The Snake Path, Hayfield and Win Hill, Hope

10 and 16.10.13
Walking with; Nobody

Well after the highs and lows and mizzle and drizzle of Galloway I decided a couple of gentler routes with some more micro-nav thrown in was just what the Doctor ordered. The Snake Path runs out of Hayfield and was created in 1897 by the newly formed Peak and Northern Footpath Society, it leads away from the village and climbs up to the grouse shooting moorland of Middle Moor where the bright white shooting hut is an easily identifiable landmark. There were great views across to the Kinder Plateau but I decided to head in the opposite direction circumnavigating the low, bulky hillock of The Knott. The Grouse that had survived thus far were out in force and whilst the wind had teeth it was pleasant to be out and about.
I cut up Hollingworth Clough, a pretty path that involved much crossing and recrossing of the stream and a not inconsiderable amount of Bracken bashing. As the Clough opens out numerous tributaries stream down the hillsides and I picked one and followed it up onto The Knott where the wind buffeted me about as I admired Kinder once more and the views down to Hayfield and beyond. I followed the line of newly spruced up, and obviously recently used, Grouse buttes back down to the shooting hut before retracing my steps down into Hayfield. It was not by any stretch of the imagination a great adventure, but my day was infinitely better for having stirred my bones and headed out onto the moors. It also raised the thorny question of how I feel about Grouse shooting. I am a dedicated carnivore, I happily eat game and have tried all manner of exotic varieties over the years and yet I still feel somewhat uncomfortable about the whole process. I acknowledge that our moorland often looks the way it does because of the shoots and that they provide employment for local people and have close associations with tradition, and yet........it still doesn't sit quite right with me.
A week later and I was climbing slowly out of Hope, into the fog and onto Win Hill which remains one of my all time favourite peaks in the Peaks! The weather was pretty grim and the valley floor disappeared beneath me as I watched a Kestrel soaring on the currents, no need to hover today. I followed the ridgeline from Win Hill along the route of the old Roman Road to the Hope Cross, and then onwards to Blackley Clough. Another spot of bracken bashing took me out onto yet another Grouse moor, buttes, feeding stations and what I took to be numbered "beating" stations littered the top of Crookstone Out Moor. I'd planned to carry on up to Madwoman's Stones but by now the cloud had dropped even lower, the wind was blowing and the rain teeming down. Defeated, I trudged back towards Hope eventually dropping out of the cloud as I descended. A welcome cup of coffee at The Old Hall Hotel revived my flagging spirits but it definitely felt very Autumnal!

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The Peak Forest canal and navigation lessons near Strines

24/25.7.13
Walking with (and being taught by); Neil

Two very varied days, one a very gentle meander from Disley to Furness Vale along the Peak Forest canal followed by a fascinating and informative day of navigation training with Neil from Peak Mountaineering on the moors above Strines.
I left the attractive centre of Disley and was soon picking my way through the thick undergrowth swamping an obviously little used right of way leading to the Golf course. I was surprised to find Heather coming into bloom and Bilberries fruiting already and grabbed a quick snack before making my way across the manicured fairways and then via another very overgrown path skirting Stanley Hall woods to the canal. There were Jays on patrol and Jackdaws in the fields and the sun even started to put in the odd appearance.
The canal was fully opened in 1800 and was mainly used to transport lime from the Bugsworth Basin, nowadays it is the domain of narrow boats and families of ducks with adorable fluffy ducklings in tow! I passed fishing herons, narrowboaters drinking cups of tea and touching up their paintwork, fishermen and at New Mills, the Swizzels sweet factory. This is not a walk of wilderness and solitude but it is pleasant and undemanding and the kind of walk where just putting one foot in front of the other with no real agenda seems to be a commendable end in itself. Tempted as I was by the Furness Vale chippy I stayed strong and climbed out onto the ridge above the valley and followed the path through hay meadows with views to New Mills before a gentle descent took me back into the desirable fringes of Disley village. This was a walk containing no challenges, little navigation and no discernible elements of danger or excitement and it was all the better for it!
Thursday was a very different experience. In order to improve my chances of eventually passing my Mountain Leader training I was aware I needed to further develop my navigation skills and pick up hints and tips from those already amongst the hallowed ranks, Neil from Peak Mountaineering is such a hilltop God! We spent a fascinating and enlightening day on the hills above Ladybower taking in the delights of Strines Moor, Derwent Edge, Dovestone Tor, the Gusset, Back Tor and Broggig Moss. I searched for boulders hidden amidst the heather, located Springs, identified re-entrants, startled Grouse and Curlews and finally, perhaps, began to understand how contours on the land are accurately depicted on a map. I learned about slope aspect, resections, collecting features and relocating myself when we got (deliberately) lost. The difference between reading a book and then trying out exercises and having a real, live expert to consult and learn from is inestimable and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the experience was of real benefit and my confidence has grown. Now I just have to get back out on the hill and put it in to practice without having somebody to hold my hand!! No photos from Day 2, too busy concentrating!

