Stanage Edge

Another lovely late October day so we decided to head down towards Hathersage close to where we were last week and walk Stanage Edge. So after another drive through Glossop and over the Sanke pass we arrived at Hatherseage itself. We had a walk starting for the villlage but as it was going to be going dark around 4.30 we decided to find a closer starting point to the Edge. A look at the OS map found a carparking area near to the southern End and we were lucky to get the last parking spot.

We start off following up a broad path the took us up through bracken almost to the top and just a little scramble and were were there.

Stanage is certainly the most dramatic Edge we have walked, it is on the edge of Hathersage Moor which stretchs East toward towards Sheffield, however the best views are to the west where we could look down across the Hope valley towards Castleton and clearly see Mam Tor and the great ridge stretching to Lose Hill, with its companion Win Hill also is sight.

Looking South West we could see down the Derwent valley overlooked by Froggat Edge.

Although the day was glorious, the wind on the top was very strong, but it wasnt a chilling wind fortunately. We set off along the edge, which is very popular with rock climbers, every buttress seemed to be alive with them. The cliffs of edge I assume are Millstone grit although there were certainly traces of sandstone on the cliff top. The way was for a large part over boulders as well as grass between them, also very fine sand which along with the pools of water reminded me of walking along a rocky seashore.

We continued to walk along. for the most part the scenery on the top was pretty similar, climbers, gaps between the rock, moorland to the east,, these are grouse moors and I did brief see one grouse in the distance. After a while more views opened up, KinderScout was unmistakable, also other hills to the north of it which i do not know.

We finally reached a trig point and dropping back from the edge found a sheltered spot to stop and eat our snack. 

After the break we then started to retrace our steps, part of the way along we stopped at a place called Robin Hood's cave, we had passed it on the way out but this time I decided to climb down and have a close look. It is a ledge with a number of  very rounded hemispheres in the rock, how these are formed I dont know, maybe it is the wind which blows the dust around and over many years shapes them, there is also a gap in the stone where after climbing down came to  the back of a small circular cave presumeably formed the same way. Going through this you come out onto a little balcony overlooking the rock face. Cave with a balcony? certainly sir.

Returning to the edge we arrived back at the point where we had climbed onto the edge and decided to continue up to Cowley rocks at the end of the edge. On reaching these rocks I was quite amused to find another trig point which had been afixed to a large rock.

From these rocks we could see over to Higger Tor which we did last week and it  was only a fairly short walk from where we were. We realised these were the rocks that we could see last week.

We now decided that instead of walking back along the edge we would descend here, which we did with a bit of scrambling and then followed a path through the bracken which lead to the main park from the carpark.

Oh and we actually some of the famed discarded millstones, they were so well grouped that if I were a cynic I would say that they had been deliberately placed there.

All told we walked between 5 and a half and six miles in the surprisingly fast, for us, 3 and a half hours.



