Day 8 - Evesham:

Our last full day away. It was raining again so we decided to walk into Broadway village and catch a bus to Evesham for a nose around. It was a busy little town sat on the river, with lovely old buildings, gorgeous gardens and an Abbey. We bought our lunch in town and decided to find a bench along the river for our picnic. Well, once again, the weather had other ideas. We had just sat down and the heavens opened! It was TORRENTIAL for at least 20 minutes and we were soaked - poor Paddy was pretty fed up with getting wet by then........along with the rest of us!!!! We did manage to dry off by wandering around the town before boarding the bus back to the campsite. I think the bus driver felt sorry for us so dropped us off right outside the campsite on the way back, saving us another 15/20 minute walk in the rain!!!

We did manage another walk into Broadway later that evening, but again it rained!!!!

This was the wettest trip we had endured in the camper and we still had a great holiday.

The next trip is just 4 or 5 weeks away, so let's start counting down the days!!!

Day 7 - Broadway:

After a very wet day on Wednesday and a very, very misty evening we awoke to almost clear blue skies and some much needed sunshine. I did finally manage to get a photo of some Matlock sunshine - taken on site! We packed up and left early morning for Broadway, a little Cotswold village in Worcestershire.

The sun was still shining for our arrival at Broadway........perfect timing. We pitched up and walked into the village - just a short 15/20 minute walk from the site. After a wander around we found a doggie friendly pub in the village serving 3-course lunches for less than a tenner (£9.95 to be precise!). So that's where we stayed for most of the afternoon.

We arranged to meet up with my long-lost friend from infant school, Liz, and her partner Paul later that evening. After a quick hello to her Mum and Dad we all headed for the same doggie friendly pub and that's where we stayed catching up on the last 25 years!!!!! It was great to see them and spend time catching up - some really good memories came flooding back that night!

Day 6 - Matlock - A VERY RARE DAY!!!!


We left Bakewell in the rain and arrived at Matlock in the rain! After pitching up we headed off to Matlock, knowing it was a fair walk downhill into town. We stopped off at the Royal Oak in Tansley, a little village on the outskirts of Matlock. On arrival in Matlock it was raining again. We had a wander around the town (not very impressive), collected some essential supplies and MISSED THE BUS back uphill to Tansley village by minutes, so ended up walking another 3 miles or more UPHILL back to the site!!!! The reason this was a very rare day is that I didn't take one photograph in Matlock!!!! We were told that Matlock Bath was much better but had already decided to leave the area a day early because of the weather so unfortunately we never got to find out first hand.

Day 5 - Monsal Head and Monsal Dale:

On arrival at Monsal Head the views were just stunning, well worth the miles that we had walked. You could see for miles - and it wasn't a perfectly clear day either! The views of the old viaduct were brilliant. This had definitely been the best day of the week! It had stayed dry all day and only rained once we were back at the campsite. The on-site pub came in very handy that night - a reward for all the walking we'd done!!!

Day 5 - Monsal Trail:

Once leaving the pub we decided that due to it being dry, and sometimes sunny (!), that we would take a round(ish) route back to our campsite via the Monsal Trail - a track that follows the disused railway line. The 'trek' was 4 miles to Monsal Head and Dale with a further 2.5 miles back to the camper on the return leg - most of it flat (thankfully!). We had to find the old railway station just outside Bakewell as our starting point. We hardly saw anyone for most of the walk. Most of the old disused railway stations and buildings had been converted into lovely houses. We also came across the little church at Little Longstone on the way up to Monsal Head.

Day 5 - Bakewell:

After leaving Ashford we took the public footpath along the river and through the fields to Bakewell - another opportunity for Paddy to hoover up the sheep poo!!!! Great timing again, after exploring the higher parts of Bakewell near the old church, we'd arrived at the centre of town at lunchtime so decided to have lunch in the same pub as Monday.

Day 5 - Ashford-in-the-Water :

We awoke to a dry day on the Tuesday, so decided to initially head for the pretty little Derbyshire village of Ashford-in-the-Water, just a short, 1/2 mile, walk from our campsite.

Day 4 (pm/evening) - Bakewell :

We left Buxton at lunchtime for our short, 12 mile, trip to our next site in Bakewell. On arrival we pitched up and headed for the pretty town of Bakewell, where we had a wander around the weekly market, in the rain, and a pub lunch before returning to the campsite for the evening.

We actually changed pitches that evening to a bigger, nicer pitch on site with fantastic views of the evening sunset!

Well Dressings :

During the summer months in the Peak District you may be lucky to see some samples of the ancient tradition of well dressing. A custom that celebrates water and the life it brings. Many villages have revived this ancient tradition and decorate one or more wells, often combining it with the local carnival. Well dressings are pictures made from growing things (wool, bark, cones, flower petals, berries, leaves and seeds) and other natural materials, constructed on a bed of soft clay spread over a wooden board and erected at the site of the spring or well. Dressing a well can take a team of skilled people up to a week to produce and the finished well will only last a week or so before the flowers fade and the clay dries out and cracks.

We managed to come across the following dressed wells in Buxton and Bakewell!

Day 3 - Buxton - RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!:

The rain came back again on Sunday evening and boy did it tip down!!!! At times it was torrential and it was hard to hear anything other than rain in the camper!!!! The attached video will give you some idea of what it was like.

Day 3 - The Pavilion Gardens, Buxton :

After a mooch around the town we decided on a pub lunch and were lucky to find a doggie friendly pub near the Opera House. We were also very lucky to be able to sit outside and enjoy our lunch in some much valued sunshine, after such a wet start to the day.

We wandered through the Pavilion Gardens after lunch. Considering it had been very wet that day there were loads of people around, including a wedding party having their photographs taken in the bandstand near to the pavilion.

The walk back up through Grin Low Woods and the country park was pretty strenuous but at least the rain held off................until we arrived back on site!!!!

Day 3 - Buxton Town:

We awoke on Sunday morning to the rain lashing down.......just what we wanted for a 3 mile walk into Buxton!!!! After a long, leisurely breakfast it was STILL raining but we decided to tog up in our waterproofs and go for it! Once we had walked up and out of the Country Park and then down into Grin Low Woods we were pretty wet, but still determined not to let it beat us!!! We walked down out of the woods into the car park at Pooles Cavern (a cave system). We couldn't go into the caves because they don't allow dogs in so headed for Buxton town via the residential roads instead. By the time we'd reached the outskirts of the town, and the Pavilion Gardens, the rain had stopped and the sun came out - and continued to do so in between a few hefty showers!!!

Buxton is known as the 'Bath of the North' and we could see why. It has very similar buildings/architecture to the lovely city of Bath, including it's own small crescent and town baths! The Opera House was a beautiful building too.