ENGLAND May 2012: Hiking in the Derbyshire Dales and Thames Path


Once again we linked together two Footpath Holidays tours, the first(DBDSBE5) in the Derbyshire Dales and the second(TMS1) along the Thames Path. This time we tried a "Self-guided" walk in the Dales, explaining the many pictures of Rod with his rain-proof map case. The self guided tour was not the first choice, but the minimum group size wasn't met, so we tried that mode of tour for the first time. Footpath Holidays supplied detailed descriptions of the route, which along with their marked topographic maps, was sufficient to allow Rod's Boy Scout compass to rest unused for another 40+ years. The drivers at Greenway Cars arranged by them for the transport to and from endpoints on the walk were very flexible, something that is important if you end a walk early and are standing outside a pub in the rain.

Each tour was 4 days of hiking (for us), since we skipped an extra rainy day on the Thames on Thursday. Kudos to the three who managed all 5 walking days on the second tour, now known as "wet", "wetter", and "lovely English weather" by the dryer, wiser 6 :)

More details on the tours can be found on the Footpath Holidays web site.

For the first tour we stayed at The Izaak Walton Hotel and for the second at The George in Wallingford. The food was distinctly better at the George, but neither hotel should be selected if one wants to lose weight, even with hiking each day. It should be noted that one should try the Delhi Brasserie in Wallingford for a good curry, rather than the hotel's version.

We took lots of photos, but will only include a small fraction of them here.

Photos are in chronological order, but merging pictures from 2 people, each with 2 devices, makes it only an approximation.

Resolution is reduced to 1600 for faster web display.

Display of this set of photos takes advantage of the Google Picasa Web Albums. The mechanisms are more robust there to display the pictures in your browser in different ways. For the first look, try the "Slideshow" button for the "England12" album. You will get a 3 second look at each photo without having to manually move from one to the next. You can change the interval, start and stop the slideshow, as you prefer.



Derbyshire Dales & Thames Path trip photos, May 2012