Higger Tor

For one reason or another we havent walked for quite a while but we finally got out today and decided to do a walk described as medium, which was to walk around Burbage rocks and then back over Higger Tor.
We drove over Snake Pass after suffering driving through Glossop. The road is far too busy for its size ands so quite slow going.
W started the walk from the Longshaw Estate, a National Trust property so free car parking, always a plus. I didnt know it until we arrived but the meadows we walked through on the White Edge walk were part of this estate too.
We started of walking throiugh Woods on the estate and dont past little strams to the valley crossing a wooden bridge before ascending to cross a road. At this point we realised we had taken the wrong route through the woods so had to follow the road to get to the correct point. After scratcdhing our heads on which path to take, there were several, we started to climb along a rock strewn path up towards the top of Burbage Rocks. Burbage rocks is an edge which drops from Heather moorland to an oval valley. The path took us upwards and I am sure there would have been lovely views but it was quite hazy so most things were indistinct.
The rocks on the edge were broken wirh fissures between them and we were careful not to get to close, unlike lots of rock climbers who were all over them. All the time the path was strewm with rocks so the going wasnt exactly straight forward. The path took us past a disused quarry and there were supposed  to be millstones strewn around but we didnt see any. I guess back in the day,  the stones were cut at the quarry and then taken to where they were needed. The path curved around the valley until we reached the head. This was by the Fiddlers Elbow road and was a popular place with quite a number of cars parked and lots of people around. We soon crossed a couple of streams and the set of away from the crowds to return down the other side of the valley.
We probably misread the route at this point because we started to descend towards woods where the route clearly took us around them, so we had to work our way back up towards a path we could see and then after a short break for a snack continue upwards to the top of Higger Tor. I felt a little cheated whe nwe got there becuase the road runs just beloe the top and so people were parking up and strolling up a 100 yard long path to the top.
The top of the tor is covered with boulders which are are prominent around the eastern and southern sides of the hill, some precariously balanced. From the southern edge we could look down and see the smaller tor Carl Wark which we were heading for. We could not see a proper path down the southern side so we had to scramble carefully down the side picking out way carefully over the rocks. We then followed the path to Carl Wark.
Cark Wark is a Neolithic/Bronze age/iron age (take your pick) reinforced hill. We approached it up a path   to the top top which is guarded by a stone faced bank about 10 feet high. Like Higger Tor, the top is strewn with boulders and what this place was used for I dont know and googling it didnt help, it appears to be a bit of a mystery. After crossing the summit we again were faced with a scrambling descent. Once we reached a recognised path we followed it  towards a cark park crossing a stream on the way. Once at the carpark we crossed the road and again entered Longshaw Estate. A stroll through the woods and we were back at the car.
The walk was around 5 miles, but as the going was not  straightforward we were out for about 4 hours. The views were not as good as they could have been due to the hazy conditions and not much in the way of wildlife. That said it was an interesting walk and we had how first experience of having to do some scrambling, as I have been put off in the past where routes say scrambling involved, maybe we willget a bit more adventurous.

Underground, Overground and the Fawlty Towers Tea rooms.

No I didn't go and see the Wombles, but today was my walking buddies birthday so instead of a walk she wanted to do the Castleton Caves.
We started of at Speedwell Cavern, which is basically an uunderground boat ride down a narrow former lead mining tunnel, the trip was notable for the engine of the boat breaking down and our guide having to "walk the boat"  I thought it was a gimmick bit no he assured me that there had been a problem. At the end of the boat trip is a natural cavern. The trip was quite informative but not that dramatic.
We then walked to Treak Cliffe Cavern but had just missed a tour and wouldnt have had time to wait for the next one and make the last Peak tavern trip, which was already paid for. So we had to head off to Peak or the Devil's Arse as it is known.
We arrived with quite a bit of time to spare so decided to visis the tearooms close by, me have been here a few times and it really is surreal. We know from experience that the guy who owns it doesnt like people to buy just a drink, which wasnt a problem as we wanted the cream tea. While we waited, an eldewrly couple walked up and sat down. The conversation went something like this,
"2 teas please"
" 2 teas and scones"
"no we just want 2 teas"
"No you have to have scones"
"can we have 2 teas and an icecream?"
" i dont normally, but just this once I will"
as an aside as the owner walks away the lady mutters "weird"
So the poor chap had to eat an icecream while drinking his tea.
Then came the time to pay, the bill was about £8. conversation.
"Thats a lot"
"well you could have had tea and scones for £11.50"
"its still a lot"
"get over it... come again"
"no chance"

well we managed to control our laughter and headed for Peak Cavern, this is a pretty impressive cave, where people used to live and make rope, we were treated to a demo of how it was done and the had a tour of the cave, a good tour although you have to use your imagination to see some of the rock shapes you are supposed to see.

