Gratton Dale and Bonsall Moor

Saturday 30th May 2020

For the last day of my week’s holiday in the Peak District last May I returned to the Minninglow car park on the High Peak Trail to do a walk based on one that was relatively recent. The inspiration for most of my walks during this holiday were many years ago as I relived those old memories, but the walk that inspired this one was only three years ago. On that occasion I had caught a train to Cromford and set off along the High Peak Trail that I had now parked beside, but then I had not stopped until I reached the Friden car park, which is the next station along the old railway line before dropping into Long Dale. Now I was cutting the corner by starting from Minninglow car park onto the main road at Pikehall where I entered Long Dale, which is part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve, and is your typical dry valley with limestone outcrops but generally grassy with plenty of wild flowers. However, the best thing in the area is not in Long Dale, but in Gratton Dale, which is accessed after turning north and whose slopes are covered in wild flowers that were initially mainly cowslip, but later the banks were also covered in oxeye daisy and buttercups and looked fabulous. When I was there in 2017 it had been earlier in the season so different flowers had decorated the scene but it still delighted me as I passed through the gloriously overgrown valley and was my primary motivator to do this walk again.

Sadly the valley eventually came to an end and I took a path that climbs to the east out of the valley though there was some confusion resulting from it not exactly matching the map. I recalled I had similar problems last time and this helped me as I picked my route on the wrong side of the fence, according to the map, that led me past Oddo House Farm to the village of Elton. After passing through the village I joined the Limestone Way, which I would now follow for most of the rest of the walk until I returned to the High Peak Trail. Upon joining the trail I headed steeply up a track, which in the hot, sunny weather was a bit tiring, slowly climbing above the village of Winster until eventually I reached Bonsall Moor where I found lovely meadows teeming with wild flowers in an abundant display that more than made up for the climb. With stunning views all around me under clear blue skies and gorgeous wild flowers at my feet I passed over Bonsall Moor until finally I began to descend to the Upper Town of Bonsall where a branch of the Limestone Way heads off to Matlock along a route that I previously took in 2018, while in 2017 I had left the trail to head down into Cromford so I could catch my train.

This time, after having my lunch, I turned south to stay on the Limestone Way along what were now virgin paths for me as I climbed out of Bonsall through terrain that was not as appealing as I had enjoyed earlier on Bonsall Moor and though occasionally I would see some interesting wild flowers they could not achieve the earlier interest as the walk now became a bit of a slog. I had considered following the 2017 route into Cromford, but that would have required a steep climb back out and in this heat I didn’t want to prolong the walk, however that was happening anyway. The Limestone Way was slowly taking me past the undulating terrain of Bonsall Mines and steeply down onto the main road at the top of the wooded Griffe Grange Valley, where the road takes a route known as Via Gellia, but is not a place to explore on foot, though it is a great place to drive or cycle. I now started climbing once more out of the valley around Grange Mill Quarry through dreary fields as my steps slowed with the tedium and I counted down the fields that I had left to cross until finally I reached the High Peak Trail not far from Harboro’ Rocks.

I had walked to this point on Monday along the Limestone Way and now I retraced my steps along the High Peak Trail and was relieved to be walking along the flat, level course of the old railway. The walk along the Limestone Way from Bonsall was exhausting, but I could now relax as I strolled back to my car. There was a lot of variety in this walk from the fabulous wildflower-covered dales at the start to the grassy hills covered with meadow flowers on the Limestone Way and ended with the flat High Peak Trail, though all under hot sunshine. The weather during this week in the Peak District was sensational, though perhaps a little too hot for walking, though it did compensate for the social distancing required at this time.