Tuesday 25th June
Still blogging several weeks behind myself but it's all this good weather - I don't have the time to sit down at the computer!
More wells to visit &, again, linked to a cross-country walk. Parked in Bakewell, caught a bus to Youlgrave & wandered back via Lathkilldale & Over Haddon
Bakewell has never been one of my favourite Peak District locations - too many walks started or finished here when it's been packed with tourists making it almost impossible to walk along the pavements.... I can say that now I'm no longer really a tourist!
Lovely in this morning's sunshine & we were early enough to be here before the coaches!
We'd been impressed by Tideswell's dressings but Youlgrave's were even better!
This is the Reading Room Well, located outside All Saints Church but named after the Old Reading Room, its original site, just across the road
'Youlgreave', according to OS, the church & the sign at the entrance to the village but 'Youlgrave' according to villagers & some of the direction-markers
'Giolgrave' in the Domesday Book &, apparently, the village has had more than 60 acceptable spellings so what chance do I have of getting it right?!
I think Zolgrelf is probably my favourite!
The magnificent Fountain Well in the centre of the village
Youlgrave has more reason than most to bless its water
The well stands behind this enormous dressing & bears the date 1829 when the village was connected, by pipes, to the nearby Mawstone Springs after a lengthy campaign by 'The Friendly Society of Women'
Most homes in the village are still supplied by Youlgreave Water Works Ltd (yes, the spelling is correct!), one of very few private water companies still in existence
Forgot to do a 'Song of the Day' on the last Postscript but here was an immediate contender for today's
Youlgrave's Holy Well dressing displays the lyrics to Bob Marley's 'One Love, One Heart' on its accompanying poster.... but it didn't quite get the nod!
Bank Top is the largest village well though all the dressings are huge
Designer & creator of 'Daniel in the Lions Den', Phil Smith, says his first attempt at the lions made them look like teddy-bears!
They still look quite friendly to me!
Can you spot the three blind mice?
And the last Youlgrave well, at Coldwell End, appropriately returns to the theme of water
'Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water'
Strangely, I wasn't in the least bit tempted by all this water & repaired to 'The George' for a quick cider before setting off for Bakewell!
Crossed the River Lathkill at Conksbury, the site of a medieval village now buried in all of this lush undergrowth
It's there in the Domesday Book though, with 35 villagers, 16 smallholders & no fancy spellings!
The Lathkill is the only Peak District river to rise & run solely through limestone which, apparently, accounts for its clarity, purity & ability to sustain such a wide variety of wildlife.... despite its once heavy industrial use - a mill here as evidenced by the weir & lead-mining remains further upstream
Charles Cotton, 'Compleat Angler', wrote in 1653 that the river is '... by many degrees, the purest and most transparent stream that I ever saw, either at home or abroad, and breeds, it is said, the reddest and best Trouts in England'
View over Lathkilldale, down there in the trees, from Pub Stop No. 2 at Over Haddon
Speaking of 'bests', this has been described as the best Pub View in Britain.... don't know why, there's not a pub in sight!
Originally 'The Miners Arms',
the pub became 'The Lathkil View Hotel' in 1882 & is now, simply, 'The Lathkil Hotel.... not sure what happened to the abandoned 'l'!
The view above is from these splendid front windows
Its name means 'Heath Hill' &, above the mining in the valley, this has been a sheep-farming community for thousands of years
Here it gets the 'Watership Down' treatment!
Superbly intricate design
All that remained was the gentle downhill stroll back to Bakewell
Sports Day at one of the local schools & we were accompanied by tannoy announcements & cheers almost all the way to 'The Red Lion'!
All Saints Church, Bakewell
Lovely approach to a now much-busier town
I enjoyed a final cider outside the 17th century coaching inn while Les went off to buy a couple of Bakewell puddings & a huge tub of clotted cream for tea.... just to keep up the cholesterol levels!
Song of the Day : Well, Well, Well by John Lennon.... it had to happen!
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