Our last walk of 2019 was a White Peak one - we'd walked some of these paths earlier in the year and had been meaning to revisit the area for a while, not least to take a look at the chambered cairn high on the hills above the Wye Valley. The route predominantly made use of the old, walled tracks that you often find in the Derbyshire Dales, although there were some fields to cross on public footpaths as well.
Showing posts with label Peak District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peak District. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Wednesday, 8 January 2020
The Goyt Valley is understandably popular with dedicated walkers and casual visitors alike: it has woodland and rivers, hills and moors, even a picturesque ruined hall - and if you time it right you might come across the welcome sight of an ice cream van in one of the car parks by Errwood Reservoir. Shining Tor, the official highest point of modern Cheshire stands over the Goyt Valley at 1834 feet above sea level. There are expansive views from here across the Cheshire Plain into Wales, over towards Manchester and the Western Pennines, and - more immediately - down into the large, natural basin of heath and farmland that forms the Todd Brook Valley on its western side.
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| Cats Tor (right) |
Saturday, 28 December 2019
I've been inspired to do my walks by lots of things - photos, blogs and articles, wanting to explore distant hills I've seen on the horizon - but this is the first time I've planned a route around winning a pizza stone in a raffle.
We'd visited the Christmas Fair in Butterton the previous weekend and were struck by how lovely the countryside around that part of the Peak District was. So when we found out we had to return to the area to collect our prize, it seemed the perfect opportunity to do some exploring at the same time.
We'd visited the Christmas Fair in Butterton the previous weekend and were struck by how lovely the countryside around that part of the Peak District was. So when we found out we had to return to the area to collect our prize, it seemed the perfect opportunity to do some exploring at the same time.
Thursday, 21 November 2019
We've been trying to vary some of our regular walking routes recently by exploring footpaths and trails that we haven't ventured along before. When I thought about our local "mountain", Kinder Scout, I realised I've become quite the creature of habit, relying on the same routes up and down and paying scant attention to the other paths that flow on and around the plateau like streams. This walk was the first "varied" route we did and the novelties (for us) were the path that branches off from the Pennine Way up onto Broadlee-Bank Tor and the public rights of way that run along the Vale of Edale below the south eastern edge of the Kinder plateau.
Thursday, 22 August 2019
On its north-eastern side, a long chain of gritstone escarpments stands watch over the Derwent Valley like a series of natural ramparts. Their reach extends from the tracts of moorland at the heart of the Dark Peak to the cultivated landscapes of Chatsworth in the White Peak. I've walked the northern edges many a time but I'd never ventured south of Curbar Edge so a visit to that area had been overdue for a long time.
In mid-March 2018* there was a relatively mild and dry interlude between the waves of snow and ice that had washed over Derbyshire that winter, and this seemed the perfect opportunity for heading over that way to explore.
We parked up at Curbar Gap and walked back down the lane to where a gate gives access to Baslow Edge. A broad track leads due south from the gate but there is an "unofficial" path, not marked on the map, that closely follows the rocky edge, affording better views and more interesting terrain.
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| Heading onto Baslow Edge. |
We parked up at Curbar Gap and walked back down the lane to where a gate gives access to Baslow Edge. A broad track leads due south from the gate but there is an "unofficial" path, not marked on the map, that closely follows the rocky edge, affording better views and more interesting terrain.
Saturday, 29 September 2018
Intrepid explorers walking the length of the world's great rivers has become something of a cultural phenomenon in recent years - think Ed Stafford trekking along the course of the Amazon for almost two-and-a-half years or Levison Wood hiking the Nile from its origin in the Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda to the Egyptian shores of the Mediterranean.
With adventures like these in mind it's little wonder that we became suddenly inspired to walk the River Kinder a couple of weeks ago, from its source deep in the Peak District plateau to... Well, only as far as the Downfall actually, because we wanted a nice circular route that didn't involve traipsing downhill and back up again. And we didn't quite walk it from its source, to be honest, because - rather like the Nile - there are several indistinct points at which its waters bubble up from the ground and start their journey to the sea. If we'd put more time and effort in to complete the River Kinder's entire three-mile course, no doubt I'd have a book deal and probably my own TV show by now but we didn't so you'll have to make do with another verbose blog post and some occasionally over-exposed photos.
Thursday, 13 September 2018
Two significant Peak District rivers have their sources on the Axe Edge watershed - the Manifold and the Dove. Over millennia, their meandering journeys south-east carved out deep gorges in the bedrock, resulting in limestone tors and caves that have long drawn sightseers to the area (including William and Dorothy Wordsworth).
