Roystone Rocks and Harboro’ Rocks

Monday 25th May 2020

Returning to the Peak District I parked in the Minninglow car park on the High Peak Trail to continue the walk that I had done two days before after taking a rest on Sunday. I had joined the High Peak Trail at this car park then and now I walked back along the road to the byway that I had come down then and turned onto Minginglow Road opposite. It wasn’t long before I turned off the road onto a track that heads south and coming off this I entered a small area of Open Access Land up a hill to Roystone Rocks where scattered limestone outcrops decorate the top. The weather was amazing with clear blue skies, hardly any wind and not a cloud to be seen, which afforded me with stunning views all the way around from these weathered, characterful rocks. Wandering through the rocks I made my way down the southern slopes and back onto the track, stopping off at what looks like an old chapel, but is in fact a nineteenth century pump house for the nearby quarries. The track descends a dry valley with steep grassy slopes and some outcrops, and I couldn’t resist climbing the eastern bank to get a good view up and down the quiet valley.

Following the bank south past Hoe Grange Quarry I enjoyed the views and the rugged, steep terrain as I slowly made my way south ignoring the tarmac track at the bottom of the valley. It may have been easier to walk along the track, but I was having far too much fun walking on the steep slopes. Passing Ballidon Quarry I climbed out of valley and up to the top of Blackstone’s Low. There is a trig point near the top, but not at the summit, which is clearly higher a short distance away, but it is curious why the trig point would have been constructed at that point beside the wall and not on the summit. The hill is on Open Access Land so I was able to follow the ridge south above White Edge until the gradient started to descend and I ran out of access land. I had assumed I would be able to get onto a footpath that is in the next field, but I could not find any way across the fence so I started veering east down steep, rough ground towards the B5056 road. It may have been easier to have turned west and used a farmer’s track, but that is not what I did.

The rough terrain was lovely, bejewelled with many wild flowers, mainly buttercups, but in the woodland at the bottom of White Edge I found a small cluster of the delightful white flowers of wild garlic, which compensated for the difficulty of the descent and in getting out of this access land. Eventually I reached the road but still there was no way across the wall so eventually I had climb over to finally leave the access land. Usually access land has a clearly signposted route of entry, but that is clearly not the case here. Walking along the road I joined the route of the Limestone Way up Pasture Lane while to the north I could see some interesting rock formations that my map informed me was Rainster Rocks with a right-of-way that goes up to the top. Following faint paths I headed uphill towards the rocks weaving through the until eventually I came across a couple of rock climbers attempting an ascent, and after saying hello I made my own way up a much easier route through a crack in the rocks that enabled me to scramble up to the top.

Making my way back down I returned to the Limestone Way following it across interesting terrain onto Manystones Lane where Harboro’ Rocks could clearly be seen ahead. I saw loads of litter beside the road so I started to fill a plastic bag that I’d brought with me and ended up with loads of drinks bottles and cans. It is disgraceful how people will throw this stuff around the countryside, however it was very satisfying for me to do my bit in collecting this rubbish. Staying on the lane and ignoring the turning for the Limestone Way, I kept going until I was past some works and then took a lane up to the High Peak Trail and Harboro’ Rocks. A lot of people were on the lower slopes of Harboro’ Rocks, but I soon walked past these on my way to the top where I had extensive views to the south that included Carsington Water, which I had walked around in February when life was so much simpler, before lockdown. I had my lunch while gazing out over the view and was surprised at how windy it was all of a sudden, as the lack of wind earlier in the walk had been noticeable, although it could be that Harboro’ Rocks is a more exposed location.

Coming down from the rocks I joined the High Peak Trail, and although I had considered heading east, I decided that since this would take me further from my car I would head west straight back to my car, despite the risk of finishing the walk early. Wild flowers decorated the disused railway line, principally red campion and cow parsley, and produced a stunning display in the hot sunshine. I was happy to slowly make my way along the old railway line all the way back to the car park. This was quite a short walk and I saw nothing as dramatic as Wolfscote Dale that I had walked through on Saturday, but it was fun walking along the line of hills in a secluded corner of the Peak District. I may not be walking in Scotland as I would normally do at this time of the year, but at least I was able to walk in the Peak District and I was fortunate enough to have good weather at the same time.