Kinder in Spring

23.4.13
Walking with; Nobody

After the trials and tribulations of a windswept Lake District last week it felt good to be back on familiar ground and to, maybe, just maybe, see Spring finally beginning to stir. Kinder is my "go to" hill, close enough to have a long day out and sleep in my own bed, and yet, wild enough to feel like a proper adventure and different every time I visit.
I set off from Barber Booth, one of a string of hamlets that make up Edale, and followed the River Noe, enjoying the daffodils and budding trees, until I reached Upper Booth Farm. The path follows Crowden Brook through a wooded vale before bringing you out at the foot of Crowden Clough with Crowden Towers and the Kinder edge towering over head. It was a pleasant climb, the gradient rises (for the most part) gently and there was a cooling breeze, none-the-less by the time I'd scrambled up to the foot of the Towers I'd worked up a sweat and an appetite! As I sat and ate the first half of my lunch, I saw my first Swallow of the year, a harbinger of Spring if ever there was one. The good weather had bought out quite a few walkers so I decided to leave the edge and head into the peaty heartland of the massif intent on doing a little "nav work". It was hard work, in and out of groughs and bashing through the heather, but as well as reaching my eventual goal of Crowden Head, I put up a few Grouse, spied a solitary Curlew and managed to come to the aid of a compass-less father and son who'd strayed a little off route......all part of the service!
Another session of cross-Kinder yomping bought me out at Kinder Low and then onto Edale Rocks for the second half of my lunch and some truly superb views down the valley and across to the Great Ridge. My knees didn't fancy Jacob's Ladder so after a brief consultation with my map I continued on to Brown Knoll, detouring to examine the sparse remains of another WW2 plane crash that lay on the Eastern side of the hill. The tops of Brown Knoll reminded me of Black Hill, peat and vast expanses of pale grass waving in the breeze. I located the memorial cairn of John Charles Gilligan complete with the classic biblically inspired walker's epitaph, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills........." before contouring round Horsehill Tor and dropping back into the valley. The last quarter mile or so had plenty of Spring lambs and that, as well as the Swallow and budding Hawthorns made me optimistic that Spring may finally have made it as far as the Peak District, fingers crossed!

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Crowden

Walking with; Nobody
28.01.13

When I think of the Dark Peak, I tend to think about the "Big three", Kinder, Bleaklow and Crowden/Black Hill, but I do seem to neglect the latter. It doesn't have the mystery of Bleaklow with it's low hanging fog and aircraft wrecks (although it does have a few up there) or the history of Kinder and the tresspass, but it does have the Great and Little Brooks, Laddow Rocks (where the original members of The Rucksack club climbed and put in place the foundations of the modern Mountain rescue service) and miles of barren moorland. I wanted a bit more navigation work and figured miles of barren moorland met that criteria so away I went, passing the YHA before crossing Crowden Brook and making my way up to The Pennine Way. There were Pheasant and Grouse about and I heard Ravens at least twice on my walk. I ascended slowly until I reached Oakenclough Brook tumbling down off Rakes Moss,then instead of re-treading the next section of the Way, I decided to follow a narrow track contouring along the valley and below Laddow Rocks before emerging back onto the Way opposite the magnificent rock formations known as Castles.
The path crisscrossed the brook before the distinctive paving slabs showed me the way towards the distant Black Hill. I'm always struck at how vast the expanse of moorland is up there, miles of nothingness giving the lone walker the occasional chill down the spine especially when the mist starts to drift in.......Visibility remianed pretty good though so I struck off in an easterly direction, locating the pond at Sliddens Moss before continuing on the rough, broken up, tussocky ground in the direction of the ever visible Holme Moss Transmitting Station. The groughs were still full of snow and I set off a Mountain Hare in it's beautiful white coat, he made my progress across the moor look decidedly clumsy and he bounced and bounded away from me. I eventually made my way up on to Tooleyshaw Moss and searched for the remains of the original route that the Pennine Way took. The wind had gotten up by this point and the dark clouds that had hovered over Bleaklow began to scud in my general direction incentivising me to pick up my pace as I slip slid through the peaty bogs and mossy marshes from White Low and across Westend Moss. The squall when it hit did so with the kind of malevolence a disgruntled Nordic God might have used to show his power over mere humans and I was soaked before I'd even got my waterproofs out of my rucksack......luckily it was over as quickly as it started and I wandered the remaining path back to the hamlet of Crowden (the most Northerly settlement in Derbyshire) without further downpour.

