For my holiday at the end of August I had planned to head off to the West Country, but events intervened and I had to stay at home, but at the beginning of the week the weather was so good I couldn’t stay indoors and drove up to the Peak District parking at the Curbar Gap car park. I have used this car park several times in the past including on my first walking holiday back in 1998 and on this occasion set off onto Big Moor walking along a path beside the rather shallow White Edge. I walked along White Edge in 1998 and again in 2004 on a walk that I have never written up and I don’t have any pictures so all I’ve got is my vague memory, though I seem to recall I had a young lady with me, but those days are long gone! The weather on this walk was fantastic, however there was a stiff, cold breeze at first that had prompted me to put on my cagoule, but it wasn’t long before this came off. It was lovely walking in the sunny weather beside the rocky edge with a gently descending terrain to my left and the purple flowers of the heather moor to my right.
Passing the 365 metre trig point I continued along White Edge until I reached a road junction where I crossed over and entered the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate under a continuation of the rocky edge following a wide track towards Longshaw Lodge. These edges run along the whole eastern side of the Peak District with the River Derwent to the west and open moorland eastwards, and I was following them north on a walk similar to the one I took in 2004. From my vantage point on this track I had great views down the Derwent Valley with the two peaks of Win Hill and Lose Hill clearly to be seen and Kinder Scout behind them in the distance as I remembered the walks that I had done just a couple of weeks earlier. Where the track enters a wood I veered off around the visitor centre to avoid the crowds and walk along the edge of the wood before finally entering to take a course not far from a main road. Eventually crossing the road I took a path that climbs onto another rocky edge heading towards Burbage Rocks on a great path that was fun to ascend as any rocky path is and always immensely enjoyable.
With great views across the valley of Burbage Brook and towards the rocks on Carl Wark I made my way around a sharp turn in the path and across a depression to climb up to Burbage Rocks with the vast Burbage Moor to my right. Finally I reached the road at Upper Burbage Bridge where my friend and I had started our walk in 2004 having driven over from Sheffield. Instead of turning south to copy that walk my eye had been attracted to the rocks at the southern end of Stanage Edge, which I thought would make a good place to have lunch, so I headed across the moor up to the rocks and stopped near the trig point on the unnamed 457 metre top. The highest point on Stanage Edge, High Neb, is almost as high at 458 metres, so perhaps you could call this South Neb or Low Neb? I had my lunch there gazing out over the stunning scenery before setting off across the moor, over a couple of roads before climbing to the top of Higger Tor where the crowds were immense. There had been loads of people all day brought out by the good weather, but now they seemed to have grown to overwhelming numbers that detracted from the enjoyment of the walk.
Doing my best to avoid everyone and keep a distance I came down off Higger Tor and made my way across to Carl Wark and then to Toad’s Mouth, whatever that is, and down to Burbage Brook. Walking along the path beside the stream was really tricky as it was packed with people, mostly families enjoying the weather. As the terrain steepened the stream drops through the stunning Padley Gorge and the woodland scenery became quite spectacular. Some of my colleagues from work had found a website that listed the ten best walks in the Peak District and Padley Gorge was number one even though I had never heard of it let alone walked through it before. Unfortunately there were too many people around for me to appreciate the surroundings and the path doesn’t afford any good views up the darkly wooded gorge. Eventually I crossed the Burbage Brook and climbed up into Yanncliff Wood heading south through Hay Wood on a path that couldn’t compete with the open vistas of the eastern edges, but at least I was now away from the crowds. After crossing a main road I took a path that climbs up towards Froggatt Edge and now my fun could start again.
There is stunning walking along this edge that I have visited many times in the past including that first walking holiday in 1998 and I enjoy it every time keeping to the rocks along Curbar Edge as I slowly made my way south taking many pictures as I went until eventually I reached the car park at Curbar Gap. This was a fabulous walk with stunning weather and was really enjoyable especially when climbing on a rocky path. It was disappointing that I was unable to do the originally planned holiday, but I hoped that I would eventually be able to get away and until then this was great compensation as I enjoyed some great weather and some of the best walking that the Peak District has to offer.
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