Trip 10, July 2026,Bakewell Showground, Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Only 65 miles from home but narrow, twisty roads. The campsite is one of the meadows used by the Showground. We were directed to a level pitch and we quickly got set up. We read before a lunch and then around 15.00 we walked into Bakewell.
This was more of an information walk as opposed to shopping.
The bridge over the river used to have hundreds of padlocks attached to it, but it became so heavy that it was refurbished without the wires that people attached the love/memorial padlocks to.
The town was very busy, there were 7 tour coaches at the showground car park. We found The Red Lion pub with a beer garden so we stopped for a drink. The barman was very pleasant and we had a chat with him about cider and Devon, sad but interesting.
We headed for the other end of town and we came to a Green King pub, The Castle. It was such a hot day we stopped for beer. The staff were not so chatty here and the beer garden was more like a car park, but we had a drink in the sun. Then it was the walk home, I stopped at the coop for some cider and Sue went to an ice cream parlour and got us some really good Ice Creams. We got a seat by the river and ate them while people watching.
After the ices we walked along the river to the next bridge, we saw some really huge trout just cruising about. We continued home and it was my turn to cook tea on the bbq. Sausages and Burgers 🍔 to rival MacDonalds.
Day 2:
We headed out along a path to take us to the Monsal Trail. The first stop was by the river Wye where Sue paddled the last time we were here some ten years ago.
There was a small tent by the river with a couple in it so we left them to it and carried on following a path upto the Monsal Trail.
We walked the Monsal Trail to the old Bakewell Station,
It is now an industrial unit, from here we walked down into the town and followed a combination of footpaths in the new industrial units. With some help from a local couple we found the Thornbridge Brewery and the Tap room.
We could not resist trying a beer. A man had already recommended a stout so that is what I went for.
The tap do tasters of 1/3rd of a pint so I tried two other beers. I was drawn to the shop where I purchased one large can of Cheq-mate and two small cans, Jaipur and Green Mountain. The Tap also do pizzas so we are going to come back tomorrow for lunch.
We left and walked a different way home avoiding the town centre and the Monsal Trail. Tomorrow we hope to do it all again.
We had another bbq tonight and after a bit of TV we sat outside until nearly 22.00.
Day 3:
We walked the Monsal Trail to the old station
and headed into town and along the river Wye to go back to the Thornbridge brewery.
Today we ordered Pizzas although Sue ordered me the wrong one, however it was still very good. We had a couple of beers and walked home.
We stopped at a bar, The Woodyard. We were given a menu and told to order by the outside bar. There were 5 expensive beers and lots of wine and cocktails. We left the menu on the table and walked out. Then it was on to the campsite.
Tonight we are still full after the Pizzas so we will just had snacks for supper.
Day 4:
Our last day so we decided to walk into Bakewell early to avoid the coach loads of tourists. Sue was after some clothing and I just followed along. We did go into some of the gift shops. The prices of the good stuff were out of this world.
Once we had seen every nook and crannie of the town we called in at the Coop for a snack and some cans of wine for Sue. We headed home along the river and instead of crossing the river we continued to the sports ground and park. We found a footpath behind all the houses that took us to the entrance of the agricultural Ground and the campsite.
We ate our freshly purchased sausage rolls and spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the sunshine.
Iona’s Travels 