The Roaches - Luds Church November 5th 2011

Parked up on the car park / lay-by just below rockhall at the eastern end of the Roaches.



who is that geezer?





Luds Church - A Magical place

 For November , lovely mild weather, a little hazy but great walking conditions.

Picked up the path which ran for about a couple of hundred yards under the start where the rock climbers were starting up for the day and then the path led (very conveniently) up a staircase through a narrow gully up to the ridge.

West all the way to Roach end. This is a great gritstone edge and is as good as anything up in North Derbyshire straddling the Snake Pass. Views were fantastic on either side. Tittesworth reservoir and Leek to the South. Cheshire towards the south west. Staffordshire moors to the North. Brilliant. It was nice to find some water on the ridge (Doxey Pool) – you don’t find that on the North Derbyshire  gritstone edges.

At Roach end I took the path below Gradbach wood and found another concessionary path (not on map) up from there to the ridge and into the woods. There I picked up a muddy path through the woods to Lud’s Church. The gaiters I bought in Keswick did their job again and kept my feet dry despite a few ankle deep dips into the peaty mud.

I reached the bottom end of Luds Church after half a mile (or maybe less). I nearly missed it. There was a narrow opening covered by weeds and bramble which dropped down into what looked like a cave. Once I got past that first few narrow yards it opened out into a corridor maybe a few metres wide encased in two 20/ 30 foot cliffs. This is a magical place – if I had seen Gandalf and the fellowship coming round a corner I wouldn’t have been surprised. After a couple of hundred yards I emerged back into the woods.

From there follow the path back to the Roaches and back again along the edge to the car park. The walk I had printed from the web suggested taking the road after coming out of the woods – that would have been quicker but I didn’t want to miss a return trip along the roach’s edge.

Fantastic walk – definitely a repeat visit(s)



Hen Cloud - climb this next time



Forgot the camera so pics were from mobile phone.

About 8 miles OS OL24 White Peak