The Limestone Way


The Limestone Way Part 1

Castleton to Bonsall (extra bit back to cars in Matlock Bath)

6 folk met at the appointed hour of 7:30 to catch the booked coach from Matlock Bath to our start point of Castleton.

The beginning of the route has a nice signpost detailing mileages to Matlock and Rochester, this is found at the entrance to Cave Dale. A pleasant walk up Cave Dale saw us come across out first of many of the snow drifts blocking the gateway we would experience today.

Crossing fields towards Hay Dale we knew we were in for a very pleasant day with the weather set to a nice sunny day.

Walking through Peter Dale we came across a most desperate snow drifted path towards Miller’s Dale. Breaking trail in this was hard work, some drifts were 4ft deep in places. We abandoned the enclosed path into the farmers’ fields until the drop to Miller’s Dale.

After elevenses (12s more like) in Miller’s Dale we found Long Lane then Slough Lane then onto the minor road Green Lane towards Flagg. Unfortunately Green Lane had not been snow ploughed making this a bit harder than it should have been.

Through Flagg we were very happy to find the pub in Monyash for lunch an hour behind schedule.

The green lanes and footpaths between towards Youlgreave had a few drifts that required careful negotiation. We were happy to have a few clear kms along the River Bradford.

Passing Robin Hoods Stride we were beginning to loose light. At Bonsall lane we all donned our head torches and followed the Limestone Way into Bonsall. A small hop over the Heights of Abraham to our cars in Matlock Bath.

The first part turned into a bit of an epic taking some 12 hours to cover 28ish miles. The snow covered paths slowed us down quite a lot.

Aaron