Peak District - Dove Dale & Bunster Hill

Date: 3rd May 2014
Route: Dove Dale Circular via Milldale, Hall Dale and Bunster Hill
Distance: 8.5 miles

A beautiful Bank Holiday weekend seems like the perfect opportunity to head off to the Peak District and try out some more classic walks.

Our first choice is a circular walk starting in Dove Dale - so iconic that its photo graces the cover of the Day Walks in the Peak District guidebook (and so popular that an early start is advised, if you want to get a space in the car park).

The easy riverside stroll down to the stepping stones at the start of the walk proper, the well-maintained path to the pretty village of Milldale and the irresistible combination of fast-flowing river, steep, green valley sides and erratically placed huge rocks by the wayside lull you into a false sense of security, that this is going to be a very flat, very easy wander. It isn't!.

Once out of Milldale, the crowds and the flatness both disappear rapidly, with a steady climb along a country lane to the village of Alstonefield, accompanied by dry stone walls and fields filled with  cows, sheep and dandelions. From Alstonefield the path continues to Stanshope (lots of teenagers on outward bound weekends with over-sized rucksacks) then down back to the river Dove through Hall Dale (yet more teenagers with rucksacks and some pained-looking and very patient teachers).

After a short stretch along the river, the route heads steeply and exhaustingly back up the hillside, through bluebell-heavy woodlands, the neighbouring hilltops visible on the opposite bank of the river. The final sections of the walk are across open countryside - rolling hillsides with views over the green surrounding countryside in every direction, a climb up Bunster Hill to join the para-gliders at the summit then a steep descent around the hillside and back to Dove Dale.

This is not an easy walk but even though there are less taxing ways to see Dove Dale, I would still recommend it, as a fantastic introduction to the Peak District. Immeasurably improved by not being on a school trip, though!