Sunday dawned sunny but breezy and after fetching the paper from Bakewell we set off on a walk from our peak district cottages.  Today I had chosen Deep Dale the other side of Sheldon particularly as I hoped the orchids would be out.  Deep Dale and Cressbrook Dale are well known for their orchid displays but with many plants out earlier than usual I wasn’t too sure if we had already missed them.  We set off for Sheldon aiming for the Magpie Mine before taking one of the five footpaths into Sheldon.  From Lower Farm we took the footpath heading towards Ashford but this timewe forked off through Little Shacklow Wood.  At least this path was sheltered from the wind.  Once we reached the River Wye we stayed on the footpath as it made its way through Great Shacklow Wood ignoring the two footpaths heading back towards Sheldon but noticing the bluebells.  We finally reached the entrance to Deep Dale and as we turned into the dale we picked up the breeze again.  As we looked back we had a fine view of Fin Cop.  It took a while but we found a spot to have lunch out of the breeze.  There were cowslips and some orchids but not as many as I hoped.  We wondered if we were too late or whether the dry conditions had had an effect as there weren’t as many cowslips either.  We took one of the paths out of the dale towards Sheldon and the wind really hit us as we emerged from the dale.  We skirted the top of Sheldon and picked up the path back home.  A quiet evening in but Monday will be a busier day.