Hartington, Derbyshire

Finishing the Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill walks around 1330 I was in need of a spot of lunch, a comfy chair and a little warmth. I'd hear that Hartington was a pretty little village and decided to pay it a visit.

The Devonshire Arms gave me a warm welcome, and kept referring to me as "sir"; picture this if you will... muddy walking boots, walking trousers, wax jacket [thank you dad], baseball type cap, oh and Tikka collie dog [who was wearing the latest in sheep/fox smeared neck cuff] hardly a sir... although it was made quite clear that 'sir' was too late for food, but they do have nuts and crisps. Parking myself by the open fire I drained my larger shandy, and a black coffee, and the a bag of dry roasted nuts, Tikka had a bag of plain crisps.

Sufficiently warmed up, with another one of those sharp shows passed by, I noticed it was 1500 and felt I still had plenty of time for a brief wander before I short Hartington walk. The local shop had run out of Hartington walk maps, and from those remaining on the hook it would appear that Bakewell was the least popular... the hook was bursting with them. I took the last Tissington and Dove Dale guides for later in the week and walked across the road to a smaller corner shop who had a better range of guides, selecting one and a few vegetables for an evening meal I popped back to the car to pick the afternoon amble.

I needn't have worried about choice...although I am quite sure that Hartington has more to offer than Ms Pat Tindsall's single walk [number 6] devoted to this area.

Tikka was well up for more walks and we set off following the instructions. Through a few sprung gates and squeeze stiles [never heard of those before this walk] we were presented with a number of fields with sheep and cows. Now Tikka is a sheep dog and does do a spot of herding most morning, but they're our sheep on our farm, these were neither. Although I kept her on a tight-ish leash I needn't have worried... we sailed through the first field. Entering the second field [sheep and cows] the book and sign instructions were quite clear to only walk straight across to the stile in the distance. We'd only travelled a few fee what four youngish sheep appeared and were heading towards us; Tikka didn't back off and kept walking nicely by my side. The sheep pealed offer with inches to spare to the right and I could hear that they'd begun to follow us a foot of so behind, but Tikka hadn't noticed... I just kept walking. Then she did notice and spun on the stop in surprise that it was now she who was being herded. A few encouraging words to Tikka and a constant pace towards the distant stile and the sheep got the message and dropped back.

I've heard various stories about cows and dogs and their walkers, so it was with some trepidation that we had to pass within 10ft of two cows standing sentry towards the top of the field by the stile; while the two of them kept their eyes on us, Tikka was heading towards the stile without need for encouragement.

After the stile, the guide side turn right along the track for a few metres and turn left across a stile marked for "Harris Close", and this is where I worry... there was no stile on the right in a few metres, or on the left. There were however a good number of decidedly skittish sheep who scurried up and down the track away from us as we appeared. Given that the next instruction referred to a steep hill I headed up the gentle slope a few tens of metres and found the signed Harris Close; which was indeed at the base of an alarmingly steep hill.I'd planned to turn around at this point to return to the car before the sun vanished on the horizon, but in the meantime the farmer was using his quad to herd up the cattle [the four sheep from earlier just stood and watched] and I really didn't fancy being caught in a pincer movement... the steep hill it was then.

This took me to the top of a hill near a house apparently called "Sprink". Turning around I was gifted a beautiful view of Hartington which was various bathed in shadow and sun as the clouds passed in front of the sun at my back.

On my way back I noticed that someone has the same great taste in cars as me... Both R reg