Monday was a fair day although we were expecting a little more sunshine at our cottages near Bakewell (see here) but it stayed dry. One departure and one arrival later in the day. One cleaner up and usual Monday routines.  Chris spent some more time pruning and sorting out a friends computer and I caught up with some paper work including our advert for the 2014 Peak District and Derbyshire Visitor Guide. Guests arrived about 6.30. Tuesday 20/8 was forecast to be a fine day and with no arrivals (but one departure) we opted for a walk. With the heather out we decided we would go up to Howden Edge and do a walk we had done a few years ago. We were able to park at the end of the road which follows the reservoirs (closed weekends and Bank Holidays) without any problems. We set along the track beside Howden Reservoir to Slippery Stones, which was where a packhorse bridge that had been rescued from Derwent village was moved to when the valleys were flooded.  The water was low in all the reservoirs. There was a helicopter in the air and as we picked up the path up Cranberry Clough we met a National Trust volunteer who explained the helicopter was dropping of wooden steaks for volunteers to fence of grazing land.  The path turned into Bull Clough and we soon found ourselves above the helicopter, luckily the dogs seemed unfazed by it. The only problem was that once we got up onto the moorland there was not as much heather as we expected. It had started to cloud up by now and the breeze was increasing. We picked up the path along Wilfrey Edge and found a sheltered spot amongst some rocks (at 1765 feet) for lunch.  Here we had far reaching views across the moorland with the heather in its glory. At Howden Edge we cut across the moorland to a path that would take us back down to Howden Reservoir. This was hard going at times as the path was not obvious and you couldn’t always see where your feet were going but with all the dry weather it wasn’t too boggy.  There was another helicopter up on the moorland bracken spraying (so a notice advised us) as bracken is an invasive plant on the moorland.  Luckily the further we walked the more heather we came across and when the path became a bit more obvious we followed it down Howden Clough back to the reservoir.  With the sun back out we were able to get some better shots of the heather.   Walking back along the shore line we spotted a short cut which meant walking across the river which the dogs didn’t like but we  were soon back at the car.  As we had set off a little later than planned, and with the walk being nearly seven miles it was too late for an afternoon tea.  Still it had been a nice walk.  Enjoy the photos.