Kinder Scout and Redbrook followed by Castleton Garland Day

29.5.12
Walking with; Nobody

Ewan MacColl's Manchester Rambler claimed to have "sunbathed on Kinder and been burned to a cinder", but given that my last two trips up there had involved zero visibility and blizzard like conditions I had my doubts. None-the-less I can now confirm that it is eminently possible to be fried on and around Kinder!
I set off from Edale and headed out past "The Nag's Head" and the start/end of The Pennine Way towards Grindsbrook. I've ascended up Grindsbrook Clough before and it's a stern but cracking route, but today I decided to take the shorter but steeper path leading up to The Nab. It was a short, sharp shock but I quickly passed Heardman's Plantation and found myself scrambling up onto Ringing Roger for some stunning views across the Vale of Edale to Rushup Edge, Mam Tor, Win Hill and beyond. The air was incredibly clear and it made the Peak District appear genuinely mountainous. After a chat with a German backpacker who was after a bit of local knowledge I continued up to the edge and headed along above Grindsbrook Clough passing Nether and Upper Tor before reaching the head of the Clough. From here the path pretty much follows the edge until Crowden Clough where I left the handrail of the cliff and headed into the featurless, moorland interior. I clambered and scrambled through groughs and peat cuttings and bog before losing the path altogether, sweaty and hot I headed off on a bearing West until I picked up the dry bed of Redbrook and followed it along to the edge where I stopped for a shady lunch and, despite being harassed by hungry sheep, enjoyed stunning views over the Kinder Reservoir and down towards Hayfield. I had originally planned to carry on round to William Clough, but Redbrook appealed and I decided to descend to the Reservoir via the (initially) dried up stream bed. It was a great descent, hopping from boulder to boulder in the sun, before crossing the brook and following the waters through a beautifully preserved patch of woodland towards the reservoir.
Not far shy of the water, the features on the ground no longer matched the features on my OS map and using my finely honed instinct I detoured above Kinder Head and decided to strike up the slope below The Three Knolls to make my way back to The Pennine Way. I had thought very steep but short would be better than flat but much longer, however by the time I had sweated, slipped and slid my way to the top I was no longer convinced by the wisdom of that particular decision. None-the-less I had made it and continued on past the Trig point to descend via Jacob's Ladder back into the Vale of Edale. The last mile and a quarter passed through farmland before a shaded lane led me back into Edale, pink, sweaty and knackered but very content.
Having completed my walk I headed over to Castleton for a restorative pint and the Garland Day celebrations. Garland Day is celebrated on May 29th which is known as Oak Apple Day, a commemoration of Charles the Second regaining the English throne. The Garland King and his consort parade around the village (conveniently visiting each of the pubs) before the garland is hauled up onto the church tower. The link below gives a lot more detail on the history of the occasion.
http://www.visitcastleton.co.uk/garland-day-c19.html

To see the full album for this walk please click on the link below;
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.225834857535427&type=1

Lantern Pike from Hayfield

28.4.12
Walking with; Nobody

I was due to be heading out on my Silver Navigation course but it was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute leaving me stranded in New Mills with full kit. The sun was, none-the-less, shining and I felt it was too good a chance to miss and not to get out and about in the hills. I parked at the head of the Sett Valley trail and started off down the track which follows the route of the old branch line between Hayfield and New Mills and was lined with bluebells, cow parsley, forget-me-nots and celandines. It is a busy route, probably due to its flatness and relatively short length, and there were plenty of bikes, pedestrians and horses for company.
After about a mile The Pennine Bridleway leaves the trail and heads sharply up the side of the valley towards Lantern Pike. The path starts off quite roughly before it becomes smoother but continues to head steeply up. A short scramble along a dry stone wall bought me onto the very windy summit with spectacular 360 degree views taking in seven counties not to mention the vast brooding bulk of the Kinder Plateau. It was a pretty spectacular spot and I had it to myself as I hunkered down in a sheltered spot amongst the rough heather for a bit of lunch. I followed the track on downhill towards the junction of five paths at Blackshaw Farm. Continuing forward on the Pennine Bridleway I followed the track as far as Matley Moor before setting off across the boggy land putting up a Lapwing en route to the farmland on the other side. My loop then led me back past Knarrs and along a narrow path above the wooded valley of Hey Brows where I saw a beautiful pair of Wheatears sitting on a stone wall. I carried on past a couple of pig sties full of wallowing sows and piglets and then headed back to the Blackshaw Farm junction. I decided to follow the path home via the hamlet of Little Hayfield with its beautiful converted mill sitting on the edge of the Sett before heading along the cinder path into Hayfield itself and a welcome pint of Cumberland Ale at "The Kinder Lodge".
To view full photo album please click on the link below;
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.208041319314781&type=1

Hartington, Milldale and Alstonefield

09.03.12

Walking with; Nobody

I'd not planned on going out today but my considerably better half had to be on the Stockport to London train at 6.30am and as I was already half way to the Peak District I decided to head for Hartington and I am glad I did. After the disappointment of Wednesday, this was the kind of walk that lifted the spirits and properly showcased the beauty of the British countryside.

Hartington is a picturesque English village with the name thought to be a derivation of "Stag's Hill". It is mentioned in the Doomsday book and found fame as one of the three main producers of Stilton. The large scale commercial cheesemaking operation has ceased but the old cheese shop has recently re-opened and there are plans to make cheese again. I parked on the village green next to the duckpond and climbed out of the village past Hartington Hall, a 17th Century manor house built by Hugh Bateman in 1611. The building is now a Youth Hostel and the grounds housed a very vocal rookery as well as snowdrops and daffodils. The route continued across the fields to Dale End before turning down into Biggin Dale, a long, dry dale that leads down to the River Dove and Wolfscote Dale. As I meandered down Biggin, a Kestrel flew across my path and a few minutes later a circling Buzzard was mobbed by a flock of Jackdaws. A little further on a Green Woodpecker flew across my path before making a slow ascent of the steep bank to my left. The River Dove is beautiful and I followed the gentle path all the way down to the hamlet of Lode Mill where lead was once smelted and corn ground. The river here forms the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire and the bank had some amazing snowdrops.

