Needle in a Haystack

Friday 9th Aug. 2013
                    Finding the Frog Orchid this year has been a bit of a challenge. The hot summer has produced almost Prairie conditions in Upper Ribblesdale and finding them in the grassland needed disciplined concentration and a keen eye. Once we got our eye in we found around 20 plants but moving on a couple of yards they just seem to become invisible again merging in to surround foliage.

The sun bleached grassland of Upper Ribblesdale with Pen-y-Ghent across the valley

The tiny Frog Orchid about 2-3 inch high is in the middle of the picture it shows the difficulty in finding them because they merge into their suirroundings

                     

                        Frog Orchids with their different colouration

  Near the Railway Station at Ribblehead we found some of the later orchids still in flower

    The Marsh Fragrant Orchid growing amongst the Marsh Helleborines

                                           Marsh Helleborine

Exploring Sunny Derbyshire

Sat. 20th July 2013
    We've now been motorhoming for around 10 years  and I can say without doubt that it's been the sunniest, warmest 12 days  since we started. Along with most areas of the UK it's been a joy to set off every day without coats or clobber that are an inconvenience that slows you down in more normal conditions.
       The areas of Derbyshire (both the White Peak and the Dark Peak) are only around 60 miles from home and it's an area we're not that familiar with, but what a beautiful area it is for walking,cycling and of coarse finding our wild orchids.

Here is just a cameo of some of the areas that we explored both on foot and by bike.

The White Peak an area of limestone hills valleys and pastures

                           Four Nights at Blackwell Hall Farm

Cycling on the Monsal Trail, an old railway track, 9 miles of easy cycling and walking

                    Millers Dale station before the closure in 1967

The station today

Monsal Dale view from the viaduct near Monsal Head

The viaduct from the river

                   A walk through Chee Dale on two separate days

The clear waters of the limestone dales rivers with both Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout

Bakewell

Monster Trout at Bakewell

The bridge at Ashford in the Water 

Just a few of the thousands of Orchids that grow on or around the Monsal trail

Fragrant Orchids

Bee Orchids

Common Spotted Orchids

A walk along the Cromford Canal south of Matlock Bath

Cromford Wharf

The Heights of Abraham above Matlock Bath , here we found many Twayblade Orchids

                                               Twayblade

                                              Matlock Bath
Twelve miles away.... the Dark Peak an area of Sandstone and Millstone Grit  an area lacking the flora of the White Peak but more dramatic and wilder. 

                                      Castleton

        Lose Hill above Castleton the start of the ridge walk over Mam Tor

                        Backtor Nook with Edale to the right

                               The popular summit of Mam Tor

                                 Mam Tor triangulation point

                                    The ridge from Lord's Seat

                 The railway line between Manchester and Sheffield

Ashort return back into Limestone down Winnats pass down into Castleton at the end of the walk

     Edale a lovely valley and the start of the Pennine Way

                      The welcome shade on a very hot day

                   One of the many attractive cottages in the dale

                  The official starting point of the Pennine Way

    The train back to the village of Hope this shortened the walk by 5 miles

The final 9 miles walk along Stanage Edge on another sweltering hot day

                   Cotton Grass on the boggy moor behind the edge

Some of the many Mill Stones abandoned on the Moor

Finally the welcome shade down this old lane leading down into the valley near Bamford