Graton Dale and the village of Elton.

Just 3 of us this week, brother Rob was off looking at reptiles for the day. We parked up beside an old telephone box in the hamlet of Dale End. The first part of the walk we had done before at a different time of the year. The walk up through Gratton Dale was really nice, lots of different birds singing and the sloping sides of the dale were covered with giant daisies. We passed the old lime kiln, they seem to be everywhere in Derbyshire. This is a dry dale but still spectacular.
We reached the top of the Dale and joined the road leading to Elton, this was very straight and could even have been an old roman road. There were great views along this road and we even got a glimpse of Mininglow. We passed some highland cattle with calves and then reached the ridge where there was an information display showing all the visible landmarks. From there it was down into Elton where we had our breakfast outside the Duke of York pub then onto the car.

Route through Gratton Dale

Booting up at Dale End

This is whats left of the old Lime Kiln

The sloping sides of the dale were covered with giant daisies

Ike getting himself a walking stick

Ike and Geoff

A curlew about 1/4 mile away

Ike & Geoff checking the map

Quite a few abandoned buildings

Ike & Geoff with a lovely potential holiday home behind them

Hamish the highland coo

Mother & baby

Panorama of the surrounding hills

This crack needs a bit of attention

The village of Elton

Breakfast at the Duke of York

This unusual pump  on the wall

Add caption

This lovely building was behind the pub

All Saints Church

Nice rural scene on the way back to the car

This was just over 4 1/2 miles through some lovely scenery. Lots of birds and animals to see and we saw only one other person in Gratton Dale. A cracking morning.

See you next week