Steve And Tracey's Travel And Food Blog.: Win Hill Walk And Ladybower Inn,Sunday 27th September 2015.

With the prospect of a good forecast today and a full day to ourselves,Trace and myself decided to partake in a 11.5 mile walk in the beautiful Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park taking in Win Hill,Hope Cross and Ladybower Reservoir.
After a bit of a nightmare getting through Sheffield due to the Great Yorkshire Run and many diversions,we eventually arrived at our starting point,Heatherdene car park(Post Code-S33 0AZ or GPS Waymarker point - SK 202 858)beside Ladybower Reservoir.All day parking cost only £2.50,which i thought was brilliant value and we used a book from the Pathfinder Guides series and O/s map OL1 to complete the walk.
At first we thought we had made a mistake with the weather,with the area blanketed in thick fog and fairly cool,but later on things improved dramatically.
The first section of the walk up to Win Hill itself is quite long and fairly steep in places,but the higher we got towards the hill,the more the views became more and more impressive.An added element to the superb views,was the wisps of low cloud and mist in the valley below,what an impressive area.
As we took a breather and chatted to some fellow walkers and were visited by some nosey local sheep a flock of 32 Pink-footed Geese passed by high south on their way to their wintering grounds in Lincolnshire or Norfolk,a nice sight and sound to see and hear.
After Win hill itself,the rest of the walk was all easy going and mostly down hill and provided more nice views towards Lose Hill,Mam Tor and the lovely valley of Edale.We also came across a few more welcome wildlife and bird sightings which included Crossbills,2 Common Buzzard and Buff Tip and Garden Tiger Caterpillars.
We eventually made our way to the final leg of the walk alongside the River Ashop and Ladybower Reservoir itself,with more lovely scenery along the banks and arrived back at Heatherdene car park,slightly tired,but what an enjoyable walk with some stunning scenery to boot.
After our lovely walk we made our way to the local Ladybower Inn,only a stones throw from Heatherdene for some well earned food.
Beware if visiting in nice weather,as this pub is always busy and the parking can be limited at times,but the food is worth persevering for as it is excellent.
Todays meal consisted of two courses each and for mains Trace had Slow Roasted Belly Pork with Sauteed Cabbage And Onion,Sage And Onion Mash And Cider Jus and i went for a traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding with Parsnips,Cabbage,Carrots,Roast and Boiled Potatoes,lovely it was too.For sweet Tracey had Lemon and Lavender Pannacotta,with Raspberries and Lavender biscuits and i had Bakewell Pudding and Custard.This along with two large cokes came to a very reasonable £36.00,which for the standard of food was very good value.After enjoying this cracking meal we made our way home back to North Lincolnshire,after another superb day out.