Dobb Edge
Date: Often
Walkers: Celia, Margret, Audrey and Roger (last time).
Parking: Robin Hood - get there early especially at weekends.
The Walk:
This is to walking what pasta is to a good meal! You can add to it, take it just as it is or adjust it in so many ways that it is a good standby for bad weather or fragile days after a good night out. The basic route is only around 3 miles of easy walking but can be doubled if you are so inclined!From the Robin Hood Car Park follow the road to Baslow for a short way looking for a stile across the fence on the left hand side of the road about 150 metres from the start. Going over this stile you find 39 steps leading down to the stream. Follow the path down and over the stream and across a muddy area to a main track at which you bear right for about 5 metres! If you get as far as a gate and stile on this main track you have gone too far as our way leads diagonally upwards and to the left, to another stile about 25 metres away. The way forward is now obvious as you are between woodland or farmland on your left and a precipitous drop on your right. From thid Edge there are always good views across to Birchen Edge, Gardom Edge and Baslow Edge. The valley between is mainly deciduous woodland with a smattering of coniferous so the changing colours of all seasons is reflected beneath your feet. The path leads up and down a bit with one or two stiles but no real challenges.
Eventually you emerge onto open grassland with a view below of rough grazing with large and small boulders - an ideal playgound for rabbits and ideal hunting ground for birds of prey. A high wall with steps now faces you - this is the boundary wall for Chatsworth Park and is high to keep the deer in. No doubt before too long they will be charging to go over this wall as everything else in Chatsworth has become very commercialised since the death of the old Duke! Once the wall has been scaled you have 2 serious choices, The obvious choice is to take the path upwards to the top of Dobb Edge. The second obvious choice is to take the path diagonally downwards and into Chatsworth Park. You should take neither of these but go forwards on a less distinct path somewhere between the 2 of them. This will take you just below Dobb Edge onto a track used by the quarry men many generations ago. There are a series of small quarries along this stretch which are all worth investigating. The view over the valley has become partially obscured by the growth of the contorted oak trees in this area, but between the trees you get flashes of park, hillside and Baslow. This is a magical place and is all the better for been relatively unknown. Remnants of the quarrying work are easily found - there are millstones just left where they were made and a large stone trough only partly carved. A seat some 14 years old sits looking out towards Baslow in memory of someone who died aged only 26. Sadly the view is now obstructed by the trees. A Christmas wreath hangs in a tree near-by. What sad tale this represents will never be known. From here the path climbs a short way steeply up to the top of the quarries before joining the main top path mentioned earlier.
After a short distance a high stile gives access to Chatsworth woods. and a path to the left meets the main farm track which runs through these woods to the Hunting Tower. Traditionally we would have walked all the way to the Tower and then stopped to admire the view over Chatsworth House before descending down past the children's farmyard to the main House car park. However on this occasion we took a path down through woods just after a tipping area for vegetation. This path comes back on you and goes diagonally down the slope to a stile at the bottom of the wood. Over the stile you are on a raised bank which is presumably another intricate structure needed to prevent the deer escaping. We walked along the top of this raised bank towards the House. The edge of the woodland is an excellent area for bird watching with long-tailed tits much in evidence. Before reaching the end of the raised bank we headed down the slope to meet up with the top track through the park.
There are choices here as, on the one hand, you could walk towards the house and then return along the river. However, the quieter route is to turn right and keep as high up as possible. When the track veers off to the left, we kept straight on and into the ancient woodland which is back below Dobb Edge. This is a good place to see both the Red Deer and the Fallow Deer and on this occasion we were lucky enough to see a herd of each of them. The Fallow Deer are much shyer than there larger relatives and are on the move at the hint of man but patience can often be rewarded with good pictures of both types. At the end of the woodland we started to descend. The path is unclear here but the objective is to join up with the main farm track through the park which leads to a high stile back over the Park boundary wall. We then followed this well defined path back across a field before going over another stile and into a scrubby wooded area with the high cliffs to our right. This stretch of track can be a cold and breezy place if the weather is at all unkind, but today was pleasant enough. In autumn blackberries are everywhere and lighten the stretch back to a final stile near where we headed uphill at the start of the walk. All that remains is to go down to the stream and back up the 39 steps (2 near the fence - if you are counting!) and back to the car.
Comments:
As can be seen variations are numerous. Here are just 2 suggestions for longer walks. Firstly, from the Hunting Tower you can keep on the track behind The House and drop down at the far end of the Estate to the Garden Centre before following the river back. This would make the walk at least 6 miles. Or you could leave the Park through the track to Baslow and go back to the car beneath Gardom Edge. This is equally strenuous!
Hostelry:
Baslow has a range of establishments - none of which are too inspiring. We have yet to try the Robin Hood so would not dismiss this without trying it. As so many walks finish around the Baslow area it would be good to find a pleasant 'local' which serves good wholesome food with more than one vegetarian option.