Birchover and Black Rocks Revisit

Greetings, Blog Fans.  Due to some scheduled appointments on Saturday, Sunday was our day to play.  The weather forecast was a little iffy but generally okay.  I have a couple of new walks in the hopper but both are around 8 miles and an hour + away so we thought we'd save those for another day.  For this day we were looking for something a little closer and shorter so we decided on a repeat (gasp!) of Birchover/Stanton Moor and Black Rocks.  We last did these 2 years ago (link).

Short entry this week -- some may be happy to know!

 

These fit the bill.  The Birchover walk (B) was about 35 minutes away and Black Rocks (C) was even less.   3.2 miles in 1:49 for the first (a casual stroll) and 2.4 miles in 1:14 for the second.  Each had about 300' climb early in the walk and were fairly easy by our current standards.  Temps were around 20C (high 60s) and the rain held off for the first walk but not the second.

We parked in Birchover and headed to the path.  It was a nice time for wild flowers.

 requisite big ole slug

 foxgloves

Alex had a half-hearted attempt at the cork stone -- he didn't make it up this time

not quite the views we've had on some of our better walks but it was still nice to get out

 ah, slug competition -- he's a little furrier

the "famous" Nine Ladies -- legend has it they were dancing on Sunday and turned to stone (we had expected something on a slightly grander scale last time -- obviously we knew what to expect this time)

Schetzel / Peters inspired jumping scene

 another view into the valley

 into the jungle!

 and wildflowers

 . . . and another

apalcas (and donkeys) near a campground above Birchover

We had our picnic in Birchover as there are some convenient tables there.  We then hopped in the car and drove back to Black Rocks.  When attempting this 2 years ago, we bailed out on the walk and just climbed the rocks (Alex was a stinker if I recall).  We added the walk this time but unfortunately it started raining when we got there.  As a result we bypassed the rocks and went for the trail hoping to catch the rain-free rocks at the end.

Back to my normal level of preparedness for this one.  Despite the warm weather we had our rain jackets and overtrousers.

A good portion of this walk had a jungle feel -- very different than our normal Peak District affairs.  Lots of ferns, trees and eventually flowers in the fields.

flowers here -- you can see the big water droplet on my camera at the bottom.  Looks like there used to be more trees here but a fire cleared them out (some time ago)

and the Black Rocks -- unfortunately Kuk and Alex had had enough by this point so once again, I couldn't get the whole family up there.  Since Nicole and I had been before, we bailed as well.

So, nothing too exciting but a nice little day out.  Always good to stretch the legs, get a little fresh air and snap a few photos for the blog.

Have a good week everyone.