It was while I put the final bits and pieces to April – Monyash edition and, mentioning in the text that it starts and finishes in Monyash, it struck me that there is another of my favourites also starting from Monyash old market square. It is only a little under four miles, but it leads to one of the Peak District’s prettiest dales, Lathkill Dale. Over the years, this dale has become one of my favourites and can be tacked on to any number of walks radiating from Monyash, such as the one I am about to describe. It is strictly in two halves, an upper and lower along Lathkill Dale, with the upper having the furthest views. This walk like the Monyash/Flagg walk, can form a figure-of-eight, radiating from the market square and back. In total, when combined with April’s walk to Flagg, the combined distance is just under nine miles. Although further than most of my walks published in Country Images, it should be well within the capabilities of the average fit walker on a day when the sun shines and all the wild flowers are in bloom. There are three main features worth adding to the description of features seen along the way. The first is noted soon after leaving Monyash, where Peakland lead mining history can be traced from the records of Monyash Barmote Court. (The late C.H. Millington from Monyash, was the last of Peakland independent miners). The mass of narrow, stone-walled fields indicate that the land hereabouts was being tilled by Saxon settlers long before the Romans came this way, in their insatiable quest for lead. The turning point of the walk is One Ash Grange farm. It was once a monastic outpost, so far from the parent monastery that it was frequently used...
