A Visit to Dove Dale

Although my favourite adventures happen by boat, Grizzly and Polar also take us bears to interesting places in their little red car. 

Polar has a week off work this week, so we are having even more small bear adventures than usual.

Last Friday, we bears went to the Peak District for the first time.  Most people think the Peak District is all in Derbyshire but my friend Hanley Bear was very proud to tell me that some of it is in Staffordshire.

'The best bits are all in Staffordshire!' he insisted. 

Polar and Grizzly took us to a village called Ilam, where there is an old country house, now used as a youth hostel, and a path that goes to a place called Dove Dale. 

'It's quite a long walk, bears,' said Polar.  'You had better stay in your bag for most of it, so you don't tire your back paws and we can keep you safely away from the rivers.'

There are two very lovely rivers here.  One is called the Manifold, and it runs through the grounds of Ilam House.  The other is the Dove, which is the boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire. 

Polar was right that we had a long walk to Dove Dale, at least if you are a small bear.  Humans who like hiking would think it was a short and easy walk.  One path winds around the sides of stony fields full of sheep and little skippy lambs. 

The fields were divided by walls made from loose rocks.  These are called dry-stone walls, because they are not held together with mortar or cement, they are just put together very cleverly so the all pieces fit neatly and snugly, like a jigsaw.

Polar followed a little path the sheep had made across the moors to take a better photo of the view.  If you look closely and the picture on the right, you can just see Grizzly walking along near the wall.  He looks no bigger than a small bear!

Dove Dale is very narrow, with the sparkling river running very swiftly through a steep, limestone gorge.  Because it had been rainy a few days earlier, the river had flowed over its banks in places.  Polar didn't mind, as she had her big walking boots on, but we were very glad to be in our bear bag. 

You can see that, when we got to the stepping stones across to Derbyshire, there was water to wade through just to reach them.  We wondered what to do next.  We knew Polar could carry us across in our bag, but we didn't want her or Grizzly to slip on the rocks.

'We've got quite a long walk back,' Grizzly said.  'Let's stop here for a quick drink of water, then go back to Ilam House for a nice cup of tea.'

'And some cake!'  I said.

'Or scones!' said Endon.

'Or oatcakes!' cheered Hanley.

Polar put the bear bag down for us to sit on, as the grass was damp.  We watched lots of people going back and forth across the stepping stones.  I would have liked to see what was around the corner, further along the valley.  Grizzly and Polar promised we would come back soon, when the bluebells are in flower, while Hanley said we had already seen the best part as that had to be the Staffordshire side of the river!

'You might change your mind when we take you into Derbyshire next week,' said Polar, but Hanley stamped his back paws and gave a little growl.

'Staffordshire is best!' he said.

When we got back to Ilam House, we had coffee and walnut cake in the tearooms.  We had enjoyed our day so much that I asked Polar to help me write a review on the visitor feedback form, then posted it into the little box.

Polar let us play in the gardens before we went home and we found they had little deckchair which are just the right size for small bears to nap in, although the smaller bears were too excitable and wriggly for me to sleep during the afternoon, so we played hide-and-seek around the flower beds until it was time to go home.