Thorpe Village to Ilam

Just 3 of us this week, Rob was off to a reptile fair. We set off in Geoff's car at 06:00 as usual and parked up in the village of Thorpe about 40 minutes later. It was a beautiful warm morning with a slight breeze that made walking very comfortable. We went through the village past the church and down the old turnpike road and over Coldwall Bridge. The footpath turned right over the bridge and went through meadows, woods and alongside the river to Ilam. We crossed over the river again and found a bench facing the river where we had our breakfast. After breakfast we just explored the area around the fabulous grade ll listed Ilam Cross, chatted to a couple of guys on motorbikes and then carried on the footpath that took us past the Izzak Walton Hotel and down to the track at Dovedale. The path took us along the banks of the river Dove to the stepping stones and then up Lin Dale around Thorpe Cloud and back to the car in Thorpe.

Circular route from Thorpe to Ilam and back

Thorpe Cloud

Cracking owl weather vain

This must be part of the stables

Lovely cottages

St. Leonards Church

Old turnpike road

Mile post to Cheadle

River Dove upstream from Coldwall Bridge

River Dove downstream

Ike & Geoff

Ike

Geoff

Geoff

The gate to where?

Weir

Another strange gate to where?

Ilam Bridge at the river Manifold

A conspicuous landmark is the Grade II* listed Mary Watts-Russell Memorial Cross; Mary was the wife of Jesse Watts-Russell. Standing as a roundabout at the road junction where a lane branches off towards Blore, this is an ornate gothic-style obelisk of local limestone in the style of an Eleanor Cross. Standing on a three-step plinth, it has two tiers of statues surmounted by a spire with a cross at the top

Ilam Bridge

This is the Ilam Imp on the memorial

Ike messing about

Thorpe Cloud in the background

Geoff had a long chat to this chap 

River Dove in Dovedale

Geoff & Ike on the stepping stones over the river Dove

Taking the dog over the stepping stones

Lin Dale

Bee on a thistle

Thorpe Cloud if you look closely you can see people on the top

A couple of Bently's passing through Thorpe.

Thorpe Cloud through the trees

 This was a cracking walk, saw a fox and a Nuthatch on our travels along with some interesting people. We passed into Staffordshire for a spell then back into Derbyshire.
See you next week