From Lode Mill the path climbs very steeply up to the outcrop of Shining Tor, an ideal spot for a coffee and fantastic views back down Wolfscote Dale. The high level path continues along the ridge before dropping sharply down to the gorgeously picturesque village of Mill Dale where it crosses the Dove by way of Viator's Bridge. The bridge was there in 1653 when Izaak Walton, author of legendary fishing tome "The Compleat Angler" (purported to be the third most reprinted book in the English language), first discovered the River Dove with his friend and fishing tutor Charles Cotton, and the name Viator comes from a character in Walton's book. Another short, steep slog took me to the outskirts of Alstonefield and the beautiful church of St Peter's. The graveyard is an interesting piece of social history showing the long established routes of many families in the area and with gravestones dating back to 1518. Continuing through the village and crossing the idyllic green I headed out towards Narrowdale before descending steeply all the way down to the gates of Beresford House. Half way down a streak of red flashed across the path and I followed a Weasel as he shot along the wall and up the hillside.

The route back to Hartington ran alongside the Dove through Beresford Dale (nuthatch, long tailed tits and more chaffinches) before climbing away from the river and circumventing Pennilow Hill. Looking back over my shoulder I got fleeting glimpses through the branches of Walton's 17th Century "Fishing Temple" built by Charles Cotton and where the two of them spent many hours fishing. I arrived back in Hartington with my faith in the countryside fully restored and an appetite for a pint at The George and a goody bag full of cheese to take away with me.....

To see the full album please click on the link below;

https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.173187839466796&type=1

Tideswell and the Seven Dales

22.2.12

Walking with; Nobody

This was the first proper outing for the knee since the operation in mid-January and it passed it with a few creaks and groans. Tideswell is famous for the Church of St.John the Baptist which is so impressive in scale it has been named "The Cathedral of the Peaks". It was built during the latter half of the 14th Century on the site of an old Norman chapel (parts of which were incorporated into the current building). Sir Samson Meverill, who fought against Joan of Arc, is buried in a magnificent tomb in the chancel and also laid to rest there is Bishop Robert Purseglove who became rich during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries and whose estate still pays a small stipend to Tideswell school to this day. It's well worth a visit and a handy spot to get out of the rain. The village is also famous for a fantastic bakery, "Tindall's of Tideswell", one of the best refuelling stops in the area.

I left the village with the rain coming down and headed through Tideswell Dale, the site of an old basalt quarry with sculptures along the flat, pleasant riverside trail. There is an avenue of magnificent Beech trees and there were plenty of finches and long-tail tits darting in and out of the vegetation. The path continued into Miller's Dale and the picturesque hamlet of Litton Dale. The original mill sited there was notorious for the conditions in which the indentured "apprentices", usually children from the work house, were required to work, but the hamlet now has an air of gentility with woodsmoke curling from the chimneys of the stone cottages.

Leaving Litton Dale, the path climbed through woodland before crossing The Monsal Trail and continuing a steep ascent into Priestcliffe Lees Nature Reserve. The paths were wet and muddy restricting the pace of progress and making a coffee perched on some old lead workings with a view of the valley below a welcome respite......until the rain came again. I pressed on to another tiny farming hamlet called Brushfield, now mostly holiday lets by the look of things but with some beautiful snowdrops in the woods. The path continued on above Taddington Dale, a densely wooded valley, before dropping down to rejoin The Monsal Trail at the spectacular eponymous viaduct which has great views of the River Wye and Monsal Dale and on a better day would have been ideal for some lunch. I followed The Monsal Trail for about a mile, it runs along the route of an old Midland Railways line (complete with tunnels), passing the ghostly abandoned platform of Monsal Dale station before leaving it at the Cressbrook tunnel and dropping down to Cressbrook Mill at the head of Hay Dale. The mill is now a very smart conversion, but the mill-race still flows alongside the footpath and it isn't hard to imagine it in it's prime producing textiles for Richard Arkwright and, later, McConnel and Co.

The rain was coming down even harder now so the relative shelter afforded by the woodland in Cressbrook Dale was a welcome relief. Cressbrook is evidence that the rain is not an occasional visitor here. Every surface of wall, tree, root, even the ground itself is covered in lush, spongy, vivid green moss and it gives the wooded dale a distinctly Middle Earth feel to it. Leaving the woodland I followed the river up the valley before crossing the stepping stones and climbing the short, steepish ascent through Tansley Dale, home of more abandoned lead workings, to be met with spectacular views of the area. Dry stone walling is still a craft much in evidence in this part of the world and the fields are neatly parcelled up by some fantastic examples of this slowly dying art.

Last stop before Tideswell was Litton, a picture perfect village with a green, characterful cottages and a pub, The Red Lion, that was such a perfect approximation of a country inn that it would have been criminal to pass it by, so I didn't. Log fires, quiet, relaxed atmosphere and a pint of "BG Sips" gave me the fortitude to head off on the last mile of my journey back to Tideswell and a visit to the bakery..

To view the full photo album for this walk, please click on the link below

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/media/set/?id=718985691&tid=136991043086476&frecId=false&skipClustering=true&qn=1330000879&success=25&failure=0&set=oa.161156327336614