Thorpe Cloud

I couldn't let the weekend pass without doing something, especially since it looked liked we would have some semi-decent weather.   So, I packed a picnic and took the kids back to the Dovedale area.  It's the closest Peak District area and where we had our first hike in the district.  For that one, we circled clockwise around some hills and came down the river.  This time, we set off to climb to the top of Thorpe Cloud (it was too rainy last time) and walked up the river a little bit after we were done.  All in all, a nice morning (and picnic lunch).  We topped it off with ice cream, as usual.

Alex was a trooper.  It was wet and he did slip once up the hill, landing on his broken arm.  It hurt a little but it probably startled him more than anything.  He was pretty good about holding my hand after that.  Fortunately, he wasn't after we descended and were walking back.  I had a little spill myself.  We were on a slight bank and my foot slipped out, kinda fell forward and then rolled about 5' down the hill.  It was an 8.5 but would have been higher except for the Russian judge.  Minor bumps but I do think I gave the kids a scare.  Superman doesn't fall, you know.

On to the pics . . . 

Back to the famous stepping stones.  Alex is still sporting the temporary cast.  We actually had to keep an eye on the weather as he's not supposed to get that one wet.  It was nice and sunny when we left but clouded up when we arrived.  We did get a few sprinkles but not enough to worry about.  "Sunny spells" came later.

We took the path shown behind the kids which led around to the back of Thorpe Cloud (i.e. the big hill).

Compare that to last time.

 Close up with the base of Thorpe Cloud in the background.

Passed some sheep on the way around back.  This one was carrying on quite a bit.  She wanted to be with the sheep on the other side of this fence.

 Looking back, gaining a little elevation (more sheep too).

random cow at the top of the adjacent hill (sorry -- no mega zoom)

 world's largest thistle flower -- I think I sat on another one taking this shot (ouch)

mountain sheep?  we are getting closer to the top

whoa -- looking down, we climbed 900-1000 feet I believe

View from the top.  The building in the middle is the Izaak Walton Hotel, where we started our hike back in June.  The Dovedale parking lot is in that mass of trees in front of it.

a view in the other direction

The picture at the top of the page is the kids at the top of Thorpe Cloud.  This one is actually farther down the  river (at Lover's Leap I believe).  Compare it to our soggy venture last time.

In the afternoon, we finally took Kuk to see the last Harry Potter movie (with grumpy Alex who had already seen it).  This was her birthday wish as she read all the novels since we got here.  We then watched (or re-watched) all the movies until we caught up.  I'm not a big fan (haven't read the books) but the last move was pretty good.