After the tour we returned to the tea shop where i managed toget just a coffee, well I had bought scones a hour ago.  Outside we had a conversation with a guy who said they had just been there and had wanted 6 drinks and 3 lots of scones (about £20) he said the owner wouldnt serve them until they had agreed to buy 4 lots of scones.

Well it was a nice afternoon, and I thought the tea shop was a laugh, but it is possible that you might have had to be there to appreciate it.

Rivington Terraced Gardens

Not really a walk as we were thwarted by the weather and didn't do our intended walk. We drove around for a while and ened up at Rivington, as the weather was poor it was quiet and we set off to explore the gardens.
The gardens were laid down by one of the Lever brothers of soap manufacturing fame (later Lord Leverhulme) . I believe the gardens are all that remains of Lord Leverhulmes home  and are now owned by United Utilities along with a lot more land around Rivington village.
The gardens which lie on the side of Rivington Pike have been mostly left to nature but along with ruined buildings a lot of features still exist.
We parked in the car park at the bottom of the hill and set off walking up a broad track through woodlands, lots of swallows were swooping around, always a nice sight. as we walked we caught glimpses of the paths and steps leading of the main track and soon reached a seven arched bridge which spanned the path. We had no idea where the paths led to so decided to follow the main track as far a we could.
After steadily climbing we reached a group of ruined buildings and as we looked around spotted a pool down though the trees, there were steps leading down sowe followed these and reached the pond, there appeared to have been a series of small waterfalls leading down to this pool but little water was visible, we guessed this watercourse was man made and with lack of maintenance had dried up. The pool at the bottom was quite tidy except for some rubbish at on end.
We retraced our steps  back to the main track and it soon turned with another track leading off onto the open slope of the Pike itself, with a square building on the summit. We were xploreing the gardens so we ignored this route and followed the main track.
As the track rounded a sharp bend we could see a building, a pavilion of some sort,  across what I guess was once a lawn, and as the track continued we saw steps leading towards this building so we wandered down to have a look. This pavilion had a wonderful view across the nature reclaimed lawn and face roughly southwest and although it was very cloudy we could see the shapes of hills on the horizon, North Wales perhaps? also through binoculars I could make out a building in the distance which had the shape of Liverpool Anglican catherdral, it was in the right direction but whether it was or not I dont know. A path led around  a bend and on exploring fould another pavilion similar to the first facing north west, with another overgrown lawn I guess in front of it. Again I imagine the view from here would have been wonderful, although trees had grown at the far side of the lawn and now somewhat obscured the view.
Between these two pavilions was a flight of steps which led from an arch we had send earlier back up to the main track. We returned to the track, which continued upwards until it reached  a wall with dove perches set into it and leading to the Pigeon Tower a tall thin building which is visible from the valley below. Again ther view from here was fantastic, looking out towards the Ribble estuary and to Blackpool where we could seI am surethat on a clear day the Lake District fells would also be visible.
This was about as far along the track we wanted to go, so we descended steps in front of the tower past a series of arches. I paused here to watch a falcon hovering in the air quite close by, it was too big for a kestrel and I guess it was a peregrine but I couldnt be certain despite watching it untl it folded it's wing and dropped to presumably take some small animal it had spotted.
We then spotted a lily pond and took the path that led alongside it, tits and blackbirds were flying between the bushed and I spotted a small mammal as it disappeared into the undergrowth. although were were walking on a stone path we noticed at one point there were spaces between the stones, which looked as if they could have been put there as an overflow for the pond, as one the other side of the path there looked to be a man made watercourse going down the hill.
A little further on and another set of steps appeared leading up th a pair of arches where the steps split to go both right and left the steps also led down the hill and this was the way we went The steps led down over various pieces of stonework and we found ourselves on the top of the seven arched bridge. This seemed a got point to rejoin the track we had walked up and we follwed it back down to the carpark.

It turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon after the disappointment of not being able to walk where we had intended.

I did wonder why the gardens had never been restored to their former glory, but I think the wildness of it added to the experience, after all there any plenty of tended gardens that can be visited.