If you're in the White Peak, the breathtaking scenery of Dove Dale and the Manifold Valley should definitely be on your list of places to visit but you shouldn't underestimate the countryside north of these tourist hotspots. Here a generous network of footpaths weaves quieter routes through broad valleys or over rounded hills and provides plentiful options for short walks, be it a half-day excursion or a summer evening ramble of an hour or so.
If you're in the White Peak, the breathtaking scenery of Dove Dale and the Manifold Valley should definitely be on your list of places to visit but you shouldn't underestimate the countryside north of these tourist hotspots. Here a generous network of footpaths weaves quieter routes through broad valleys or over rounded hills and provides plentiful options for short walks, be it a half-day excursion or a summer evening ramble of an hour or so.
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| Looking south-east from Axe Edge Moor, source of the River Dove and the River Manifold. |
Friday, 11 May 2018
Cressbrook Dale is a beautiful limestone valley just north west of Bakewell. It's one of my favourite spots in the White Peak and there's no better time of year to visit it than spring, when its wildflowers put on a breathtaking display. If you walk the full length of the dale, you'll find yourself in ash woodland at the southern end and here in May the air is rich with the aroma of wild garlic. We've done a circuit that takes in those woods and the beautiful expanse of ramson flowers that spreads below their canopy, which you can read about here.
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| Wild garlic in Cressbrook Dale in May 2015. |
Tuesday, 27 March 2018
As I type this opening paragraph, the sun is streaming through the window, the skies are the most beautiful shade of blue and I'm being informed on a regular basis by Facebook and Twitter users alike that today is the vernal equinox. It certainly didn't feel like the first day of spring was only hours away when I ventured out on a walk above the Hope Valley yesterday. It's true that Mam Tor did stand resplendently green in the sunshine above Castleton - but that was because the unrelenting and bitter wind of the past few days had blown all the snow off its exposed slopes and not because of a seasonal thaw.
The wind's handiwork was apparent as I set off up a farm lane from Peak Forest, where huge drifts of powdery snow had formed along the wall. The pristine white whorls and curves and cornices in miniature were fascinating to look at, almost like works of art, and these were the first of many I was to encounter that day.
The wind's handiwork was apparent as I set off up a farm lane from Peak Forest, where huge drifts of powdery snow had formed along the wall. The pristine white whorls and curves and cornices in miniature were fascinating to look at, almost like works of art, and these were the first of many I was to encounter that day.
Friday, 23 February 2018
We'd originally planned to go to Wales overnight last weekend, lured by the forecast of fine weather, but car trouble put a stop to that. Assured the repairs would be complete by Saturday lunchtime, we scouted around for a short walk locally and settled on Stanton Moor, which we'd never visited before. I plotted a circular route from Rowsley which would take us up and over the moor, with an easy flat return journey along the Derwent Valley - although I couldn't resist tagging on another little hill at the far end before we'd begin the walk back.
As you travel along the A6 from Bakewell to Rowsley, there's a side road on the right, just after the Grouse and Claret, which gives you access to a free car park. Seemingly managed by the council, it doesn't appear on the OS Map or Google Maps but it's very handy, a decent size and well-worth making a note of if you're planning a walk in the area. We parked here and set off back along the main road, before taking a left turn opposite The Peacock, a handsome old inn that was originally a seventeenth century manor house. Walking past the village school and Caudwell's Mill, we crossed the River Wye and finally found ourselves on a lane surrounded by farmland.
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| Crossing the Wye. |
Wednesday, 14 February 2018
The High Peak Trail runs for around 17 miles, from Dowlow, just outside Buxton, to Cromford in the Derwent Valley. Like many such trails around the country, it follows the course of a defunct train line, in this case the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which connected the Peak Forest Canal in the north west of Derbyshire with the Cromford Canal in the middle of the county. You can see evidence of the line in the Goyt Valley as well as across the moorland above it, and the trail had been on my to-do list since I first visited that area last year.
Having walked on similar trails before, I was aware that long stretches can become somewhat routine, especially when they've been lined with bushes and trees or pass through extended railway cuttings. I decided to save this day out for winter, on the basis that a dusting of snow would lend some visual interest to even the most mundane of surroundings, and I also added on a few diversions from the trail - my feet certainly felt the effect of this by the end but each one was well worth the extra effort and mileage.
Having walked on similar trails before, I was aware that long stretches can become somewhat routine, especially when they've been lined with bushes and trees or pass through extended railway cuttings. I decided to save this day out for winter, on the basis that a dusting of snow would lend some visual interest to even the most mundane of surroundings, and I also added on a few diversions from the trail - my feet certainly felt the effect of this by the end but each one was well worth the extra effort and mileage.
