There is no wonder why the likes of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte were inspired by the magnificence of the Peak District. Wherever you look no matter where you are within the many intertwining valleys you are awe-stricken and breathless (not just from the hiking). The Peak District today is still very popular for all ages and temperaments. From regal estates to charming towns/villages and an abundance of hiking trails for all levels including climbing and other more adventurous outdoor pursuits. For those who are averse to hiking, climbing and wandering the grounds of Chatsworth Estate or Haddon Hall there are plentiful traditional British pubs with beer gardens to compete with the best with very friendly barmaids/barmen who are willing to provide you the tools to give your arm a good work out.
After arriving in the charming hillside village of Grindleford and settling into The Sir William, the plan was to ask the staff for their favourite trails and best places for hiking in the area. To our astonishment everyone we spoke to are “not from here” and were unable to give us any clearer idea of where best to hike the proceeding morning. With hours of researching the many many trails throughout the district we were still none the clearer of actually where to hike and begin or journey. With rain predicted for the morning a group decision was made to visit the historic town of Bakewell to explore and seek more informed locals on trails in the area followed by a visit to Chatsworth House and Gardens. With each of our party content with the plan, exhausted after our research we retired for the evening. To our dismay the weather man was correct and it was indeed raining.
On our drive into Bakewell we passed many public footpath signs which seem to be scattered absolutely everywhere. How does one choose a trail when there are so many? After exploring the town of Bakewell it turns out that “no-one is from here” or “I don’t like walking” shop after shop we visited the staff answered the same. Until finally we met someone from the area who again wasn’t helpful as she could not describe where her favourite trail began and which paths to follow. Giving up on the local knowledge tact and a quick stop in the Rutland Arms (the actual Rutland Arms which Jane Austen visited as turns out there are many pubs with the same name in the Peak District) we headed to the Visitor Information centre. Here we found little information from the staff however a guide/brochure with some very vague loops at Baslow, Curbar and Fraggott Edges. A unanimous decision was made and these loops would be our destination when the weather cleared up. Satisfied with the little information we gathered we then headed to Chatsworth House.
For those who have read Pride & Prejudice and pictured Mr Darcy’s home and of the extravagance of the gardens one is not disappointed at any turn of the Chatsworth Estate. Many believe this is the Estate that Jane Austen based her Pemberley on. I am not a romantic however felt myself inside the pages of Pride and Prejudice as we explored the woods and many delights that the Garden delivers. I would fall in love with Mr Darcy like Elizabeth Bennett did after seeing grounds similar to these and of course who doesn’t love Mr Darcy by the end of the novel. When finally deciding we had seen everything we could we realised that we’d spent three hours wandering around the gardens and had forgotten that it was raining – the whole time! With my travelling companions exhausted from the days exercise I reluctantly agreed to head back to Grindleford and dry dining rooms overlooking the valley and looking up at Fraggott Edge.
On the drive back the sun decided to make an appearance and with new found energy I decided that I would walk back to Grindleford from Baslow along the lower trail on my map after a long climb up to the edge itself. Jumping out of the car I powered up the hill with the hope that I had found the right path after gazing at my very vague map only briefly. After what felt like an age and stripping off my many layers in the new found sunshine I forgot that I was wearing I made it to the top and had to sit down and take in the amazing vista that was not aiding me to regain my breathe. Now the tricky part of my journey…where was my lower trail? After plodding around for a while I became resolute on the trail I wanted and set off. Following my map and trail I was walking I learnt that is was almost impossible to get lost on the path I had taken, staying on the right trail I selected before setting ot wasn’t easy but never once uncomfortable on the direction I was headed. Deciding to put my map away and wing it I trekked on enthusiastically. The many public pathways in the Peak District consist of moors, open land and also crossing private fields with cattle…cattle with big horns and young bulls. If I knew this I may not have worn red…images of a bloodied Matador and ferocious bulls flooded my mind on my first encounter. However they were as disinterested in me as with the very muddy terrain I was sloshing through. Lucky I wasn’t wearing a full length dress to be coated “6 inches deep with mud.”
Somewhere around Curbar I definitely had lost my trail as it was where two loops intersected and could not find where the next started. Perplexed for a while I decided “don’t worry, be happy” and continued in my pursuit across fields and now following a very narrow, windy road down a hill. Which hill? I couldn’t tell you at the time but it was on the right bearings so happily I walked. Not long I found where the trail I had planned to take intersected the road and I was then on the Derwent River. Definitely headed the right way. More river, woods and fields and I was sadly at my destination wanting more. After a relaxing evening telling my friends of all the adventures they had missed (over exaggerated of course) I couldn’t have been happier in the way I spent my day. Quietly thought myself a modern day Elizabeth Bennett traipsing through the fields of the country side and woods over the more modern convenience of a car or in her case a carriage.
After being ecstatic of having an afternoon of sunshine in the Peak District you can imagine my excitement waking up to a perfect clear blue sky and streaming sunshine the next morning. What better day to explore the top of the edges and moors beyond. Up in the moors I pictured Jane Eyre helplessly lost and destitute and decided I would read it afresh along with Pride and Prejudice now I had a clearer more vivid image of scenes from both novels. Again choosing to wander without a map proved to be the better option and spent a good half a day hiking and exploring the Fraggott, Curbar and Baslow Edge prior a long drive back to the hustle and bustle of London.