Sunday: Dovedale

Time: 2 hours, 51
Distance: 13.1 km (8.14 mi)
Average speed: 4.6 km/h (2.86 mph)

Halfway to Uttoxeter I realized I'd left my sunglasses behind, so I had a morning of much squinting. It was a hot day, but not as hot as I thought it was going to be: if you put Ilam into the BBC weather site, it gives you somewhere in Iran. It wasn't quite that hot.

I got to the car park just as the attendant was opening up. I'd planned to start early to get the uphill out of the way before it got too hot and arrived 10 minutes before the car park was due to open.

The route started easy, across the fields to Ilam hall then along the Manifold. Then came the uphill to Castern Hall and across to Stanshope. From Stanshope there is a path down to Milldale which on the lower half is overgrown at this time of year. I noticed the nettles and regretted my decision to wear shorts but managed to avoid being stung.

At Milldale I had a moment of weakness and stopped for an ice cream, the first this year. Then a nice walk along Dovedale itself back to the car park. Most of the people who had by that time arrived didn't seem to go further up the dale than Lover's Leap, many didn't even get that far.

Last time I went across the stepping stones my feet got wet. This time the stones were well out of the river, due I think to new stones rather than lack of water.