Monsal Head

We are staying at Litton Mills in the Peak District, with friends N and D, right on the Monsal Trail, in an apartment with a beautiful view down the valley. Every time I visit the White Peak I wonder why I don't come here more often. I guess it's just counterintuitive to head south while living where I do, with all the hills immediately to the north.

I don't know what it is about the geography that makes this area of limestone scenery get dissected into Dales in such a different way to my local Yorkshire Dales. They are smaller and there are more of them. We devised a circular route with a little loop extension that brought us back to Monsal Head after first travelling underneath it in a tunnel on the Monsal Trail, which follows an old railway line. It was such a lovely route that, once back, I left to do it all over again, with a few minor variations, this time in my running shoes.

The weather was very kind, with none of the wind and rain that we were expecting, and mild too. It was a 9 mile walk and then a 7 mile run. The legs felt good. And I also missed getting a blow-by-blow account of a terrible afternoon of results for Leeds. They lost to fellow strugglers Everton on an afternoon when all the other clubs at the bottom found ways to win. It's not looking good. Fortunately, there was no mobile signal and I was out of range for Roam to rant down the line!

E, you did me proud. It was a fabulous day, followed by fabulous food.