Mobile, motte, miller and mollusc

Day 13 brought Nathan and Ben into the local guides' team to add to their mother Lucy and Jevin the dog. Jevin expressed no surprise at another 12-mile walkies and largely took it in his stride, although he did have difficulty with the Derbyshire speciality (instead of a stile) of two near-vertical stones with a small gap between, wider at the top. Big enough for a leg, and hips sideways if you're lucky, but not for even a small dog; Jevin attempted to jump through one and got stuck, with two paws off the ground on each side.

We passed the hamlet of Pilsbury (anyone remember the Dough Boy?) with its motte and bailey castle, which left a lot to the imagination, and took a fairly sporting route out of the upper Dove valley towards our highest peak yet, High Wheeldon (422m).

Clearly the walk was too short for Nathan, who announced as we approached the summit (and more importantly lunchtime) that he had lost his phone...he and Ben went back about a mile, and remarkably, Ben found it. Everyone's spirits were lifted by this, they made it to the summit, and the rest of the day was a pleasant walk over the upland farms of the White Peak, followed by a steep descent to Miller's Dale where we had parked at the old railway station, now restored as part of the Monsal Trail. Hence our Track of the Day, Glenn Miller's version of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

Further good work on wildlife, with deer, a hare, kestrels, a large caterpillar and a particularly gymnastic slug that had twisted itself round a grass stem.