Shining Tor

Today we decided on a walk based around Shining Tor, which is situated near the Cat and Fiddle pub on the Macclesfield to Buxton Rd, it is the highest point in Cheshire and promised stunning views. Our starting point was to be the carpark at Errwood and having consulted the map we made for the Cat and Fiddle where there was a road leading down into the Goyt valley and the car park. We drove down this road only to find we could not drive through to the carpark we wanted, so after another look at  the map we set off into Buxton and up the Whaley Bridge road and turned down towards the reservoir at Errwood, only to find that that road was closed too. A third look at the map showed another carpark was on the route, so we drove up to Pym Seat and finally parked. The only drawback with this was that now the walk would end with an uphill climb, rather than a downhill walk as we prefer at the end.
The weather was a bit mixed, sunny spells but occassional black clouds, and just as we were about to head off one of the later decided to unload its contents, so rather than start off wet we sat it out in the car for ten minutes.

and now the walk.

We set off from Pym Seat, this was a group of rocks, which are no longer here and named after a preacher or maybe a highwayman, according to the sign. We crossed a minor road and then entered the moorland, the first part of the walk being along the ridge from Pym Seat via Cat Tor to Shining Tor. It was very windy so there was nothing to do but put our heads down and walk along the ridge, firstly a short climb to the top of Cat's Tor (there used to be wild cats around here) a slight descent and then we climbed up to Shining Tor, the route here is along stone slabs, obviouly laid to protect the land but today handy as they allowed us to keep our feet dry as the land was quite muddy with small pools of water too.

We finally reached the top of Shining Tor and went throguh a gate to the trig point, now I  have to say that from a distance Shining Tor is nothing special being the high point of a long ridge, unlike the nearby Shutlingsloe which is a prominent peak, as the picture at the top shows.

The view however from the top are excellent even though visability wasnt as good today as it has been on previous times I have driven over the Cat and Fiddle .Behind Shutingsloe we could clearly see another peak in the distance which turned out to be the Wrekin 47 miles away, we watched a plane as it flew into land at Manchester, could see Winter Hill as well. We could see the towns of Greater Manchester, the Beeston town was visible, as well as the summits of the Peak District. On a clear day you can see Snowdonia, Pendle Hill and even through to Ingleborough.

We left the summit and now walked down a path towards the top of Shooters Clough, once we were away from the edge the wind dropped considerably and the walking was much more pleasant. After a short descent we climbed again to a track leading to the Cat and Fiddle pub, but our route took us the other way and we started a long descent alongside Shooters Clough heading down to Errwood (our intended starting point). Lokking over the valley I could help but notice the purple heather and more unusual the strips of land within the heather which were clear of colour, I guess this must have been strips that had previously been burnt back. as the shapes were very symetrical. We also had great views of the reservoir on the descent.

We finally reached the bottom of the hill and took the track leading to Errwood Hall. The walk to the Hall was quite wonderful,  streams gurgled down on both sides of the track which was surrounded by Rhododendrons and Azaleas, which must be magnificent when in bloom. This track soon led us to the remains of the Hall itself. The Hall was built in the 1830s by a Manchester businessman called Grimshawe and was partly demolished for the stone when the reservoir was constructed in the 1930s, quite a short life for a fine house.
We had lunch within the remains (I dined at Errwood Hall haha!) the hall is surrounded by more Rhodys, 40,000 Rhodys and Azaleas were planted by Grimshawe when it was built.

We now left the hall and continued along a path by the side of a stream in a deep gully and descended to cross this stream on a wooden bridge, I then took a slight detour as on the hill behind the house is a graveyard where the Grimshawes and some of their employees were buried. Back on the path we started a  climb along the edge of woodland, fortunate as another heavy shower forced us to shelter in the trees.
After a steady climb we passed a small circular building which was built as a shrine to a Spanish governess of the Grimshawes who died suddenly. I looked in the shrine and there is still a small altar and various articles are found inside, crucifixes, pictures of Christ and even a small teddy bear.

