Wednesday 10 April 2013

From Baslow to Bakewell via Chatsworth

I am knackered!

I decided to go for a walk today while also exploring places nearby that I haven't seen. I used the Visit Chesterfield website and found something called car free walks. This of course suits me perfectly since I don't have a car! There were quite a few walks on the page but in the end I decided in the Baslow to Bakewell walk. I have been to Bakewell and Chatsworth before but I figured actually walking there would be a completely different thing.


Baslow is a very small place, I didn't really explore it that much, I just wanted to get started on my walk. I also think I would prefer exploring places with someone, that way you get to see it through their eyes as well as your own. Anyway. It's a small place with lots of old buildings. On the directions I had gotten from the website it said that there would be a sign pointing towards Chatsworth, it's a very small sign so I almost walked straight past it!




The walk from Baslow to Chatsworth is actually very short, it's through a very nice park that's been made to look just like regular fields, filled with sheep and everything! A lot of other people were walking there was well, many who were probably heading to Chatsworth for the day but also some people that were just out for a walk in the nice weather.



I have been to Chatsworth before so I didn't go inside the house or the gardens behind it, but I did walk up to the hunter's tower on top of the hill. I have never bee there before but I've wanted to since the first time I went to Chatsworth. I have gotten fairly out of shape. The climb up wasn't really bad at all, a little steep but not for long, but I did have to sit down once I got to the top. The tower is private property so you can't go inside it, but the view from the hill is nice anyway. I wish it hadn't been misty but the view was still beautiful.


From the hunting tower at Chatsworth I walked to Edensor (pronounced Enzor), a little village very close to Chatsworth, I didn't even realize it was there! The walk there was short but it went over a small hill where I got a nice view of the house, even if it was misty. I even saw some deer there! And when going down the hill on the other side I got a very nice view of Edensor. I think it's probably the smallest village I've seen so far!




From Edensor there wasn't any more villages or anything to see besides sheep and the beautiful landscape, which was enough of course. I didn't have a signal on my phone at all and I have to admit it was really nice to just walk over fields and through forests without thinking about checking my phone or anything. I met quite a few other people on the walk, and I'm kind of glad; the directions I had with me weren't really perfect so it was nice to be able to see which direction other people headed to and came from. At one point I had to make a choice between two routes, I chose the easier one as I wasn't sure how good the grip on my winter boots would be on the other route, that was the only part of the route where I didn't meet anyone else seems everyone else took the more difficult route.



Once I got to Bakewell I had some time before I had to catch the bus back to Chesterfield so I had a little wander about. I realized I didn't recognize much of it since the last time I was there so it was kind of fun to explore it again. I wish I had worn some better shoes for walking though as my feet hurt too much to explore Bakewell too much.


I'm surprised at how cheap the bus tickets to Baslow (2.30GBP) and from Bakewell (3GBP) was, I got a day out for just over 5quid! Add bottled water for my walk and dinner and I still spent less than 10GBP today! I will have to go on some more walks now while I've got the time to do it. At least I'm spending my money on getting fresh air and exercise instead of on something silly I don't need.

This is part of why I wanted to move to the UK for so long: The old buildings and villages and the countryside. 

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