A Wet Walk in Wolfscote Dale

I did head out for that walk I mentioned earlier. I wanted to stay close to home today and decided on Wolfscote Dale (somewhere I haven't walked for a few years).

The moors above Home are still snowy, but it's melting fast and there's lots of peaty water flowing down the hills and across the roads and lanes so it was a wet drive over to my chosen dale.

I started where I walked not so long ago, (in October) at the end of Beresford Dale, but this time I went in another direction. Where last time there was a carpet of autumn leaves, today there was rising river water!

The steps up to the bridge were submerged and the water nearly came into my wellies as I waded through to reach the bridge!

Here's the October image to see more usual river levels...

A combination of rain overnight and all through today plus all the melting snow running down the hills has meant a rise in river levels. The water was gushing beneath the bridge and looking down watching it was a little dizzying!

After crossing the bridge, I headed for Wolfscote Dale, across a squelchy field...

There was quite a bit of water here too.  I could have taken an alternative route to access the gate in the wall below, but I was curious how deep the water was so I tried the straight ahead option!

It was quite deep. I ended up having to cross a narrower stretch of puddle and I had to do it on tiptoes (I was on tiptoes below) to avoid filling my wellies. I then shimmied along the bottom rung of the fence, and through the gate on to drier land.

Now I'm in Wolfscote Dale...

The river was a few feet wider than usual and flowing fast.

I walked for a couple of miles, just down to Coldeaton.

I saw a couple of herons and a few dippers as I walked.

I found fossils (of course; this is the White Peak!) and a lot of fungi including lots of King Alfred's cakes and jelly ear fungus, plus candle snuff and orange jelly fungus.

At Coldeaton, I turned around and retraced my steps back up the dale. I could have gone over the hills instead and made this a circular walk, but I didn't fancy the hills in the rain, where it would have been a little more windy!

On the way back the cave was empty (there had been two people sheltering in it earlier) so I nipped up to enjoy the view from it.

Then headed back to the riverside.  It's the River Dove by the way, dividing Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Most of this walk was in Derbyshire, but it started and ended in Staffordshire.

A sheep skull

Below I was almost back at the top of Wolfscote Dale. Suspecting the water levels would have risen a bit in the couple of hours I'd been walking, I took a slightly different route back to my car as I didn't think I'd have got through that gate and back across the field again without filling my wellies with water!

Instead, I crossed the river and followed the cycle track back to the road. This also avoided crossing the Beresford Dale bridge at the beginning as well.

A wise decision it was. The top of the steps up to the bridge had disappeared, and the stump I'd used to get up on to the bridge earlier.  The water was rising still up the lane too.

My final photo was taken on my way home, the moors still in the fog.

This walk was five miles in total and despite the rain, it was a good one :)