In the grips of winter, what better place to go for a hike than on the ice banks of a river.
The Route
Thorpe Cloud
When everything else looked like snow and ice, the path up Thorpe cloud was just wet and muddy. A lot of two steps forward to just slide back. coming down I got my hiking poles out and basically skid back to the bottom, which was fun and I managed to stay upright the whole time.
River Dove
When following the path that runs alongside the river, I did take care with each step. The path comes pretty close to the river (it goes over it at some points) and there is very little to stop you from falling in. with the valley in the shadows there was a lot more icy section on this part of the hike, and I was more than aware that the water was very cold.
Tissington
The final section of hike was pretty interesting, the fields were pretty much full of snow and I just followed the footsteps of some one who had gone through before me. I am guessing that the snow had melted somewhat since they had been past though. There footprints where a couple of inches deep into the snow. When I followed them however I was soon waist deep, and looking over at the ditches in the fields next to me I was a little nervous as to whether my next step would land me completely under the snow. I plodded on through though and I was rather surprised to see that I hadn’t really gotten than wet. The snow just brushed off, although my legs were feeling pretty cold at this point.
Pub Lunch
Is there a better way of finishing a Sunday morning of hiking that heading for a pub lunch, I’m not sure there is. The Old Dog did not disappoint, it was getting a little busier and a lot of the tables were reserved but I managed to find a nice spot near the fire, whilst I wolfed down some amazing grub.