The Manifold Valley and Dovedale

Saturday 10th October 2015

Two weeks before this walk I went over the Roaches and on the way there I’d driven through the village of Waterhouses on the southern edge of the Peak District. This brought to mind a walk that I did back in 2003 along the Manifold Way in hot weather just a couple of days before going to the Lake District. Once my mind had started thinking about the Manifold Valley I felt a longing to return to the area and tie it in with a visit to the nearby valley of the ever-popular Dovedale so at the earliest opportunity I drove back to Waterhouses and set off along the Manifold Way. I hadn’t planned on starting the walk by going that way but I’d already realised that I’d forgotten to bring a map of the Peak District with me and I wasn’t sure of my route to the village of Ilam at the southern end of Dovedale. I assumed I would find a shop that stocked maps somewhere in the Manifold Valley so I set off along the Manifold Way.

The Manifold Way is a cycle-route and several bike-hire shops exist in Waterhouses to take advantage of this, so when I walked through the valley in 2003 I was passed by many people on bicycles. However, I was now walking on a crisp, cold October morning and all the cycle shops were closed leaving me with the cycle path all to myself. I was wrapped up warm with my gloves on as I had a relaxing and enjoyable stroll along the tarmacked track that passes through the valley along the line of a disused light railway. The Manifold Way passes over the River Hamps many times through a heavily wooded valley and when I was there the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn an autumnal golden colour. The delightful, sylvan scenery compensated for the flat, tarmacked surface underfoot. After passing the limestone crag of Beeston Tor the valley opened out slightly until eventually the thing that I had been looking forward to with a certain amount of trepidation loomed into view.

I first visited this valley in the mid-eighties and had quite an adventure in Thor’s Cave, a wide opening high above the valley. Ever since, this cave has had ominous overtones for me, but I didn’t let that deter me from climbing up the steep, heavily wooded slopes of the valley until I reached the cave opening. I had a little exploration of the interior of the cave that is well-lit due to various openings including the one that I went through all those years ago. Wisely I now returned to the mouth of the cave and made my way back down to the bottom of the valley and along the Manifold Way until I reached Wetton Mill. There I was finally able to buy a new Ordnance Survey Map of the Peak District and left the Manifold Valley behind to climb out of the valley passing Wetton Hill and Narrowdale Hill to reach the River Dove at the northern end of Wolfscote Dale.

While having something to eat beside the river I was passed by many people walking through this popular valley. The weather had warmed gradually through the morning so that by this time it was a pleasant day and I was able to have an enjoyable walk south along the valley in sunny weather. The Manifold Valley was shamed in comparison with the valleys of the River Dove and is justifiably considerably more popular, if not the most popular place in the Peak District. These northern valleys are not as narrow or spectacular as Dovedale, further south, but I was already passing stunning limestone crags that could clearly be seen at this point due to a lack of trees in the valley. Eventually I reached Coldeaton Bridge where had to walk beside a road until I reached the picturesque hamlet of Milldale at the northern end of Dovedale, and now the delights came thick and fast in the most stunning place in the Peak District.

I have passed through this valley many times, at many different times of the year and through lots of different weather conditions. The last time I was in Dovedale was on a blind date with a lovely young woman, but unfortunately that didn’t go very well; it was raining. Now I was able to wipe away those memories with a fabulous walk through the stunning valley of Dovedale firstly stopping off to explore the caves of Dove Holes. Further south I passed Ilam Rock and Pickering Tor before I got to Reynard’s Cave, which is reached after climbing through a natural arch in the rocks. I’m sure I must have been to Reynard’s Cave before, but I couldn’t remember doing so, and so now I eagerly climbed the steep hillside passing through the natural arch and into the short cave. I had tremendous fun scrambling up the steep, rocky hillside and it astonished me that something so fabulous could be just an hour and a quarter’s drive from boring old Leicestershire. Even Snowdonia and the Lake District would be proud of landscape like this.

Eventually I returned to the bottom of Dovedale and continued along the increasingly popular path through the increasingly stunning and narrowing valley past the limestone pinnacles of the Tissington Spires until the path climbs to the top of Lover’s Leap. With the crowds increasing exponentially I walked to the end of the valley at the famous stepping stones that lie at the foot of Thorpe Cloud. I briefly contemplated not going up Thorpe Cloud, but I was never going to miss out this hill so I quickly made my way directly up the hillside spurning the path in favour of keeping to the edge of the steep northern ridge. This involved some scrambling and was very tiring but it was also a very satisfying route to climb up to the windblown summit. From there I had to come all the way back down and this time I kept to the edge of the steep western ridge. This was a fun little diversion but I still had a long way to go in order to get back to Waterhouses.

I passed through the village of Ilam and followed a road round to Rusley Bridge where I took a path that passes through Musden Wood at the bottom of a dry valley. This is a dark and dingy wood and I was walking along a footpath that is simply mud. I remember coming through this wood many years ago and it was even worse on that occasion so I was forced to climb the steep sides of the valley. I was also becoming quite tired by this point in the walk and was regretting my excursion up Thorpe Cloud as the duration of the walk approached eight hours. Eventually, and with great relief, I emerged from the wood and entered the village of Calton from where a short walk along the road finally brought me back to Waterhouses. If I had done the walk in the other direction, as originally planned, I wouldn’t have had the tiring climb through Musden Wood up to Calton at the end of the walk, but that failed to ruin what was a fabulous day. I had passed through some stunning limestone scenery that is without doubt the finest in the Peak District.

