Rained early this morning, now constant drizzle if it doesn’t stop we will give Bakewell and the Monsal Trail a miss. The Monsal Trail would have been great to cycle is starts from the old railway station where we are and goes all the way to Wyedale. We were only going to cycle to the Monsal Viaduct a smaller version of the Ribblehead Viaduct.

With the weather the way it is we decide to carry on to Buxton about 9 miles away hoping the weather is better there. Exchanged our gas bottle for a full one £20.70, 30p cheaper. Driving down the hill we notice the show people are packing up and the town is back to normal full of tourists spending their money.

On the A6 going through the Derbyshire Dales winding down the mountainous valley through woodlands, by small villages, farmhouses, paddocks of sheep and cows. Views of limestone cliffs as we weave our way down to the valley below alongside the river passing under tall bridges, with limestone cliff one side and drystone wall by the river the other side before coming to Buxton entering under a huge viaduct rail line.

Buxton is one of the most popular tourist destination in the Peak District, as we noticed and famous for its natural spring water, Georgian and Victorian architecture providing an impressive backdrop to a rich and vibrant range of music, theatre and festivals which are on all the time.

Strolled along Spring Gardens Pedestrian only street window shopping and looking at the old buildings before crossing Terrace Road to The Slopes a park with paths through the trees rising in front of the Crescent and together with the Crescent form a complete circle. The Crescent (1784) is a rival to the Royal Crescent we saw in Bath and at the moment it is hidden by scaffolding and is in the process of being restored to its former glory, plus the Pump Room (1894) opposite an addition to the water treatments of the time will be reopened as part of the Crescent Development when it becomes the Buxton Crescent Hotel & Thermal Spa. A lot of the old limestone buildings are being restored and now hidden by scaffolding, at least the front of the Buxton Opera House has been restored and we can actually see it.

Near the Crescent is the Pavilion Gardens opened in 1871 on 23 acres of land was restored to the original layout in 2000. Beautiful to stroll through along the banks of the River Wye with a very imposing Bandstand, the ‘Snail Back” garden, miniature railway in the distance and lakes filled with a variety of water birds and a 6m fountain.

Pity all the old original buildings have been reinvented as something else now, the St John’s Church is home to the Buxton Musical Society, the impressive Devonshire Dome that dominates the skyline built for the Royal Buxton Hospital is now the University of Buxton. I could go on about all the buildings we saw but that will be boring Buxton is a lovely old town to walk and soak up the atmosphere of the bygone days.

Next town to see was Ashbourne 18 miles away on the A515, back to climbing the winding road up the hillside out of Buxton, through the Dales to the countryside of farmland, paddocks of sheep and cows, woodlands, farmhouses with large barns, miles of drystone walls dividing the paddocks a real patchwork quilt landscape.

We seemed to be zig-zagging up and down the countryside till we reached Ashbourne another fine Georgian, Victorian market town and very busy. Being tired we walked round the Market Place buildings dating from the 13th century, down lanes, St John and Church Street looking at the old buildings trying to make out what they originally were, but gave up. This is where you need a City Guide who knows the history of their town but we have seen enough of old buildings as they seem to merge into one.

Time to find a home for the night, Peterborough is 70 odd miles away, too far to drive and there is not much on offer on the A52 to Derby till we pulled into a layby hidden from the main road by trees and bushes. Our first time on a main road layby but it is home for the night along with another semi that pulled up for the night. Lovely chap from Romania spoke little English been on the road for 8 weeks offered Richard some of his brother’s homemade wine, very potent, made me dizzy just smelling it.