We continued walking and shortly after the shrine we reached the minor road again, which we followed up the hill and back to the carpark.

The walk was around 6 miles and took us about 4 hours, which is quite quick for us, little in the way of wildlife although there was a buzzard on the drive up and we saw some deer on the way home.

Two for the price of one

It has been quite a while since the last entry because apart from an uninteresting stroll around Hollingworth Lake we haven't been walking.
So we decided it was time get our boots on again and picked an easy 4 mile walk doing the Roystone Grange trail. This is situated south of Buxton and we drove down now familar roads passing several turn offs we had taken in the past.
We set off from Minninglow carkpark and joined the high peak trail which it this point runs along the disused bed of an old railway. The first part took us along the top of a stone embankment and we soon reached a disused quarry where the old railway sleepers and rails could be seen, then along another stone embankment from where we could see cows with small calves in the field below. We then left  the trail and walked up a track towards Minninglow Hill, which from the distance looks like it its wearing a crown, with bushes around the top and a stand of tall birch trees in the middle. We could see it as we were driving towards the area and it was nice to see it close up. There is a neolithic burial ground on the top of the hill but unfortunately access is denied to the site.
We then descended a field to cross underneath the old railway trail and continued down to reach Roystone Grange. A grange is the name gived to an outlying farm belonging to an abbey and Roystone belonged to the Cistercian Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire, quite some distance away. Apparently  this site has been in continuous use since Roman times and there is plenty of evidence of this but we didnt see any. Having walked through the yard of the grange we followed a track back upto a minor road and from there returned to the carpark.
The walk was very easy going past quite a lot of heritage but it is not easy to see any of it, very poor for birds too, not much seen and recognised apart from a lot of swallows.
We had only walked for a couple of hours so my walking partner suggested we do another short walk.

We had walked part of Lathkill Dale on one of our earliest walks and I quite wanted to walk the lower part of the dale but as the walk was only 3 miles it was a long way to go just for that, so it was a perfect second walk.

We drove to the village of Youlgrave or Youlgreave, the village has a youth hostel in what was the old Co-op building and apparently the mens dormitory is in a room still labelled ladies underwear!
We parked near the impressive church and followed a narrow road down to the river Bradford quite a small river to be honest and it soon joined the River Lathkill. We walk alongside the river past a farm, we saw some quite unusual sheep here, dark brown with white socks and strangely a white tail, we found out the are Balwen, a welsh mountain breed. Once past the farm we reach the hamlet of Alport, where a road bridge crossed the river, which runs prettily down past nice gardens, Having crossed the road we continued walking a little way from the river towards Conksbury bridge, nothing of note along here apart from an area of meadow set aside as a conservation area, I could have lingered here looking for birds but didn't.
We reached Conksbury bridge where the river is very slow moving and lingering at the bridge I was delighted to see a little diving bird which I thought was a Little Grebe, consulting my book proved this to be the case, I was very pleased, as I haven't definitely seen one before. Quite a lot of ducks too, one of which I wasn't certain about, I will have to trawl the books to see if I can spot it,
Having crossed the bridge we now walked along the river, at this point a series of weirs turn the river into a number of shallow lakes with lots of ducks and water so clear that with a bit of patience you can see trout below the surface  I was very pleased to see a Dipper here, its a lovely little bird, dark with a white bib and quite a comical way of flying, also saw an unidentied Rail type bird in the reeds and again i will try and idenitfy later.
This is a wonderful couple of hundred yards of river and I could quite happily spend a couple of hours here. The only drawback is that it is quite popular and so very noisy at times.
Time was drawing on and so we resumed our walk which again moved above the river and after a short while reached Lathkill lodge and a stone clapper bridge which crossed the river, only it didn't! Despite a broad river a hundred yards or so down stream, the bed was dry! I have heard of some rivers in Derbyshire which flow underground in summer, maybe the Lathkill is one such river.
Having crossed the "river" we now had to ascend through woods along a steep hairpin path, the only strenuous walking we did all day, and having reached the top of the wood we walked thorugh a field to reach another grange, Meadow Place Grange which used to belong to the Augustinian Abbey of Leicester. The grange is neatly set out around a central courtyard. We now walked out of the grange climbing through fields until we crossed the road leading to Conksbury bridge, we soon reached a farm track which led to a road which took us back into Youlgreave, where we enjoyed a much needed mug of coffee before returning to the car.
This second walk was much more interesting than the first, with more varied scenery, not to mention the Little Grebe and Dippers.
The two together were quite tiring we were out walking for about six hours all told, although we did linger a lot one the second walk.