Thursday, 4 January 2018
The snow we got at the start of December had been drifting down on-and-off for several days before Monday morning burst into cloudless, sun-shining life for us. It had fallen from wind-wracked, iron-skies over the weekend though, making house lights a necessity throughout the day and not just at its margins. It wasn't the sort of weather to tempt you outside, even if you weren't nursing a cold and sore throat, as I had been.
Thursday, 23 November 2017
When I did my second walk on Howden Moors a couple of months ago, I was so taken with the area I plotted a third walk there soon after I got home. This took in another clough on the eastern side of the Upper Derwent Valley, followed by Margery Hill and Howden Edge. I'd walked these two summits last year as part of a longer trip but Rich hadn't, and I thought the terrain and views would appeal to him. Taking a punt on the forecast - 20% chance of rain - proved to be a mistake, though, and we spent most of the walk in drizzle and mist. Even during the dry intervals there was little to see or photograph and it became clear that we'd need to return on a better day to do the route justice.
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| At the summit of Margery Hill in September. |
Thursday, 19 October 2017
Although I've visited Hayfield many times over the years and enjoyed its charming buildings and fine selection of ale houses, I have to admit that in terms of hill-walking I've always thought of it as a gateway to Kinder Scout and not really considered what else it has to offer. Thankfully, my eyes were opened this summer when I had a spare half-day to go for a hike, slap bang in the middle of what had been excitedly trending on Twitter as #heatwaveuk.
(For anyone reading this from outside the UK, a heatwave in Britain is usually a comically short length of time with fairly regular sunshine and what would be considered mild-to-normal summertime temperatures anywhere else in our planet's temperate zones.)
Wanting to find somewhere new to walk that was close by before the skies clouded over and the drizzle recommenced, I recalled the hills we'd so often seen from the road between Glossop and Hayfield. Opening up OS Maps, I rattled out a circular route up onto them from the Sett Valley Trail, which begins (or ends, depending on your perspective) by Hayfield's bus station, and set off to explore.
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| The Sett Valley Trail. |
Wanting to find somewhere new to walk that was close by before the skies clouded over and the drizzle recommenced, I recalled the hills we'd so often seen from the road between Glossop and Hayfield. Opening up OS Maps, I rattled out a circular route up onto them from the Sett Valley Trail, which begins (or ends, depending on your perspective) by Hayfield's bus station, and set off to explore.
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Since we moved to the High Peak area, the hills to the west of Buxton have become a favourite area of mine for walking. Easily accessible from the town centre, the variety of terrain they provide is impressive - farmland, open moors, woodland and reservoir walking are all on offer, and these can be combined to make a full day's outing or simply a ramble of a couple of hours if time is short. The area is rich in history and I have written about some of that in a previous blog post - see here - so I'll try to avoid repeating myself in this trip report.
With all this in mind, these hills were a natural choice when I found myself with a spare afternoon to get outside last week. The forecast wasn't too inspiring but I was motivated to take a punt on the sunny spells it'd half-promised by the dreary weekend of drizzle and grey mist we'd just had.
With all this in mind, these hills were a natural choice when I found myself with a spare afternoon to get outside last week. The forecast wasn't too inspiring but I was motivated to take a punt on the sunny spells it'd half-promised by the dreary weekend of drizzle and grey mist we'd just had.
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| Dark skies as I left Buxton behind. |
Wednesday, 4 October 2017
This walk is something of a follow-up to one I did on Howden Moors around a year ago, which took in Outer Edge and Margery Hill. As I made my return journey to the Upper Derwent Valley reservoirs via Howden Edge (confusingly, several parts of the Derwent watershed seem to bear this name) and Nether Hey, a large clough to the south east caught my eye. From my vantage point, I could see there was a clear path following the course of this great fold in the landscape.
On the map the terrain looked interesting and it was, I decided a couple of weeks ago, high time I found out for myself what lay hidden within this winding valley.
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| Abbey Brook Clough from my walk last year. |
On the map the terrain looked interesting and it was, I decided a couple of weeks ago, high time I found out for myself what lay hidden within this winding valley.
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
"An undistinguished hill at the southern end of the Peak District" is the rather sad Wikipedia description of Gun, a small, raised patch of heather moorland in north Staffordshire. And I suppose it does pale in comparison to the hills around it - The Cloud stands proud and distinct over the Cheshire plain to the west; in the north, the rolling heights of Axe Edge Moor and and Shining Tor form a backdrop to Shutingsloe, the ambitiously-nicknamed "Cheshire Matterhorn" that looks every bit as pointy and properly hill-like as Gun signally fails to do; while to the east of our modest and flat-topped mound, Hen Cloud, Ramshaw Rocks and The Roaches provide a dramatic display of jagged rocks and ridges that draw walkers and climbers alike. On a clear day - and even through an evening haze such as on our visit yesterday - The Wrekin can be made out on the horizon, some forty miles away to the south east, its presence in Shropshire a thumbed-nose to Gun from afar, "See, this is what a real hill looks like!"
