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Abbots Bromley to Air Cottage

Pretty rhododendrons by the River Dove
Pretty rhododendrons by the River Dove

Oh my god, what an awful, awful day. I'm sure someone put something in my coffee this morning that made each hour last a week; I walked 21 miles today, and my mind is so worried about conserving my sanity that it's already started erasing the memories. I'd better write them down quickly...

A bridge over the River Dove at Ellastone
A bridge over the River Dove at Ellastone

County Hopping

A llama near Ellastone
A llama near Ellastone

After Uttoxeter the Staffs Way ducks into Derbyshire for a time. I hoped that this would signal a change of scenery and perhaps a break from the monotony of farmland, because for a few miles the Way runs along the edge of the River Dove's floodplain. Given my happy experience with the River Severn, I had high hopes.

A sign with a strange-shaped man on it
The strange-shaped man of the Staffs Way signs, this time on display in Blore
The bridge into Ilam
The bridge into Ilam

Into the Peaks

Cottages in Ilam
The distinctive cottages of Ilam

In the few miles preceding my stellar performance in the shit rink, the landscape gradually changed. Sure, there were still plenty of fields, sheep, cows, farms and bloody stiles, but it's around here that the flat, tedious farmland of Staffordshire starts turning grittier and more rugged. The reason is simple; just round the corner is the Peak District National Park.

The view north along Dovedale from the back garden of Air Cottage
The view north along Dovedale from the back garden of Air Cottage
The view south along Dovedale from the back garden of Air Cottage
The view south along Dovedale from the back garden of Air Cottage
A healthy range of whisky in the Watts Russell Arms in Hopedale
A healthy range of whisky in the Watts Russell Arms in Hopedale