Surely a sign of spring!  Heard the first curlew when I took the dogs out for their early morning walk at our Bolehill cottages near bakewell (see here).  Two departures and after packing rucksacks we headed over to Cressbrook where we parked near Upperdale Farm at the free car park.  From here we crossed the river and walked up the track to the Monsal trail and picked up the lane to Brushfield.  By the time we got to the Monsal Trail we had taken our coats off and they didn’t go back on for the rest of the day.  There was a time before the Monsal Trail opened in its current form that you would meet plenty of walkers on the tracks around here but during our walk round to Litton we probably saw no more than a dozen other walkers.  On the first part of the walk we had views along Monsal Dale and across to Taddington.  We have done this route before and we stopped to have lunch before the descent to the Monsal Trail at Litton.  Here we had some lovely panoramic views across to Tideswell.  We were on the busy Monsal Trail for just a couple of hundred yards before picking up the old Monsal Trail.  In the afternoon warmth we made our way along the old trail stopping to admire the scenery (with Smudge unwittingly sitting on a frog at one of our pauses) with views along Millers Dale and to Cressbrook.  We picked up the new Monsal Trail for the short stretch before the track back to the car and we stopped at the Aisseford Tea rooms in Ashford to pick up my first ice cream of the season.  Sorry no photo but I had been using the new camera on our walk so enjoy the photos.  After dinner we headed to Buxton to see Nabucco at The Opera House.  A very enjoyable production.