The Roaches and Lud’s Church

Saturday 26th September 2015

With good weather forecast at the end of September I decided to head off to the Peak District and do a walk over some crags that are very popular with rock climbers, but where I’d not been in well over ten years. On that occasion I had come from the north, from Gradbach, but now I parked at the foot of Hen Cloud and immediately encountered a problem. I started the walk by blindly following a large group of people who were going through a field below the hill until I realised there wasn’t a footpath that goes from that field onto Hen Cloud. When I realised this I returned to the road, unlike the crowds ahead of me who seemed determined to find a way out of the field and through the dense wood at the top. I walked along the road until I reached a track that contains the proper footpath and followed this up the western slopes of the hill coming off this track onto a narrow path that climbs gloriously steeply up heather slopes and was reminiscent of paths that I have been on in the Lake District and in Scotland. The only difference was that this path was much shorter and therefore it wasn’t long before I had climbed up to the top of Hen Cloud.

This satisfying, albeit brief, climb brought me past steep cliff faces that rock climbers would have salivated over while I simply continued onto the rocky hilltop of Hen Cloud. I was disappointed with the cloud cover above the Roaches that was dulling the good views I had been promised while the sun did shine a short distance away outside of the Peak District. In the opposite direction to the sunshine the crags of the Roaches could be seen to the north and that was my next destination. After a hop or two over the gritstone crags at the top of Hen Cloud I started off along the clear path down to the connecting saddle, but rather than head straight up toward the Roaches immediately ahead of me I turned to my left, and walked past the Don Whillans Memorial Hut, known as Rockhall Cottage, to the foot of the crags. Rock Climbers were scattered across the cliffs attempting to ascend them by the shortest way possible. I don’t have the head for heights required for rock climbing, but I did want to take the climber’s path that passes along the foot of these tall cliff faces so I could take in these immense structures.

Eventually the path climbs up to the top of the ridge where I joined the many other people walking above these popular crags. I had a thoroughly enjoyable walk along the top of the ridge as I tried to make my own way, not on the wide path, but as close to the edge as possible so I could take in the glories of these crags. The lack of sunshine did little to ruin my fun as I danced about from rock to rock along the edge while the crowds stuck to the path that keeps a safe distance away from the edge passing through the heather-filled moorland. Most of the heather was now going to seed but there were still some purple flowers in bloom to remind me of the warmth of the summer, even if I wasn’t feeling it. After passing the trig point at the highest point on the ridge I descended to the narrow road that crosses the Roaches ridge and at this point I came off the ridge to take a path to my right that descends into the wooded valley of Black Brook, which soon flows into the River Dane.

A pleasant walk through Gradbach Wood along an at times muddy path took me to the awesome fissure or chasm known as Lud’s Church. I last visited this astonishing place more than ten years ago and now I wish I’d been back sooner as I feel that I have been unjustly forsaking it for far too long. Lush vegetation covered the walls on one side of this deep ravine while bare rock covered the sheltered sides of this spell-binding place. Many legends have been created about Lud’s Church and it is no surprise to see why as it is an amazing place so I spent a long time exploring it and didn’t want to leave. When I was there more than ten years ago it was in the middle of winter and mud covered the floor of the chasm deterring my exploration, but I had no such problem now so I was able to walk along the many side branches and along the main chamber of the chasm in awe of the tall, sheer rock faces. I could imagine Lud, whoever he was, holding his secret services in this immense space away from prying eyes and have a surprisingly large congregation able to hear his sermons.

Eventually I made my way out of the chasm and down to the bottom of the valley beside the River Dane where I took a path through delightful woodland that I’m sure must be an amazing place to walk through when the spring flowers are in bloom. I followed the river until just before reaching Danebridge I turned left onto a well-constructed concessionary footpath that climbs steeply through spectacularly gloomy woodland eventually emerging after such a great climb into disappointingly dull farmland. A short walk through the farm brought me to the Hanging Stone, at the start of the ridge that becomes the Roaches. By now the sun had finally come out and I was able to have an enjoyable stroll along this ridge through heather moorland past occasional outcrops that are a hint of the glorious crags that were to come. I had a pleasant walk along this ridge as I took my time walking through the heather and bilberry until eventually I was back at the Roaches.

This time I stayed on the main footpath as I retraced my steps along the top of the ridge enjoying the sunshine and the views south along the whole length of the Roaches. At the southern end of the crags, above Rockhall, I found a scrambling route down the rocks that added a lovely little treat to my wonderful walk along the ridge. A path is marked on the map passing below Hen Cloud but I couldn’t find it on the ground so in the end I passed once more over the top of Hen Cloud and followed the slender path that cunningly descends the steep southern slopes plunging into woodland and finally emerging beside Roaches Hall onto a track that led me from this old hunting lodge back to the road. This was a fabulous walk past some awesome crags that are justifiably popular with climbers and walkers alike and must be one of the best places to walk in the Peak District.