# Dovedale in the Peak District



## Oil-on-the-Road (Oct 16, 2009)

Off to Ashbourne tomorrow and hoping to visit the lower end of Dovedale for the first time in many years either the day after or day after that. Last time we went we had an Autosleeper Clubman - now we have an Autotrail Dakota. Much bigger, and my memory suggests that the road up to the car park near the stepping stones is very narrow! Google Earth seems to confirm this. Has anybody been up there with a sizeable unit? Is it feasible? If not can anyone suggest where we can park up within reasonable walking distance (say a mile / mile and a half) ?

Thanks for any advice
Steve


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

We went all round there a few months ago, I don't recall any narrow roads, and we do like to get off the beaten track, Google is very misleading on the smaller roads too, they all look impassible to me.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Prepare to have scratched windows and hairy moments when you meet a HGV tearing, oops, I meaning driving towards you.

I worked in the area for 6 months (living in my motorhome) and had some 'interesting' times. :wink2:

Generally speaking, the 'A' roads are like 'B' roads and the 'B' roads are like farm tracks. :frown2:


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## tugboat (Sep 14, 2013)

Recently drove all over the Peak District and loved it. Some of the roads are narrow and rattley, but it's like that everywhere. Visited Ashbourne in the van and no problems except for it being a bit of a traffic bottleneck.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Welcome back, by the way. It's good to see people posting again after not being around for a while.



Chris


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

tugboat said:


> Recently drove all over the Peak District and loved it. Some of the roads are narrow and rattley, but it's like that everywhere. Visited Ashbourne in the van and no problems except for it being a bit of a traffic bottleneck.


Hi Tuggy, you been off in the van again, not seen your name for a while.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Just to clarify after Kev's message to Tuggy: my welcome back message was to Oil on the Road, who I don't think has been around for ages.

Tuggy, hopefully we'll see more than your name next week at Shepton Mallett.


Chris


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## tugboat (Sep 14, 2013)

Yo, all. Yeah, been away for 3 weeks now. Stayed with Sandra and Albert for a while, then had an excellent spell in the Peak District. Good cycling trails in that part of the country. Then across through Lincolnshire (not impressed really, though did find a nice coastal wildcamp site near Boston). Stayed a couple of days with Madge at Sandringham, then the heavens opened as I drove around the North Norfolk coast. Intended to have a look around the Broads, but always problems parking the van as it needs 3 spaces together in a carpark. So got off the flooded roads and have been holed up in Norwich for a couple of days dealing with a fibromyalgia flare-up. 

Off tomorrow to get together with friends, then hoping to meet up with a certain forumite (identity available if the price is right) at the weekend. 

Then meandering towards Somerset for the Shepton Show. Looking forward to meeting some of you there, I might even have a shower beforehand. I'm busy whittling wooden legs for Ellie and me so you'll recognise us!


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Dovedale is a beautiful place and the stepping stones are a big tourist attraction,it is very touristy and gets extremely busy at weekends and school holidays in the summer which is why we visit out of season in the car.
I wouldn't recommend taking a motorhome up to the stepping stones car park,it is a narrow road with passing places and the car park is £2.50 per day and if I recall correctly has a 3.5 ton weight limit.
In a motorhome I would recommend staying a bit further out and either walking or cycling to Dovedale.
This site at Ilam is not too far away and would make a good base I think....
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=MDT-Type&blobheadername3=Content-Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3D231%252F467%252FIlam%2BCaravan%2BSite%2BLeaflet%2B2015.pdf&blobheadervalue2=abinary%3B+charset%3DUTF-8&blobheadervalue3=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1349127451288&ssbinary=true


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