Stanton Moor 04/06/12

Stanton Moor is in the South Peaks and in an area of limestome stands out as a small island if gritstone.

We started this walk in the tiny market town of Winster, most noteable for a 17th Century Market Hall. The route took us out of the village and down into a valley and then we climbed through a small wood to reach farmland near Birchover. We walked past a busy campsite and then further upward to reach a small road. We wallked up the road for a 100 yds and then followed a path that lead up to Stanton moor. as moors go it is quite small and crossed with many paths. There are a lot of large rocks on the moor and many large Rhodedendrum bushes, also many tumuli, prehistoric burial chambers although they are cover ingrass and just appear as a small hump in the ground. At least 70 have been identified. We followed the path which skirted the moor and we soon had great views into the Derwent Valley and Darley Dale. There is a restored steam railway than runs through Darley Dale and we saw a  train in a station below us.
As the path turned around the eastern side of the Moor, we could see Earl Grey Tower which stands on the edge of the moor. This was built to commemorate the 1830 Reform act. We now moved away from the perimeter and soon arrived at the Nine Ladies a bronze age stone circle, the stones are all quite small and I had difficulty taking a photo that didn't show someone using one of the stones as a seat, this is a popular spot.

Our route now took us across the moor, and whilst stopping for a break we could clwarly hear a Cuckoo calling in a stand of trees behind us, sadly I was not able to catch a glimpse of the bird. I think it was the first time I have even heard a cuckoo. As I said, the moor is quite small and we soon reached the western edge, by a disused quary, one of many around the edges of the moor, another large rock known as the Cork Stone stands here.
We now followed the road towards the village of Birchover, before branching out onto a steep path which led down behind the village itself and emerged on another road opposite the Druid Inn.
Unusually for us, we decided to stop at the inn for a little refreshment. After a short break we continued down a track under Rowtor Rocks, an interestin group of rocks which we decided not to look at more closely, a shame really as they seem to have an interesting history.
We then followed the path which went around a farm and then down hill to eventually reach a road, which we decided to follow back to Winster.