction from where we had just come, then it was uphill and boy was it uphill, several short breaks and we were at the top near Hagg farm. Looking back in the direction of the reservoir we could see nothing but trees which was disappointing as I was expecting grand views over the waters. A few steps later and the view of Mam Tor, Back Tor, Kinder Scout and Hope came into view, which more than made up for the lack of reservoir panoramics.

Hope, Back Tor and Mam Tor from Open Hagg.

From Hagg Farm we started descending until we came to the Snake Pass (A57) which we crossed until we looped back across at Alport Bridge. From here we carried on towards Alport farm and it was here that we saw the climb in front of us up to Alport Castles. It was tough going and after a few minor deviations and 'bloody hell I'm dying' stops we made it to the top. The view back was excellent and well worth the struggle (in places) and this was the highest we'd climb today.

View from Birchin Hat

The weather so far had be warm with sunny intervals, so the views over the surrounding areas were impressive. For those of you that read our tales of walking on a regular basis (you poor twisted people), you may recall my recent yarn about blisters, no, well read the story below! To prepare for this walk, I'd bought some different liner socks, two pairs in fact, in the hope that these would resolve my little problem. I'd estimated that after about 10km of walking was when I was most susceptible to the little blighters showing themselves. To keep track of our progress, I use an app called Endomondo (other apps are available) which uses GPS to keep an eye on time/distance/height etc and every kilometre or mile you progress a strange female voice announces your distance, amongst other things. At 10km we joked that it was 'blister time'.....shouldn't really take the piss out of my blisters, because it must of upset them.

Howden Reservoir.

We walked across the grouse shooting moor and decided to wait until we reached Howden Reservoir before we had something to eat. My feet felt fine, no rubbing, chafing etc until we stopped, I took off my boots and socks to find blisters on both feet, same places as before. They didn't hurt, but they were there.....again. So it's looking like I'm going to have to tape my feet in future to prevent this happening. Bugger!!

After eating, we followed the path at the side of the road along first Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally Ladybower Reservoir. The weather had been excellent, the views stunning and apart from my dodgy feet it was an excellent day out.

Derwent Dam.

The more observant of you will notice that the stats in the picture below aren't quite right, not sure what happened with the usually reliable ENDOMONDOOOO (I like to say it like that, only because I'm strange), but it seemed to lose it's marbles, because as much as I'd like to claim an average walking speed of 17.75mph, it's just not true.

Chris