Had the good fortune and good weather to visit Monsal Dale early in the week.  I had been wanting to visit this location to shoot some pictures for a while.  Lucky for me I timed the visit very well, as the weather in Ashbourne today is quite vile.

Monsal Dale is a spectacular place to visit. The River Wye cuts through the limestone valley below you as you look at its beauty from above. Clearly visible is the great brick Headstone Viaduct which carried the Midland railway over the river.  When it was built it enraged quite a few folk and even leading John Ruskin to write

'There was a rocky valley between Buxton and Bakewell, once upon a time, divine as the Vale of Tempe... You Enterprised a Railroad through the valley - you blasted its rocks away, heaped thousands of tons of shale into its lovely stream. The valley is gone, and the Gods with it; and now, every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton; which you think a lucrative process of exchange – you Fools everywhere'.

I find it rather elegant and another fine piece of civil engineering
Headstone Viaduct over the River Wye Monsal Dale So the trip down to the river below, is quite steep but not arduous. I was headed down the valley to the weir, where the river tumbles about 20 feet making a spectacular picture.

The River Wye at Monsal dale Derbyshire

The weir River Wye at Monsal Dale Derbyshire

River Wye Monsal Dale Derbyshire The River Wye Monsal Dale Derbyshire The weir at the River Wye Monsal Dale Derbyshire River Wye Monsal Dale Derbyshire