Out & About: Alport and Bradford Dale

Sunday 3 November 2019

Alport and Bradford Dale

Just 3 of us this week. Myself Geoff & Ike with Rob off to a medal fair. Ike was driving and we set off at 07:00 and ended up parking at Alport, first ones there. When we crossed the road to get to the footpath you could hear the water thundering under the road, this is where the river Lathkill joins the river Bradford. While standing watching the water from the Lathkill a kingfisher landed right in front of us but instantly took off again. We continued along the path with the mist getting stronger, it made for some lovely pics. We chose this walk because it was flat and a solid footpath although there were couple of spots where the water was pooling but it was generally mud free. When we got past the old stone packhorse bridge and into the bottom end of Youlgrave i looked back in the direction we had just come from and the sun was glowing through the mist and reflecting on the river, what a beautiful sight. We walked all alongside the river until we reached where the path goes up to Middleton. We decided to have our breakfast where the old sheepwash is and we met Richard with his 4 dogs and he told us one was 18 and another 17. We had a good chat with Richard and then set off back to the car via the same route. The sun had started to come through but we didn't see a lot of it in the valley. We met another couple of lovely lads that had been school friends, lost touch when they moved to different countries and part of England and only met up again about 5 years ago and now meet to do walks. When we got back to the car, they were parking on both sides of the road.