Thor's Cave, Manifold Dale

Well the weather was glorious today so we decided on a trip to Manifold dale.
We drove to the village of Wetton and having parked, set off towards Thors Cave, situated 250ft up a crag overlooking the Manifold valley, which was reached by an easy walk firstly on roads, then on a fram track anf finally along a footpath. The Cave have a large almost circular entrance, although dispite the dry weather today it was tricky to climb up into the cave itself, as the path to it was quite muddy and water dripping from the cave itself made the rocky entrance quite slippy. I managed to get into the first part of the cave but no further due to the slippyness of the rock floor. Although I didnt know at the time the cave is on the cover of The Verve's debut album A Storm in Heaven.

We left the cave and began the descent to the valley floor, Thor's Cave is a popular place to visit so  stone steps hav ebeen built to protect the side of the valley. The steps descend through a wood so they were muddy as little sunlight got through to dry them and we found the going very slow but we finally reached the valley floor where a bridge crossed what would have the Manifold river, however the river flows underground for part of its course in the summer months, so the bridge just crossed a dry stream bed.
We now reached the Manifold trail, a footpath built on and old railway line.

Our path took us over the trail and up the opposite side of the valley and into Ladyside Wood, we followed the path through the wood, it is not walked very much, judging from the overgown nature of the path. We emerged from the wood and headed towards the village of Grindon. I have to be honest, I was starting to struggle here it was very hot and I was starting to feel queasy. After a rest were continued on into Grindon. We had only walked about 2 miles but had already taken 2 hours, how intended route was to walk to Wetton mill back down in the valley and then over Wetton Hill back to the car. I really didnt fancy the climb up Wetton Hill the way I was feeling, so we consulted the map and decided to change our route and decided to return to Wetton via Weag's bridge.

We followed the road out of the village past farms and we were delighted to see a calf that must have been born only a few minutes early, his mum weas still cleaning him while he was trying to have his first feed. the road descended back down to the valley and we found a footpath that cut off a large bend in the road. This footpath took us through a nature reserve although we didnt see anything in the way of wildlife, but this path lead us to Weags bridge, which crossed the Manifold but again it was a dry bed.

 We were now on the road again which would lead us back up the hill and into Wetton. We again noticed on the map there was a footpath that cut out part of the road. So we left the road and scrambled up a steep bank again very overgrown and soon reached the road again. We followed the road up the hill and expected to reach Wetton after about a mile, after walking for quite a while every time we reached a bend in the road we expected to see the village in front of us but all we saw was the road continuing on between fields with no sigh of habitation.

Eventually we noticed a footpath leading to Wetton, which we werent expecting so we consulted the map again and worked out where we were, we had gone wrong again, 3rd walk on the trot! We had misread which footpath we had walked up and were on the wrong road! We left the road and followed the footpath up through a field and at the top we saw the Wetton in front of us. We walked down through a couple of fields and finally reached the carpark.

In retrospect it was a mistake to plan such a walk as we had today, it was more a day for wandering along on riverban not walkin up and down hills, but we live and learn.