LEJOG Day 29 – Youlgreave to Bamford 19.23 miles. Cumulative 534.63 miles

We were hosted by 84 year old Mrs Frost at the campsite, who made an excellent recommendation for dinner at the George Hotel, which served up hungry walkers portions, amongst other vegetables we had a whole cauliflower to share and that was just a side dish to the beef bourguignon and mash.

A cloudy start again, but it turned into a beautiful warm sunny day.

We made a slight tweak to our mornings walk as we both fancied visiting Bakewell, home of the famous Bakewell Pudding, first made in the 1860’s, the Bakewell Tart came later in the 1900’s.

It was well worth a visit and we found a lovely cafe ‘Graze’ for tea and naturally ….cheese scones. The cafe was beautifully done out and chatting to the owner we discovered it had been designed by his late wife, who saw her ideas come into fruition but sadly passed away before it r-opened.

A steep climb took us out of Bakewell before joining a green lane which would take us down into the village of Endsor. We were passed by a couple of mountain bikers enjoying the very bumpy track and then had to pull over to let a car pass, slowly weaving away to avoid grounding his vehicle . We both assumed he was local and knew where he was going, apparently not. A few minutes later he stopped and got out of his car and explained he was visiting some holiday cottages in Endsor and had been recommended a short cut. The road ahead had by now become impassable for anything other than farm vehicles. We left him pondering how he was going to get out. There was no room to turn and we suspect reversing half a kilometre back up the hill would have been pretty impossible. There were two signs advising not suitable for motor vehicles in Endsor but not at the top of the track!

After Endsor, we enter the grounds of Chatsworth House, currently hosting an exhibition of 12 sculptures ‘The Art of Burning Man’, which is normally hosted in the Nevada Desert. We saw several of them on our way through.

For the remainder of the day , we had intended to follow the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, a scenic walk along the river Derwent, so scenic we were concentrating on the views and missed a signpost. Steve realised after about a kilometre and revised our onward route, which involved crossing the river on some widely spaced slippery stepping stones. Lynn chose to take off her boots and socks and walk across.

Shortly after we arrived at Heatherhill Farm, which had very basic facilities, no shower tonight then.