Dovedale
23. 5. 2026
Peter Schrammel
Weather
sunny, some clouds
Interest 
***: Beautiful nature between lonelinesss and overtourism
Route
Hartington, 228m - Milldale, 174m - Baley Hill, 342m - Dove Holes, 165m - Stepping Stones, 138m - Thorpe Cloud, 287m - Thorpe Road Bridge, 133m - Ashbourne, 119m
Elevation gain
+447m/-556m
Distance
24km
Timing
5h30 (2:00 + 0:30 + 0:20 + 0:35 + 0:15 + 0:20 + 1:30)
Stamina
D: very long towards the end
Difficulty
0: sometimes rocky, steep and slippery
Danger
3: little cliffs along the broad path <2, steep slopes during the descent from Baley Hill 2, direct ascent to Thorpe Cloud 3 (summit cliffs!!!)
Visitor frequency
d: until Milldale c, Baley Hill b, then total craziness e, from to Thorpe to Ashbourne b
Report
The weather forecast for the bank holiday weekend was expecting extraordinary heat with more than 30 degrees. Time to escape into the mountains. However, as usual it was impossible to get any accommodation in Wales at short notice. So, I decided to do a hike at least for a day. The vale of the River Dove had already caught my eye for a while. I took the train at 6.39am via Birmingham and Derby to Belper. From there I continued by bus via Ashbourne to Hartington. Despite very short transfer times this took almost 4 hours, but was admittedly a scenic ride across the hilly Derbyshire landscape with endless stone walls separating the pastures. After zipping off my trouser legs and putting sun screen I walked down towards the valley and missed the trail head which is well hidden next to a farm shop. The parking across the road was full. There were lots of hikers on the path, but reasonably spread out. The path follows the river, first left, then right and then remains left after reaching a glade with characteristic rocks and caves that have been used by the locals for millennia. Apparently, the river is very popular with fishers, although I couldn't see a single fish. Towering crags on both sides of the valley announce the confluence of Biggin Dale. The section from here onwards is most picturesque: the river becomes windier with hawthorns blossoming in white and red on the steep slopes. A park ranger pointed out a heron to me that was sitting on a tree watching out for prey in the river underneath. The path then joins a tarmac road which crosses the river over an old stone bridge and leads down to Milldale. I overtook some lagging scouts who got more excited about their hike by people wandering around with ice cream as we were approaching Milldale, a hamlet at the confluence of two deeply carved valleys. It was 12.30pm and time for lunch; other people had the same idea and populated the small patch of grass between the road and the river. I couldn't resist the temptation to also get an ice cream from the farm shop despite the rather lengthy queue. After 1pm I crossed the old, curved stone bridge and climbed the opposite slope towards Baley Hill. The wavy pastures on the plateaus above the deeply cut river valleys gradually appeared as I gained height. The triangular slab of Ravens Tor guards the western slope of the valley. At 1.30pm I reached the craggy summit with views along Dovedale north to south. I descended eastwards down into a canyon. To avoid the southeast-facing cliffs I walked along the little strip of woodland where I actually found a slippery path that led me down to the bottom of the canyon. From there I followed a path partially overgrown with nettles back to River Dove. The path was a lot busier here than north of Milldale. A gigantic cave-like overhang and a smaller cave are the main attractions of this river bend. The next eye-catcher is Ilam Rock, a huge, dangerously slanting rock tower. The following section was dominated by the scenery of rock towers on both sides of the river. The path was more and more maintained by stone paving and wooden planks as the percentage of badly shoed walkers increased. A little uphill climb almost led to the formation of queues. The total craziness was yet to come: at the wide river bend at the Stepping Stones there was the ambiance of a funfair. A giant banner asked people not to light fires and have barbecues. Dogs were jumping around in the river. People in slippers were climbing the exposed north ridge of Thorpe Cloud. Towards 3pm I reached the summit of Thorpe Cloud with vertiginous views down to the hustle and bustle in the valley. I continued to the impressively craggy southeast summit and enjoyed the view over the green hills in the south for a while. A farmer in Thorpe offered extra parking space on their meadow. I still had to walk more than 8km along the river to Ashbourne. As soon as I had left Thorpe road, I only encountered the rare dog walker. I didn't expect that I would be able to reach the bus at 5pm to Belper, but without pressing too much I was still there in time. The train connection in Birmingham was bad, thus it took me until 9.15pm to arrive in Oxford.