Peak District

On Friday the Lad makes it to the park for the first time in a week. Then we drive over to Prestbury, which is near Macclesfield. We check in at the Bridge Hotel where we are staying before heading off to the Legh Arms for a pint, because they have better beer, before returning to the Bridge to eat. 

Saturday is Parkrun at Alderley Park. It is a course with multiple trip hazards but thankfully I don’t trip and this is probably helped by the fact the Lad isn’t running with me. He is still banned from running due to his limp. 

We get a Full English at a pub called the Churchill before we head into Macclesfield for more coffee and to check out their bookshops. L is unimpressed by the one she finds inside the shopping centre. 

We spend the whole evening in the Legh Arms where we have a very good meal including a black ice cream dessert and several Old Toms. 

 

After breakfast at the hotel, we put the Lad in the village stocks for a photo opportunity and then do a road trip through Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith, where we have coffee at the delightful Pug and Pudding. 

We arrive at our next stopover in Buxton where we have a beer in the Beer Stop micro pub and then spend the evening in Titanic Brewery’s Cheshire Cheese where we have a Sunday Roast and I have 6.5% Special Reserve versions of both their Plum and Cherry Porters. 

On Monday morning, we do a run before breakfast. L does three laps of Pavilion Gardens; I do two laps and the Lad does none. The vet says he is now allowed ten minute long walks but we are probably cheating by doing several of these one after the other as we head up to Solomons Temple from Pooles Cavern. 

 

The Red Willow Brewery’s bar wasn’t open on Sunday but it is on Monday, so I sample their very nice 5.3% Treacle Treat Dark Ale. I sample it several times before we head back to hotel for food. 

On Tuesday we head to Edale and walk the very bottom section of the Pennine Way before heading to Hope for coffee and also visit Eyam. Then we head to our next stopover at the Little John Inn in Hathersage. The pub is under new management and the food and beer are not as advertised on their website. The beer is not terrible but food wise we both have to resort to pie and chips. L is so distressed by it all she almost faints but quickly recovers enough for us to move across to the nearby George for better beer and to book a table there for Wednesday. 

Wednesday sees us at Hathersage’s outdoor pool for a swim. I think the water is freezing but L just laughs at me. I assume it’s nowhere near as cold as it is at Colwick lake. The last time I was in this pool was for the Hathersage Triathlon which I did from 2007 to 2009. It’s also possibly good training in case I decide to return for the 2026 event. Afterwards we have a coffee in the pool cafe. 

We do a bit of a drive around and drop in for a pint of Old Peculiar in Bamford at the Anglers Rest which is rather nice community pub. Then back in Hathersage we have our booked table and a very good meal that I finish off with a massive four desserts dessert dish which even comes with a small glass of dessert wine. 

On Thursday we head home through Bakewell, where we stop for coffee. 

(Thursday 13^th November)