Perfect Peak District

Mid June saw us in the Peak District once again, enjoying a wonderful week of walking. The weather, which had been fearsomely hot in the preceding weeks, thankfully cooled and we had perfect clear blue skies every day, except for the first morning.

This was going to be a week of dipping into lots of things, rather than focussing on two or three long walks. We stayed in Buxton, somewhere neither of us had been before, and which offered new areas to explore. On our first morning in the rain, we climbed up to Solomon's Temple on Grin Low Hill which was lovely, the rain easing as we wandered back down across heathland and through mixed woodland. After a welcome cup of coffee, we headed up onto Burbage Edge in the Goyt Valley, again overlooking Buxton, where the National Park boundary runs right over the summit. Unfortunately, the rain started in earnest once we were at the trig point, so we hurried down again, soaking wet. In the afternoon, we decided to visit the wonderful Lyme Park and thoroughly enjoyed the stunning house and grounds.

The next day found us back in the Dark Peak early, to walk Upper Burbage Edge, one of the nine gritstone edges. Originally planning just to walk this edge, the day was so beautiful and the views so stunning that we walked to its end, before climbing up onto Lower Burbage Edge. The walk back through the valley was an absolute delight.

Looking for a suitable lunch spot, we headed down to the peace and stillness of Stanage End hoping to find some of the iconic abandoned millstones which are so redolent of the Peak District. To our delight, we found five, one lying flat making the perfect table for lunch in stunning surroundings. After lunch, we’d planned to walk Froggatt Edge, but a road closure and long detour meant Curbar Edge was more convenient and this turned out to be an absolutely sublime walk in the warm afternoon sun with the most wonderful panoramas. We spent a long time sitting with our boots and socks off, drinking it all in. This was definitely a firm favourite.

The Roaches was our next objective the following day, in the Staffordshire Peak District; a completely new area for us. Climbing up through bracken and a small wood of Scots Pines, we emerged onto a wide flat plateau dotted with tiny pine trees, heather and interesting weather worn rock formations. We ambled along to the pretty Doxey Pool where we sat for a while watching swallows swooping down to drink from the surface of the water, while revelling in the peace and warmth. Deciding not to walk the whole ridge, we meandered back southwards, enjoying the magnificent views of the Leek Valley before an enjoyable scramble down some large rocks at the end of the ridge.

Joining a path at the bottom, we headed back towards our starting point, pausing to watch groups of children learning to rock climb. We considered for a moment whether to tackle the dramatic looking Hen Cloud, but decided to leave that for another visit. Instead we drove the 20 minutes or so to a small parking area at Gradbach for the walk to Lud's Church; a secluded gorge that has been used as a place of worship since pagan times. It was by then very warm and after a cup of coffee at the tiny Riverside Cafe, we set off through the welcome cool of Back Woods before climbing steeply up and following a path than wound gradually and gently up through the trees for perhaps a mile or two.

We soon came to a fingerpost pointing to what looked like a rockfall, but was in fact the way into the gorge and, after negotiating the slightly slippery route, found ourselves in an incredible cool, shady, fern filled gulley, about 18 metres deep. It was muddy underfoot, but opened out with the sun filtering soft green light into the depths. We walked the length of the gorge, exploring the nooks and crannies before leaving at our entrance point. It was both mesmerising and unique. We had a quick lunch stop on a shady outcrop of rocks in the woods before heading back.

We then moved on to Bakewell for a couple of nights, and were out early, parking at Ladybower Reservoir to climb Win Hill; prominent from almost everywhere in the Hope Valley area. We crossed Ladybower dam, slightly intimidated by the two huge 'plugholes' or shaft spillways, then began climbing up through a lovely cool, fragrant pine wood. The path rose very gently upwards to a slightly steeper section just before the treeline, when we crossed open fellside and climbed the last rocky knoll to the summit. The views were beautiful in all directions; to Edale and Mam Tor, down to Ladybower and across to Baslow Edge. We had the summit to ourselves for half an hour before others began to appear from different directions, before we made our way back down. We spent a lovely couple of hours in the afternoon wandering around Bakewell which was ablaze with the most beautiful displays of flowers, strolled by the river and explored the back streets.

After a lazy morning the next day, we had another walk round Bakewell, which was busy and lively as it was a Saturday and there was a dance festival taking place. We had arranged to meet friends in Buxton and had a walk around the lovely Pavilion Gardens with them before drinks, a meal and a talk from 17 time Everest summiteer, Kenton Cool, about the history of Everest climbing expeditions at the Pavilion Gardens, which was fascinating.

Our final morning saw us leaving Bakewell and stopping at Hardwick Hall before setting off back down the M1. I'd been before a couple of times, but about 30 years ago and Bro had never been. It was utterly gorgeous and the gardens were particularly stunning with flowers and flowering shrubs in profusion. The house was a fascinating example of Elizabethan architecture.

We've grown to really love the Peak District, and will be returning very soon.

Outdoor Ramblings

‘The greatest adventure is what lies ahead’

Perfect Peak District