Here I am at Lover’s Leap! The stone steps leading up to this outcrop contained myriad crinoid fossils. Apparently, this part of Derbyshire was part of a warm, shallow sea just north of the equator about 300 million years ago. It stretches my imagination a bit to picture this place as a tropical lagoon with coral reefs, brachiopods, and crinoids.

I soon came to Reynard’s Cave, a place reportedly long used as a shelter. There is a beautiful arch just outside the entrance and the stones on the ascent have been worn so as to be polished much like an abalone shell. There are many ferns and bryophytes growing amongst the rocks, including Asplenium scolopendrium, the harts-tongue fern.

There was a small tunnel leading further back into the cave. I went a little way in using the red LED on my camera as illumination, but without a proper torch I was reluctant to go any further.

I watched a pair of goosanders (a.k.a. the common merganser, Mergus merganser) in the River Dove. They were excellent divers and it was a pleasure to watch them fishing.

Another large limestone cave eroded by glacial meltwater.

This spire is known Ilam Rock and is apparently a favorite of local rock climbers.

I began looping back to the carpark at the quaint village of Milldale.

I ate lunch in the shelter of one of these stone walls. Out of the shelter of the dale, the wind was quite fierce.

And though it was mostly sunny, a big dark cloud blew over and a flurry of precipitation somewhere between snow and hail descended.

The round trip was just over six miles. You can see

the route I took on Google Maps.  All in all, a lovely day out!