Captain's Log

Ilam

It had been almost two years since I completed the Ethels, the last one being Musden Low (see Musden Low, The Last Ethel). My basecamp on that occasion had been the National Trust’s Ilam carpark (pronounced eye-lam) and I found myself back there again today. This time I wanted to explore the Dovedale valley. From my research, the trail along the valley looked quite interesting with plenty of attractions to see. It seemed to be popular though and so I decided to carry out my explorations midweek, rather than at the weekend. Even so, there were still quite a few cars at the carpark when I pulled in at 08:30. 

I field-hopped my way from the carpark to the Ilam village. It is a curious place with many of the houses built in the style of a Swiss chalet. This idea was kicked off by Jesse Watts-Russell, the landowner in the area, in the 19th century. He reckoned that the valley and the surrounding hills reminded him of the Swiss Alps and so had these chalet-like houses built. Oddly enough, despite there being no snow capped high peaks, I also get an alpine feel about the place. There is a war memorial at the centre of the village that looks like a cruise missile waiting to be launched. Nearby a man was hand-washing a large coach. Earlier on,  I’d driven past another site near the village where more coaches had been stored. Personally, if I was to start a business in the area, coach travel wouldn’t be on my list; it would be a nightmare driving those huge vehicles along the surrounding narrow roads. 

Stepping Stones

I left the village and headed off towards the Dovedale valley. After about a 100 metres I came to a junction in the path. It was possible to either field-hop my way to the Dovedale valley, or skirt around the edge of the fields and avoid the cows. I chose the latter. It was also slightly higher than the field alternative and so gave better views. Thorpe Cloud at the bottom of the valley, loomed larger as I walked on. It is a steep sided peak with a flat top, almost as if somebody has sliced the summit away. 

I soon found myself next to the River Dove at Thorpe Cloud’s base. There was an option to either cross a footbridge to the other side, or follow a road for a quarter of a mile and then cross the river by the famous stepping stones. I decided to use the footbridge on the way out and the stepping stones on the way back. It was a lovely sunny day and even at this early time there were people sitting next to the river. 

Ten minutes later, I arrived at the stepping stones and it was even busier there. The stepping stones had been out-of-bounds for quite a while, but it looked like they had been repaired now. There were quite a few stones, but they looked easy enough to cross. There had been a brawl here, almost a year ago, between two groups of people and the police had to be called. It is definitely a place to visit midweek. I took a picture of the stepping stones and then noticed that my photo included somebody’s underkegs that had been dumped in the water. I made a mental note to crop them out of the photo. There was a lovely grassy area just upstream, but at the edge of it somebody had left a huge spread of litter. It was hard to believe that people would spend time coming out here to enjoy nature and then destroy it by doing this. The National Trust volunteers must find it dispiriting to have to clean up after these idiots have visited. When I returned later in the day, the litter had been removed...ready for the next lot, no doubt.

Dovestone Valley Highs

I followed the well made valley trail with the River Dove on my left. It was a gorgeous valley with plenty of trees, but also occasional views up the sides of the valley. On my outward journey, I decided to follow the top edge of the east side of the valley as much as I could, and then follow the bottom of the valley on the way back. Near Lover’s Leap I branched off away from the main trail along the valley. Just before I started climbing a fellow who was walking with a group of walkers, came up to me and asked if I knew what the fossils were that you could occasionally see in the limestone along the route. I rubbed my chin in what hopefully represented a learned look. I said that I was very flattered that he considered me studious enough to know the answer to such a question, but I was afraid that I had absolutely no idea. He walked away disappointed. 

It was a steep climb to the top of the valley and I was sweating when I reached the top. The early morning coolness had disappeared and it felt like somebody had opened an oven door. It was a lovely view along the valley and I followed a good path along the top. I only met one other person on this path and so it seemed a good option if you want to escape the masses on the trail in the valley bottom. The path did undulate though and so progress did require some effort. Eventually, it started gradually descending back down to the valley bottom through some woodland. 

I re-joined the valley path at some spectacular caves at Dove Holes. These were massive and easy to climb up to and explore. I hadn’t joined the valley path for long, before I was branching off again on a path up to The Nabs and the valley top again. The path was obvious enough, but the nettles had overgrown onto the path and I’d only got shorts on. My legs and arms felt like they'd been rubbed with Deep Heat by the time that I’d escaped them. It was good to get to the top and the open views again though. I followed a path that bypassed the farm at Hanson Grange. It was all downhill from there towards the small village of Milldale, at the head of the Dovedale valley. I met some Duke Of Edinburghers climbing their way out of the village and dozens more taking it easy in the village itself. 

Dovestone Valley Lows

Milldale was a pretty little village and I procured an ice cream from a small shop. I sat in the shade inside a shelter to eat it and a fellow followed me in too with two large dogs. He was a Johnny Rotten look alike with a blond Mohican haircut along the centre of his head. I realised that the spiky hair prevented him putting on a sunhat and the shaved parts of his head were getting terribly sunburnt. I wondered which was redder: his head or my strawberry ice cream. I lined them up and found that his head was redder. 

It was a lovely walk back down the Dovedale valley. I guess most people just walk along the valley bottom to Milldale and then walk the same route back again. It was incredibly pretty and I welcomed the shade from the trees. There were some spectacular limestone spires along the route. Sometimes it felt like I was exploring some valley in New Guinea, rather than a dale in the White Peak. I somehow managed to miss Reynard’s Cave with its impressive portal entrance. I’d have to leave that for another day. 

The area around the stepping stones was packed out with families having a picnic. A fellow picked up an acoustic guitar and started singing a song very loudly. He wasn’t a very good singer. It suddenly clicked how a mass brawl might start in such a place. I just managed to get across the stepping stones before a large group of people arrived on the other side. I started walking along the road to the bottom of the valley. 

Ilam Hall

I field-hopped my way back to Ilam. There were plenty of cows in the fields, some with calves, but they were all more interested in grazing than chasing walkers. More of a problem were the clegs that were following me. As soon as I left the field of cows, the fly onslaught ceased.

From Ilam village, I followed a trail to Ilam Hall. It went by the wonderful Holy Cross Church. It made a tremendous foreground as I looked back towards Thorpe Cloud and the Dovedale valley. I was feeling a bit dehydrated and so I called in at the National Trust cafe at Ilam Hall and ordered a coffee and scone. It made a nice conclusion to the walk to sit at one of their patio tables and look back at the alpine view over Ilam to Thorpe Cloud. 

I loved this walk. It had the highs of the open views when walking along the valley top and the lows of the woodland trail along the valley bottom. There seemed to be always something to see and attract interest. Understandably, the route is very popular and so it is best visited midweek and maybe even out of season. I’ll definitely return and make sure I visit Reynard’s Cave.