Journal:
It turned out
to be a rollercoaster day. I woke at 3:30am to
hear light rain on the tent which gradually became
heavier. When I woke again soon after 6am it
had stopped and, despite a tiring day and late night
yesterday, I forced myself to get up and pack up
before it began raining again.
It was a very grey day,
with low cloud and misty patches, but still clear
enough to see the rolling hills, farms and stone
fences stretching out before me. I realised
last night, after reading the guidebook and briefly
getting online (poor reception) with my laptop, that
I was facing a number of problems for the day.
Firstly, I was running out of cash (should have
topped up in Uttoxeter) and my credit card is
virtually useless in shops over here because you
require your credit card PIN, which I do not have
(signatures not accepted). My debit card works
in ATMs, but not for purchases. According the
guidebook, I won't see an ATM until Hathersage, 40km
away, meaning I won't have enough money to pay for a
B&B until I get there. That, of course,
assumes that I can find a vacant B&B room given that
it is a long weekend and I'm in the heart of tourist
country. I tried the Youth Hostel in
Hathersage and it is fully-booked. Another
problem is that my wireless provider sent me a
message last night saying I only had one day left.
Of course, they won't let me renew online with an
Australian credit card, so I'll have to find an
agency where I can renew it with cash I don't have.
Finally, the guidebook tells me that after
Hathersage, I may not be able to buy any food for a
day or more anywhere along the route, or find
accommodation. Ideally, having camped out last
night and given the weather expected today, I would
find a B&B tonight and camp again tomorrow night,
carrying enough food to see me through a day or
more.
Despite all this stuff
going through my head, I knew I was in for a day
travelling through some special countryside and was
determined to enjoy it and work out a way to solve
the problems. I was walking by soon after 7am
across sodden pastureland and before long had an
amusing little incident where my path took me down a
fenced farm track leading to a farmyard at the same
time as all of the dairy cows were returning to the
fields in the opposite direction. The lead
cows began backing up and soon there was a major
traffic jam. I could see that they would all
spill back into the dairy with the farmer wondering
what the hell was going on! In the end, I
climbed over the fourstrand barbed wire fence into
the adjacent field and then reclimbed it when I got
the the farmyard. Problem solved. My
route then took me along a rail-trail before
descending through Gratton Dale and emerging on the
banks of the beautiful River Bradford in a picture
postcard scene of smooth water, a few ducks and
swans, tree-covered valley walls and a
well-maintained path along the edge. I followed it
downstream, meeting some early morning walkers until
I reached a bridge and ascended steeply to the
seemingly austere village of Youlgreave in steady
light rain. The old stone buildings, grey
skies, wet pavements and raingear-clad stoic English
holiday-makers made for a pretty miserable scene.
There wasn't many options for a cash-poor walker, so
I bought a fruitcake and half a dozen Snickers/Mars
Bars as supplies for tomorrow (in case I didn't get
another chance) and found a bakery where they
micro-waved a pastie for my breakfast. There
was nowhere dry to sit down so I ended up eating it
standing up on the footpath in front of a house
sheltering under an overhanging tree, pondering my
next move.
Another problem was that I
had not had a chance to mark up my maps with
highlighter for the day's route, which always helps
me orient myself. I set off again, in steady
rain, and travelled a few kilometres before again
looking at the map and realising that, without
adding distance, or missing anything significant, I
could detour via the small town of Bakewell and
solve some of my problems. This I did,
arriving soon after 11am, and found it to be a very
busy little tourist town, even in the rain. I
found an ATM, tried two outdoors shops to see if I
could buy a second pair of Thorlo inner socks
(unsuccessfully), and landed at a pub just before
noon where I ordered some lunch and tried by phone
to add time to my wireless plan (unsuccessfully...no
non-British credit cards). After lunch I found
a newsagent who would top-up my wireless plan for
cash and solved that problem.
I then climbed steeply out
of town to cross one of the limestone ridges then
descended to the beautiful village of Edensor and
the huge Chatsworth House set in magnificent
parklands at the base of a treed hill. Even in
the rain it was impressive and, from afar, I could
see lots of tourists walking the grounds. My
route travelled through the adjacent lush green
Chatsworth Park for some distance to reach the
village of Baslow, where I arrived at 3pm.
Unintentionally, I was now quite some distance ahead
of schedule and, knowing that accommodation would be
hard to find, decided to start looking. No
luck at the two hotels there.
The route then ascended
quite steeply to the moors at the top of Baslow
Edge. On the right was misty moorland and to
the left a steep drop-off down limestone cliffs to
the green valley below and hills beyond. It
was quite spectacular and a lot of people were out
enjoying it, despite the conditions, many of them on
mountain bikes and some running. I was a bit
envious because I was sure they would be going home
to hot showers and a comfy bed, while I was most
likely going to be camping in the rain again.
The route for the rest of the afternoon followed the
edge of several more "Edges", dipping down to
shallow valleys between. I passed two more
Inns, neither of which offered accommodation.
To get to Hathersage, I
would have to drop down to the valley and then climb
back up again tomorrow. Or I could just camp
up high, if I could find somewhere, and then give
Hathersage a miss and just continue on tomorrow.
But that probably meant three nights camping and
three days and nights wearing the same clothes.
I was already pretty rank. I began the long
descent into Hathersage about 5pm and, to cut a long
story short, tried three hotels, the youth hostel
and a B&B, without success. There was one more
hotel on the way out of town back up to the ridge,
so I bought some more supplies for tomorrow and
headed out of town. The pub had "No Vacancies"
in its window, so I resigned myself to camping but
went inside to get a quick dinner before climbing
the ridge. After ordering a drink and whilst
looking at the menu, I asked the barman whether it
was true they were booked out. He went away to
confirm and then returned to say they had one double
room left, due to a late cancellation, that would
normally be £75 but he would let me have it for £45.
I could not believe my luck, and the day ended on a
good note, although still quite a late night.
I'm now a full day ahead of where I need to be to
meet friend, Keith, in three days time, but that
will give me an easy couple of days after some long
ones, and let me have a sleep in tonight.
Almost certainly I will be camping tomorrow night,
but at least the rain is forecast to stop.