Not looking forward to the hills that await me enroute to edale tomorrow!

Last night before I went to bed I finished that egg mayo sandwich, and realized that was what smelt like cow crap. I'm still deciding if it was better off that way or not! I had 7 old annoying ladies in my room but at least they all went to bed at the same time as me. This morning a receptionist asked if I wanted to switch rooms to be in with a 19 yr old girl. I said I don't mind either way but what I was really thinking was YES GET ME OUT OF THAT HELLHOLE! So I went downstairs to eat breakfast and I couldn't believe my eyes! The fog had cleared and I could actually see the hills surrounding the yha! Wow were they beautiful! Today really was a total contrast to yesterday, thank god. So when I went to get lance from his bike shed, I saw that the headlight bracket hadn't fallen off! in my semi panic state last night I had forgotten which side of my bell it was on. Unfortunately the slidey part on the light itself is broken, so it won't clip into place, so ill still have to hold it! Anyway, I set off to explore more local trails. I was determined to find this damn monsal trail and since I didn't find it yesterday, turning right out of the hostel (today was a much better day for it anyway), I turned left today. And I did see a sign for the trail but there were steps leading up to it! I thought this was a well known bike trail!? So I decided to lock lance up there and follow a walking path thru chee dale nature reserve, which was along the river wye. It was real gorgeous, saw some herons, some dippers (I think), some tits and a few other birds. The path was a bit rocky and very muddy so I was slip sliding all over the place. There were cliffs towering over both sides of the river and it was mostly woodland habitat. I walked for a bit but decided to turn back when there was a steep rocky decline, so I went back to a junction and followed the path uphill towards wormhill. When I got to the top I saw a flock of sheep running down the hill and then I saw the Australian shepherd chasing after them, then the owner chasing after her screaming LUNA! LUNA! I saw signs everywhere to keep dogs on leashes cause they can scare or harm the livestock, but I guess that guy thought he was above the law. It was a funny sight to see though. So after wormhill I continued up, saw a small waterfall and when I went close to take a photo, my foot sank in the mud! So there you have it, the whole rest of the day I had a soggy foot. Then I hiked to the top and got to a road, followed that into a dale area but it was soo muddy so I turned around and just followed the road. Then I took a public footpath which led to the millers dale old midway rail train station. The monsal trail passed through there so I finally found it, but was suffering from lance withdrawals so I decided to get him, then ride the trail (not without getting a toffee ice cream for lunch and climbing up the hill to the old limekilns) so I got a little lost, went briefly thru monks dale, and back tracked myself a bit but I found him in the end and after asking some hikers with a map the best way to monsal trail, I concluded to just carry him up the steps. And there were about 50 of them. When I got to the top I was back at the millers dale train station!! Wish I had known that was the way before I went all loop de looping! So I rode along the monsal, it was very popular. I'm scared to know what summer weekends are like! I checked the sites along the way like millers dale quarry and priestcliff. Priestcliff was real steep and again muddy so I left lance at the bottom and walked up. Yesterday when I was doing that concession(?) Trail I realized I was hiking up with my helmet but as soon as I took it off I slipped and nearly fell over, so I kept it on this time :-) at the top, there were some great views of the cliffs and the dales yonder. When I was riding along the monsal trail there was this box that you could hear different stories from locals about the midland railway. One that particularly caught my attention was when a guy was on an express train from Manchester to Sheffield and wanted to get off at milers dale, so the conductor told him when they approach milers dale he will tap his shoulder. This will signal the driver to slow down and thats the mans cue to jump out of the train!! And he said when he landed, it wasn't on the platform, he didn't know where he was, he fell into a stream and got all wet and had to like bushwack his way to the road! What a crazy story, I believe something like that would definitely have happened in like the 20s, but no way today! ( unless in China). so I went off trail a little bit at several other points to check out the vegetation and litton mills. The trail is what was once the rail line (hence the station) and so it went thru a few tunnels which was cool in every sense of the word. Then there was a footpath to the top of the hill, which was monsal head so I climbed up there with lance, which was tiring! But when we got to the top the view was breathtaking! Chessbrook mills lying in the valley with the river wye flowing beside it with limestone cliffs and dales and trees all around it! At this point its 3 pm and I'm hungry for real food so I go into the pub at the head but it was really crowded and overpriced (£4.20 for soup..that's nearly times sq prices!) So I left and sat on a bench overlooking the valley and had my nutella sandwich there. Then I took the road back in the direction I came cause it was going to get dark soon, so I didn't continue on the trail to bakewell ( and also was in no mood to bring lance back down that path) so I rode down the hill instead and at the bottom I saw the road signs I saw last night when I got lost! So at least I knew my way back and it wasn't too far. So I rode for a bit and was able to see the "wilderness" that I couldn't see last night. But then I saw a sign for ravendale so I went that way and quickly came to a narrow and very rocky walking path. So I walked lance the whole way. At about 340 ish the sun was getting low and I thought I need to find a road before it gets dark. Luckily there was a man walking with 2 dogs so I asked him how to get to litton and good thing I asked cause I never would have gone the route he told me. I had to squeeze lance through a few tiny gates and carry him up and over dry stone walls, then wheel him up the steep hill again! At one point I slipped and my knee banged a rock. But it was nothing major. My right shin is very bruised from lances frame though!! So I eventually crossed through some dales, trying to avoid all the cow pats and came to a farm. I asked a farmer how to get to the main road and thank god it was not too far and I still had some daylight to spare. The road on the farm was so muddy that I road in the dirty puddles until the water got too deep and I went onto the muddy track but the mud was so soft it stopped lance dead in his tracks. So I walked him for a bit. Adding more mud to my shoes and jeans. Shortly after I got to the red lion pub in litton. A local took one look at me and asked if I fell! My jeans are totally destroyed and I will be needing new sneakers after this journey. I also had mud on various spots on my face. So I had a meal there that had goats cheese in it cause I wanted to see if it tasted as bad as I remembered from malham. It was tolerable, but maybe that was cause ive been eating bread and nutella for the past few meals. Then I got back to the yha, switched rooms, and showered. I tried to tackle the gigantic knot that's been in my hair for over a week but I couldn't, so I just cut it out. There is a hole in the back of my head now, but I have so much hair, it'll cover it! And anyway it will grow back quick enough. For the time being it is less to manage! It might be no surprise that I am completely exhausted, I may call it a night at 9 pm!