Lathkill Dale

Just 3 of us today, it was Ike's turn to drive and he wanted to go to Lathkill Dale. We've been a few times in the past but this time we parked up not far from Haddon Grove Farm and walked along the road to the village of Over Haddon. Its a steep road down to the old mill at the bottom where the river normally is but at the moment there's no water running and the river is overgrown. We walked along the track towards Mr. Batemans House and bridge. There was a bit of water in the river at this point probably from the recent rains. There was 2 places along the track where fences had been erected to safeguard what looks like old shafts. The entrance to the Mandale sough was also fenced in and overgrown. After we left Mr. Bateman's bridge heading for the site of Carters Mill we passed several groups of  Duke of Edinburgh Scouts complete with huge backpacks. The water course at Carters Mill looks to have changed slightly, I'm sure the water came down in stages rather than straight through like it is now. We started back up the hill towards the car and found a nice spot for our breakfast. On the way back Ike spotted some mushrooms in a field and gathered quite a lot. Back to the car and home.

Trip around Lathkill Dale

Remains of Carters Mill

This was the water flow in 2015

Spotted Minninglow on the way home

 We saw a couple of fields with dozens of pheasants obviously been bred for the coming season, the tree's are laden with berries and just a hint of autumn colours in the leaves.
See you next week