To visit the full photo album for this walk please click on the link below;
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Back of Bleaklow in the sunshine

28.03.12

Walking with; Nobody

A tough but beautiful day climbing up from the Woodhead Pass and with the sun beating down and tremendous views. As soon as I got out of the car and crossed the bridge over the River Etherow I saw a Dipper bobbing up and down on a small rock by the far bank and the wildlife was a constant over the whole walk. This is Grouse shooting country and the moorland in this area has been very much shaped by the demands of the shoot. The path up Far Black Clough is a cracker, it winds it's way up the very narrow clough, dipping in and out of the sunshine and ascending steadily, eventually it becomes a little too narrow and steep and a tiring scramble up the bank to the rough Landrover track used by the shooters is necessary. I followed a narrow path along the clough edge before following a large, sandy grough Eastward onto the path from Howden Edge. I followed this path for about half a mile putting up quite a few Red Grouse and a number of Mountain Hares in various shades of colour from pure white to dirty brown. Visibility was excellent so I could see my goal, Barrow Stones, and struck off across the moors to reach them, negotiating a few deep groughs and peat bogs before arriving at the stones for an early lunch and a bit of shade from the strong sun. I'd not seen another soul and the only sign of human activity thus far had been a helicopter which looked like it was distributing fertiliser or feed over the moors.

Refreshed by a chicken sandwich I headed across to the Grinah stones where I met a landscape photographer who was taking advantage of the fantastic weather and spectacular views over Ridgewalk Moor and over the River Westend. The rocks are eroded into fantastic shapes and the vista was amazing. I spotted a Common Lizard catching a few rays as well before leaving the stones and heading through some waist high heather South East towards Round Hill. In spite of the weather it was still pretty boggy underfoot and at one stage I found myself thigh deep in peat bog, this is not a walk I'd fancy in mid-January! After a while I met a deep landrover track linking the Ronksley Moor bothy with the Grouse butts. I wandered down to a viewpoint over the River Westend before returning along the path and down to the beautifully sighted bothy at the top of Lower Small Clough. It's pretty basic and is, I think, mainly used for shooters, but there is a poem tacked to the wall singing the praises of the shelter provided on a wild, snowy afternoon!

Lower Small Clough runs down across the heather (including a patch very recently burned) and past many well established Grouse butts to a beautiful spot where the clough meets the River Derwent, where I cooled down by sticking my head into the running waters! (Bliss!)

The path along the Derwent is beautiful and the landscape a little more lush than on the tops, but I soon had to leave the river and ascend the steep, brackeny slopes of Hoar Clough to the Shepherds Meeting Stones. Featherbed Moss is a pretty featureless expanse and it took me a while to locate the path that led back to the Howden Edge path, but locate it I eventually did and followed it due West until cutting off back to Far Black Clough where I followed the path all the way back to my car, sweaty, peaty but thoroughly satisfied by a great day.

One of the real highlights of today was the solitude. The number of other walkers I saw today can eb counted on the fingers of one hand, once I'd got away from the A628, there were no roads, houses, pylons etc and the tracks and butts were well hidden. It is remarkable to get a feeling of such wilderness and isolation so close to Manchester, Barnsley and Sheffield, and there is something magnificent about the utter bleakness of the expanses of moorland!

