The Eastern Edges of the Peak District

Saturday 7th May 2016

Last spring I was keen to visit as many woods as I could find that had bluebells in them as well as lots of other lovely woodland flowers such as wood anemones and celandines. Only ancient woods have this carpet of flowers that are so are rare and when they are found is a delightful sight. On the previous weekend I did my Charnwood Forest Round, which is a walk in Leicestershire that I do frequently at all times of the year, but which also happens to be an excellent walk for seeing bluebells as it passes through several woods that feature amazing displays of these flowers. The Outwoods, near Loughborough, is particularly outstanding and deserves national acclaim. I remember standing in the middle of this wood with bluebells all around me and the was sun shining overhead on an amazing display that puts many other woods to shame. I have described my Charnwood Forest Round on this blog before so I will not do so again, but instead I’ll move on a week to a walk that I did in the Peak District. Searches on the internet for bluebell woods are skewed towards those owned by the National Trust, which was probably why they had sent me to Calke Abbey two weeks earlier, and now it took me to Curbar Gap on the eastern edge of the national park.

I arrived at the windy and exposed car park bright and early in the morning while a strong, cold wind was blowing over Curbar Edge and mist lay in the valleys. Despite the forecast of warm temperatures I was wrapped up in gloves and a woolly hat as I made my way along Curbar Edge with poor views across the misty Derwent Valley. My enthusiasm for the millstone grit was not extinguished by the cold start or the hazy views as I bounced around from rock to rock along the edge of the escarpment relishing the feeling of rock underfoot and the lack of another soul to witness my larking about. Coming off the edge before I reached Froggatt Edge, I made my way along a great path that passes below the sheer cliffs where later in the day many climbers would be practicing their suicidal art while I made my way down through the woodland and onto the main road. A short walk along the road brought me to a National Trust wood with a path that slowly deteriorated while it graced me with fabulous displays of bluebells, wood anemones, stitchworts, celandines and marsh marigolds in amongst the bogs. Slowly I made my way along this highly decorated, but horrendous path that in many places merged into the morass until eventually and with very muddy shoes I came out of the wood.

A short walk along a road took me to the station of Grindleford that is situated dramatically at the mouth of the long Totley Tunnel and high above the Derwent Valley. An interesting walk through Bolehill Wood above the station took me gradually uphill through the former Bolehill Quarry that is slowly being reclaimed by nature. A fun, little path took me past climbers hanging precariously off the rocks in the quarry and up to the top of the moorland looking out over the valley. Continuing north took me over a main road as I made my way through the heather moor towards the striking rock tors that are scattered around this part of the eastern edges of the Peak District. Passing over several smaller tors I eventually reached Higger Tor where there were hazy views in the sunshine, but warm, blue skies above me. I could have kept going north, but I decided that this would do and I should turn back south from there. It was great to be walking in short sleeves again after the long, wet winter and I enjoyed basking in the sunshine as I made my way back across Hathersage Moor.

On crossing the main road again I re-entered the extensive National Trust property of the Longshaw Estate that I had been spending a great part of the day walking through. Passing the visitor centre at the heart of the estate I made my way south along some great paths, most notably in a striking, deep valley in Oak’s Wood, until eventually I reached Hay Wood. This was the wood that I had heard was full of bluebells, but I was very disappointed when I got there as it was difficult to find any. The boggy path of earlier in the day passes through a southern extension of Hay Wood, but it took me a long time to find any bluebells until I finally found some beside a wall near the Grouse Inn. After the extensive blankets of bluebells that I had seen the week before in Charnwood Forest, these were disappointing especially as a lot of them were still in bud even though the Leicestershire bluebells were at their peak this weekend. Despite my disappointment at the small quantity of bluebells the timely re-appearance of the sun made this small spread adequately satisfying.

Continuing my trek southwards I headed across a busy road and up to Froggatt Edge towards the point where I had left the edge at the start of the walk, passing many people on the way who were also enjoying this spectacular location. Before reaching the top of Curbar Edge I came off the top onto a path that descends through woodland that was sadly devoid of flowers to continue the walk below the edge until I reached the road a short distance from the car park at Curbar Gap. The weather on this walk, when the wind wasn’t blowing, was very warm, pleasantly warm for early May, and made for a great stroll in short sleeves. I have walked these edges several times in the past and they are always a pleasure, especially when it is sunny. However it was very misty all day so the distant views remained poor, although it was the views at my feet that I had come for and even though these had ultimately failed to satisfy I still had an enjoyable walk.