By popular demand and a degree of inertia we headed off for the Derbyshire hills once again on our next Saga trip of renowned 'Grumpy Old Men'. The weather was very Novemberish for mid-July - heavy rain both overnight and early morning with strong westerly winds. Martin took pity on the assembled motley crew and cleverly rearranged the route to cut out the deep wading parts to improve the chances of everybody getting to lunch without drowning.
Click here for the route - the short cut to the shallow end is in red.

DIRECTIONS:
Pilsley village is on the Chatsworth Estate just opposite the entrance to the Chatsworth Farm Shop. It can be reached from Chesterfield via A619 to Baslow / Bakewell then the B6012 to Chatsworth. Do not take the right turn to Bakewell, keep straight on and take the next right turn to Pilsley, with a thatched cottage on your right (road marked not suitable for HGV's). It can also be reached off the A6 Matlock to Bakewell road along the B6012 to Baslow, going past Beeley Village, through Chatsworth Park and taking left turn past Edensor village on the B6048 signed Pilsley and Bakewell. The pub car park is very small but there is plenty of road parking nearby.
Don't forget the boots as it could well be muddy in parts and also over- trousers if it threatens to throw it down as there is dense bracken on paths in some places.

WALK:
14 members attended in spite of the dreadful conditions, rain and strong winds throughout the walk. The planned 6 miles of rolling Derbyshire countryside was reduced to 4.5 to 5. We cut out the footpaths and lanes from Pilsley to Hassop but rejoined the route to Bubnell / Baslow and back to Pilsley. There are plenty of gates for Gerry to shut as he's now a marked man within the local farming community!!

There are a couple of climbs - the short sharp one at the end makes the first pint doubly welcome. Most arived back at the pub with soaked clothes, mostly from the rain but also from the effort - waterproofs tend to keep "moisture" in as well as keeping it out!

Lunch at the Devonshire Arms was excellent and the Pilsley ale was moorish. The landlord gave us a private room with our very own tunnel entrance. Gerry failed to read the notice about ducking while returning from the bar with beer and came second to the tunnel roof. Although flat on his back and barely conscious, instinct kicked in and glasses remained vertical and spillage was kept to a minimum. Well done Gerry.

Memo for next time: credit cards haven't reached this part of the world yet. Cash is required (- John)

left, Gerry talks Trevor through the Mind Your Head incident.

Click here for more pictures.