Alport Height and Shining Cliff Woods

Saturday 17th January 2009

The day before this walk I was musing to myself that since the highest point in Leicestershire is 912 feet where is the nearest hill that is above 1000 feet? The obvious answer is in Derbyshire, but where in Derbyshire? A quick peruse of the map revealed a hill just outside of the Peak District that has a height of 1030 feet and is called Alport Height. Since the weather on this day appeared to be good I set off but with no clear idea about what sort of walk I was going to do. When I got to the town of Ambergate I was reminded of a walk I did many years ago in this area, which may have been short but I passed through Shining Cliff Woods and the surrounding fields starting from Ambergate railway station. I hastily stopped and upon checking my map I decided that I could easily walk from Shining Cliff Woods to Alport Height so I parked my car and began the walk.

As I did ten years ago I began by walking up a track that climbed steeply into the woods but at a junction in Beggarswell Wood I didn't drop down to the Peatpits Brook, in the middle of the woods as I had before, but continued along the byway and out of the wood. Crossing the road at a farm I took a path that continued to climb the hill through farmland eventually reaching a narrow road. Now I had to stay on the road for a long while as I slowly walked towards Alport Height because I was in the middle of cattle and sheep farming country with no interesting features and few paths. The easiest and most practical thing to do was to stay on the road for anything else would be a waste of time and effort. Eventually I reached the foot of the hill and climbed up to the National Trust owned land on its southern slopes.

The views from the top to the south were quite extensive as by definition there were no higher hills south for a very long way. I spent a long time wandering around the area and admiring the extensive views, but the summit itself was ruined by not one or two radio masts but seven! The most distinguishing feature of the area is the Alport Stone, a 20 foot rock pinnacle near the summit that shows signs of being climbed by many people over the years. There was graffiti on the rocks with dates going back to the beginning of the 20th Century and one from even earlier: G. Waterfield climbed to the top of Alport Stone in 1883 and left his mark at the top. I was quite happy to look at the rock but I didn’t have any thought of climbing it myself.

Eventually I left the hill and made my way back along the road to Shining Cliff Woods. I took a different route back and was able to rejoin my route of ten years ago, entering the wood at the western end and following a rather muddy path through the wood to the Shining Cliffs themselves. They aren't very big but they do have a youth hostel next to them. I didn't stop at the hostel but descended towards the brook continuing down even more steeply to the bottom of the Amber Valley. The return to my car involved a straight-forward walk past derelict factory buildings beside the River Derwent on the edge of the wood back onto the track that I had taken in ascent.

This wasn’t an arduous walk by any standard. I had just suddenly wondered where the nearest hill above 1,000 feet was and having discovered where it was I felt that I had to visit it. It was a pleasant walk to do in bright winter sunshine and it gave me something to do on a Saturday. The walk through Shining Cliff Woods brought back some memories, but I’m getting almost tired of walking through woodland. Most weekends these days, when I can’t get to a proper hill, I go for a walk around Charnwood Forest, and Shining Cliff Woods are not much different to that. What I crave is a proper mountain so the weekend after this walk I was back in the Lake District.