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Kinder with the Rangers

4.3.12
Walking with; Simon Huddlestone from The Peak District Rangers


I was back at Kinder this weekend for the first of my "pre-walks" as part of my bid to become a Peak District Ranger. I am starting to see why people love what I'd always considered a big, ugly lump quite so much. We set off from the Briefing Centre at Bowden Bridge after visiting the plaque that immortalises the Kinder trespassers. We headed back the way I'd come on Wednesday, along the Sett valley and up Coldwell Clough, even at this stage we could see the snow dusting the tops and Simon warned me that conditions might be pretty bad on Kinder. Walking with a Ranger of 30 years standing was informative and Simon told me a lot about the industrial history of the area and how Hayfield used to be famous for printworks due to the quality of the water in the local rivers. We climbed up to the Edale Cross with a bitter wind driving the snow into our faces and decided that we'd head for the relative shelter of Edale Rocks for some lunch.
On Wednesday I'd followed The Pennine Way but today we headed along the brilliantly named Swine's Back tramping through the virgin snow and following a tumbledown wall to the Rocks where we wedged ourselves into a sheltered-ish spot and considered our options. Although the visibility was poor, it was better than in the fog on Wednesday so we continued on to the Kinder Cairn and head down, battling into the wind, we carried on towards Red Brook. Red Brook was running fast and although the snow was still falling we'd come across a few other walkers and so decided to press on towards the Kinder Downfall and aim for a descent at William Clough. We spotted a couple of hardy Grouse by the Downfall and the views from the edge down towards Broad Clough and the Kinder Reservoir were fantastic. We decided to drop down into the valley just before William Clough and although the conditions underfoot were very slippery we made our way down towards the Reservoir and a welcome brew in the shelter of the valley. Simon told me a few more tales about the area, including the fact that before the Kinder reservoir Hayfield wasn't connected to the sewerage system and as a reward for the inconvenience that building the reservoir caused the village was finally connected to mains drainage. We headed back along the reservoir watching a flock of 14 Curlews before the Kinder Road took us back in the shade of Kinder Bank Wood to our starting point, cold, wet but exhilarated!
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Hayfield-Edale Cross-Kinder-The Snake Path

Walking with; Nobody
29.2.12

Hayfield is a picturesque Peak District village
which styles itself as the "Gateway to Kinder" although I suspect
Edale may have something to say about that! It was from Hayfield (Bowden
Bridge) that the Manchester contingent of the mass trespassers led by Benny
Rothwell set off towards Kinder on the "Right to Roam" protest, the
80th anniversary of which will be celebrated in April this year. It was also,
in 1745, the site of a mass "raising of the spirits" in Hayfield
church where eyewitnesses claim they saw hundreds of souls ascending from the
graveyard to heaven. I didn't see anything quite as spooky as that but by the
time I'd reached the Kinder plateau the thick fog gave the whole area an eerie
feel!
I set off from the village and was soon climbing up past Hazlehurst Farm where
the guard geese announced my progress to the farmer. The path continued along
what was once a Roman road but today resembled little more than a stream....I'd
thought Tideswell was muddy but it had nothing on today. I continued on across
farmland before descending alongside Elle Bank Wood into the Sett Valley and on
up Coldwell Clough past the magnificent Grade 2 listed farmhouse (see pic).The
track up to the Kinder Estate was rough and muddy and though the views behind
me were worth the effort the cloud was starting to drop and by the time I
reached the Edale Cross it was very poor indeed. The cross is believed to be a
Medieval parish boundary marker probably erected by Cistercian monks and had
lain buried in Peat bog until it was discovered in 1810 by two local farmers
who carved their initials and the year of discovery on the front of it. The
alcove the cross sits in is a perfect place to shelter from strong winds and
enjoy a coffee and (distinctly retro) orange Club biscuit.
I took the Pennine Way on to the Kinder plateau and headed for the Edale Rocks
looming mysteriously out of the thick fog. Every so often I could hear
dislocated voices coming out of the gloom and at one stage a party of
disoriented fell runners emerged a couple of feet away......I'm not sure who
was more disconcerted. The poor visibility meant a change of plan and I headed
back down the way I'd come before joining The Tunstead Clough footpath which
followed the contours round under Kinderlow End and The Three Knolls (still
shrouded in fog) before dipping down towards the reservoir. Whilst walking this
section I saw four Curlews flying overhead and I could hear Lapwing but they
managed to remain elusive today! It was a steep climb from the reservoir up to
Middle Moor and The Snake Path which would lead me back down to Hayfield. The
paths met up near a shooting cabin and judging from the number of Grouse in the
area it would be a pretty productive spot for a gun on the Glorious Twelfth.
The Snake Path was the first success, in 1897, for the Peak and Northern
Footpath society who had campaigned for greater public access to the Moors. The
five wrought iron kissing gates were the originals but had been restored in
2009 whilst retaining as much of the original material and composition as
possible. It seemed a fitting end in this area much associated with walking
history and led me gently down into the village and a cuppa at Rosie's tearoom.

To see the full photo album for the walk please click on the link below;

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