Good news – no rain today! But still very windy as I set off from Edale with a good friend, Tony Britton. We climbed up past Mam Tor and headed south across fields to pick up the Limestone Way and a comfortable few miles before descending a long track down to Hay Dale, the first of 3 dales we would walk through. It was flat and grassy 
so I thought our scheduled lunch meeting with Cath, Betty and Debbie Britton would be no problem….until we got to Peter Dale where the ground was sodden and evidently cattle trodden. As we skirted around the mud the cows duly appeared in our way so we skirted them too but progress was slow. We then came to Monks Dale and bad got worse as we picked our way through a slippery limestone jungle, clambering over and ducking under fallen trees progress got even slower. As we eventually reached the end of the dale I slipped on a step and lost my maps but fortunately realised soon after and went back to find them. We were already late for lunch so had a quick route change and trekked up a long farm track around the hill 
towards Taddington where the girls were waiting.
Debbie and Tony exchanged places after a belated lunch and Debbie 
walked with me for the afternoon through the villages of Flagg and Monyash across more fields and country lanes. We picked up the old railway line Tissington Trail 
and strode out the last few miles to Heathcote in good time for dinner. Sadly PJ has left with Debbie and Tony to stay with them for some time to see if his paw will heal.
I have more dales to walk along tomorrow, maybe I’ll rethink the route…