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| Kedleston Park. |
Last day then, and it is a short one at only thirteen miles. Turns out this is no bad thing as the first footpath I try to find from the campsite eludes me totally, and I find myself wandering around the extensive gardens of somebody's house looking for it. My GPS tells me I should be the other side of a stream, and after the fun I had in a similar situation two years back, I give up and head back to the road, planning to circle around. Then a 4x4 emerges from the gate behind me and pulls alongside, and I brace myself for a telling off - but instead, the nice chap points me to just where the path was hiding, 'between the two ponds'. Onwards then, through more farmland, although I do manage to go the wrong way again... not too far though.
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| The Joiners Arms - good ploughmans lunch. |
Some poor route planning means I have a couple of miles along a surprisingly busy road, and it is a real relief to leave it to enter another country estate, this time the National Trust owned Kedleston Park. I've been here a couple of times before for the Bearded Theory music festival - it is rather quieter now. From here a little more road and then some welcome footpath takes me to the Joiners Arms for lunch.
I continue to take advantage of past landscaping by the landed gentry, this time walking through Allestree Park which is now maintained by Derby council, and rather charming it is too. From here I return to the Derwent, grown rather larger since I last saw it a few days ago. The river takes me all the way into Derby, past the fascinating Darley Abbey Mills, and through numerous parks. I reach the vicinity of the station, and have the good luck to find a beer festival going at the Brunswick Arms, what better way to finish the walk. It has been a good one, not a drop of rain, nor a single blister... shame I have to go back to work tomorrow really.
Photos to go with this post can be found here.
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