09-Nov-2023
Milford, where we currently live, is quite small:
"Our" mill
All the houses round here are built of this gorgeous stone
Belper is our nearest town-of-any-size:
And Belper is running in cafes...
Cocoa Cafe, for example, makes the best hot chocolate I've had in a really long while (and the scones are good, too)
Up until today, we'd just walked along the road to get to Belper. That's not a bad experience. It's quite a busy highway, but there are pavements, and there's plenty of interest along the way, including the question of how the river is looking (answer: Way better than the first day we did this walk...)
Today, however, we decided to try the hill route to Belper. Which is really beautiful:
Exiting Milford (starting with a steep climb definitely warms you up on a cool day)
The Tower on Sunny Hill, aka Stephenson's Tower
More fabulous autumn views
I've drawn a blank on finding out what this massive wall is...
Descending
Terrain-wise, so far so good. A little muddy in places, but nothing untoward.
Once down the hill, though, we were completely routed by a ginormous puddle across the entire path. Not really a puddle, actually. More a lake.
Lake, I tell you. The sort of thing the Loch Ness monster could reside in.
So we had to backtrack, and resort to the roads.
Anyway, we reached Belper. We had a nice lunch at Lauren's Courtyard Coffee Shop, which -- in our opinion -- offers great-value food and drink.
And then we walked home along the road -- but the twiddly version that sets off uphill first.
I like Belper.
Belper celebrating peace after World War I
What we call the gingerbread houses