Day 40: Uttoxeter to Thorpe (16 miles)

Cooked breakfast, warm up exercises and a couple of ibuprofen for the glute and I was hopeful I was set up for the day. Martin, my husband, was intending to walk out from the Izzak Walton where we are staying tonight, to meet me and I was really looking forward to seeing him after a month apart.

My glute was not behaving terribly well - definitely mind over matter for the moment. Entering Derbyshire and crossing the River Dove and A road I entered a field with 50 plus Canada geese, a dozen greylag, and 3 lapwings: Good boost to the morning. Walking along the River Dove towards Rocester and on a large meander I saw sand martins again.

I was stunned by the JCB “estate” seeming to run from the Eaton Hall shooting club where new clubhouse and extensive landscaping occurred through the various estate houses along to Rochester where the JCB Academy as part of the HEX group is based - lots of JCB vehicles going by and people carrying and wearing company branded merchandise.

Having gone over a ridge I descended down for a lovely walk along the River Dove to Ellastone, the halfway point for the day. I stopped to speak with a fly fisherman and then to enjoy the bridge where a pair of grey wagtails were flirting up and down catching flies.

I'd just realised that although I’m hearing blackcap, chiffchaffs, thrushes, robins, wrens and blackbirds, the great and blue tits have gone quiet presumably moving into raising their broods. And no more cuckoos since that first one 2 days ago.

I stopped for lunch looking across to Ellastone church partly so I could look at the map and make a choice - follow the End to End route along a wooded valley which looked as though it could be muddy and undulating. Or the limestone way which goes onto the ridge. I went for the limestone ridge - in part because it’s a long distance walk I’ve had my eye on for awhile - and because I like large open spaces, with Dovedale as a valley to follow tomorrow.

I enjoyed the wide open vistas looking across the wooded valley to some of the limestone hills and back east to the other valleys. Another heifer encounter but like a stern school ma’am when they started getting frisky tapping my sticks together did the trick again. But I’m not going to say I’m entirely without concern when this happens.

A fairly long descent began, but the views across to Thorpe and Thorpe Cloud were opening up although I couldn’t figure out where Dovedale was. I started checking on “Find my” where Martin was but he seemed to be hovering around Ashbourne which didn’t make sense.

Ahead across Coldwall Bridge I saw a lone figure - could it be Martin? As we got closer it became clear it was; a month’s parting over. Martin had walked out from the hotel along the river so we agreed to go up to Thorpe and around Thorpe Cloud to do a circular walk for him over the stepping stones. I think we were both amazed by how stunning this limestone scenery was - the coll fell away and the valley opening out before us was gorgeous.

The famous stepping stones caused quite a traffic jam with nervous people afraid to step across but with time it was our turn and we were able to make our way to the hotel, with the assurance that with good weather forecast we could return in the morning and fully appreciate the beauty of Dovedale.