My first walking holiday

In 1998 I decided that for the first time I would go walking somewhere during my summer holiday and since I was already familiar with the Peak District I thought that was a good place to start. Less than a week before the holiday, however, I still hadn’t booked any of the hostels I would be staying in. I had only just joined the YHA and I didn’t realise that this would be a problem. When I finally got round to phoning the hostels I discovered to my surprise that a lot of them did not have any spaces because of school trips. I did manage to book four hostels for the first week starting on the Tuesday and two more for the week after so I began to devise my schedule around these arrangements, which is often the situation with hostels that force me to work around whatever hostels I can get into regardless of my original idea. These days I try to book the hostels as early as possible. I already have a good idea what I want to do next Easter so I want to start booking these hostels before too long, even though this is a lot earlier than I would normally book hostels – it’s normally no more than three months before.

I was also thinking of the things that I would need to take with me while walking. I knew I would need to take some sort of first-aid kit, but at first this was only some plasters and antiseptic cream which sufficed for my early walks until I went to the Lake District for the first time in 2002 when I remember having my small Lifesystems Pocket First Aid kit with me on that trip. That small pouch has been up every mountain with me ever since and has come in handy on a couple of occasions not least last year on the Isle of Skye when I cut my leg open on the Cuillin. I also thought it would be a good idea to get at least one pair of good track suit bottoms because I had been advised not to wear jeans for the Residential I went on the previous year as they can be a little restricting (although I usually bought loose jeans that were not too restricting). In the event it took me two years to get around to buying any and all my intervening walks were undertaken wearing jeans. Incidentally I still wear track-suit bottoms when walking and have still not graduated to purpose built trousers.

Onto the walks and I actually wrote reports of these first adventures having been a habitual writer of a diary so it seemed natural for me to write a report of my walks. In fact I had already got into the habit of writing a detailed report of all my summer holidays, but unfortunately this was not extended to any other outings I went on so my diary will not always be a ready source for any more of these nostalgic walks in future.

Five Dales

Tuesday 7th July 1998

I was in Ravenstor Youth Hostel after a magnificent day spent walking in the Peak District. I had set off from home first thing in the morning and drove up to Miller's Dale, although maybe not on the route I had intended, but I got there in the end. Starting from the Miller’s Dale Station car park I walked along Miller's Dale to Water-Cum-Jolly Dale, and then through Cressbrook Dale to Litton and on to Tideswell, where I had something to eat, returning via Monk's Dale back to the car. Monk's Dale was a little hard going underfoot, but I made it through and the weather was magnificent. I did the whole 10 mile walk in 4 hours.

 

When I arrived at the hostel, after booking in and at the Warden's suggestion, I took a walk before dinner and got lost! Well, not really, because if you looked at the route I took on a map you'd think it was planned. I walked past Litton Mill to Litton and across to Tideswell returning along Tideswell Dale and back to the hostel, so was a nice little walk. During dinner I sat with two ladies who were doing the "White Peak Way" and we were able to have a nice conversation about walking. They were astonished that I seemed to be starting my very first walk with ten miles around Miller’s Dale. As I pointed out to the ladies I have been walking of sorts for years. This was certainly not my first time in Miller’s Dale. During the evening I read Terry Pratchett's "Sourcerer" while trying to ignore the masses of children running around the hostel, which I feared I would probably have more of at the next hostel. This was a great walk that threw me in at the deep end on my walking career by starting in the fabulous valley of Miller’s Dale which I’d visited many times as a child (and a few times since this walk). I remember getting a little lost while trying to find my way into Cressbrook Dale, but aside from that the route was quite easy to follow.

Wolfscote and Beresford Dales

Wednesday 8th July 1998

Another day and things have taken a down-turn. The walk was fine, but I had a little difficulty finding Hartington (well it’s not possible to read a map and drive at the same time, so what can you expect?). I walked south from Hartington eventually reaching Alstonefield where I had my lunch. There I changed my plans and walked down a narrow lane into Milldale, which is the overcrowded tourist-filled northern end of Dovedale. Quickly moving away from the crowds I walked north into Wolfscote Dale. I remember a Church walk that passed through that valley a couple of years ago that went from Hartington to Wolfscote Dale through Biggin Dale. The last section of my walk now took me through Wolfscote Dale into Beresford Dale so it was a repeat of that earlier visit but it was still a glorious experience in the warm sunshine. Back in Hartington, after a rest, I went to the schools-infested Hartington Youth Hostel and I was not impressed. Ravenstor is a much more impressive hostel with better facilities. Although the room I was in had the same number of beds as in Ravenstor, it was half the size, so there’s no room to swing anything! The new "Dish of the Day" meals service, which provides a more restaurant-like service, may have given me more food, but it also gave me higher prices (and the attractive girls at the tills didn't know how to work everything yet!). During the evening I read and finished the F1 Racing and Autosport mags, except for the Silverstone supplements. My biggest source of problems however were not with the hostel: I had blisters. My feet were just not used to the treatment I was putting them through, but that’s just tough! I’m walking along Lathkill Dale tomorrow.

The second walk of my holiday was rather a mixture with some rather dull walking across fields on the first half and then much better walking beside the River Dove on the return in, as I recall warm, sunny weather. Unfortunately I also remember the problems I had with the cheap boots that I’d bought especially for this walk. These boots continued to cause me problems even after they were broken in and were soon replaced by a much better pair. More from this holiday next week.