Win Hill & Kinder Scout from Castleton

Saturday 19th March 2005

I am continuing to look back at walks that I did before I started this blog fifteen years ago and have not previously been described here. This walk was in an area where I have done so much walking I felt I didn't really need a map, but I still managed to do bits that I'd never done before including some of quite significant interest. The walk began in Castleton, so after parking the car I headed off along the footpath at the eastern end of the village heading towards Hope. Passing a reservoir and crossing the branch line to the cement works I arrived in Hope (literally and figuratively! I just love the name of this village, where can you find hope? It's in the Peak District!). Walking along the Edale road for a while brought me to a track that spurs off to descend to a bridge under the railway line. Bearing right after passing under the bridge I climbed up the hill to Twitchill Farm and continued climbing all the way up to the top of Win Hill. Win Hill has tremendous views of the surrounding countryside with Edale on one side, the Hope valley on the other, and the Woodlands valley to the north including the viaducts that carry the road over Ladybower reservoir.

Heading back west I stayed at the top of the ridge heading towards Kinder Scout, passing Hope Cross and eventually climbed up to the eastern edge of Kinder over Crookstone Hill. Staying on the southern edge of Kinder I headed west enjoying the views of Edale and the Great Ridge beyond. At the top of Ollerbrook Clough I took the path off Kinder onto the Nab continuing around the side of the hill and slowly descending into Ollerbrook Clough. I had never been on the path beside the Oller Brook so here was a short venture into the unknown, so it was just a pity it didn't last very long. At Ollerbrook Booth I continued south across the railway line and with a short step to the right across the road I headed up the path to Hollins Cross. I have visited this pass, which goes from Edale to Castleton over the Great Ridge, many times, but I'd never actually descended towards Castleton, so here was my chance. I took the path that passes Mam Farm to reach the old road from Castleton. I had heard about this road and its infamous landslip and seen it from a distance several times, but I had never had a chance to actually walk over it, so this was now my chance and I relished every step.

The destruction seemed to me to be a testament to the invincibility of nature over anything that man can do. Man tries to build a road below Mam Tor and Mam Tor says "No, you're not". There are some parts of the countryside that man should leave well alone since you can't improve on perfection, you'll just ruin it. At the end of the landslip I took the track past Blue John Cavern and continued past Treak Cliff Cavern and Speedwell Cavern. Unfortunately I didn't have time to visit these caves, which is a pity because I'm sure they would have been fun. Passing below Cow Low I returned to Castleton to complete my walk. This was a fun walk in sunny weather and was good practice for the following week when I went to the Lake District.