But it's exactly those vistas that make this quiet, oddly-named hill such a gem. If you live close enough or you're visiting the White Peak area, Gun makes for an ideal short stroll with rewards far in excess of the effort or time you put in to walk it. What's more, there's roadside parking on its south-western aspect and the farmland around it is criss-crossed with public footpaths, meaning you can also easily incorporate it into a longer day walk if you choose.
But it's exactly those vistas that make this quiet, oddly-named hill such a gem. If you live close enough or you're visiting the White Peak area, Gun makes for an ideal short stroll with rewards far in excess of the effort or time you put in to walk it. What's more, there's roadside parking on its south-western aspect and the farmland around it is criss-crossed with public footpaths, meaning you can also easily incorporate it into a longer day walk if you choose.
Tuesday, 11 July 2017
One of the things I've enjoyed most about moving to Derbyshire is that I now have much easier access to the White Peak and the Derbyshire Dales. Living in Manchester and being reliant for the most part on public transport meant that the majority of my solo walking made use of the railway lines that radiate out from the city into the Dark Peak towards Sheffield and Yorkshire. Now a quite different landscape has opened up to me, some of it walkable from my home, and as a result I think I've encountered more wildflowers this past few months than I have in all of my previous hill-walking days.
This whole field (pun intended!) is quite new to me, so - even with the help of the internet generally and Twitter in particular (thank you @wildflowerhour and @BSBIbotany, plus several other individual Twitter users)* - I've still struggled to identify some of the flowers I've come across. Nonetheless, I thought it'd be nice to collect the images here, some of them extracted from trip reports but many just snapped as I've wandered around on an aimless afternoon's ramble. Due to problems taking macro pictures with my camera many of the images below have been taken with my phone but hopefully the quality is good enough to bring a modicum of pleasure or interest to those who are curious about the flora of Britain.
The flowers are roughly listed in date order - i.e. the time of year at which I encountered them.
The flowers are roughly listed in date order - i.e. the time of year at which I encountered them.
Wood Anemone:
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| Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017. |
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| Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017. |
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| Miller's Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/wood-anemone
Cowslip:
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| Deep Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017. |
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| Deep Dale, Derbyshire, April 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/cowslip
Crosswort:
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
More info: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/crosswort
Cuckooflower:
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| Field south-west of Sparrowpit, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Field south-west of Sparrowpit, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/cuckooflower
Early Purple Orchid:
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017 |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Peter Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Monk's Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
Bugle:
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| Peter Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/bugle
Germander Speedwell:
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, May 2017. |
Ragged Robin:
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| Buxton Serpentine, June 2017. |
Monkey Flower:
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| Buxton Serpentine, June 2017. |
More info: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/monkeyflower
Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil:
This is one I am not entirely sure I have identified correctly, even after comparing my picture with numerous images online.
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| Pennine Bridleway, north of Birch Vale Reservoir, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
More info: http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/greater-bird-s-foot-trefoil.html
Foxglove:
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| Sett Valley Trail near Hayfield, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
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| Sett Valley Trail near Hayfield, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway, north of Lantern Pike, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway, north of Lantern Pike, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
More info: http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/foxglove
Tufted Vetch:
Also known as Cow Vetch or Bird Vetch.
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| Pennine Bridleway, southern ascent of Lantern Pike, Derbyshire, June 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway, north of Lantern Pike, June 2017. |
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| Bridle-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2107. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/tufted-vetch
Meadow Crane's-bill or Field Geranium:
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| Pennine Bridleway near Deep Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Field on side of Hay Dale (non-access land), Derbyshire, July 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/meadow-cranes-bill
Field Scabious:
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Pennine Bridleway near Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
Many of these plants have local alternative names - I particularly like that, among other things, this small flower is sometimes known as "Granny's-Toenails".
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| By-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
Meadowsweet:
I'm pretty sure this is meadowsweet but there's a niggling doubt in my mind because the leaves look quite full in all the online pictures I've seen whereas here there are barely any, and those are small and sparsely distributed (as well as blurred!).
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
More info: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/meadowsweet
Common Spotted-orchid:
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Hay Dale, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
More info: http://www.first-nature.com/flowers/dactylorhiza-fuchsii.php
Lady's Bedstraw:
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| By-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| By-way across Bee Low, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| With Red Clover, Batham Gate, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/ladys-bedstraw
Red Clover:
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| Batham Gate, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Batham Gate, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Batham Gate, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
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| Batham Gate, Derbyshire, July 2017. |
More info: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/red-clover
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