Carsington Water 8/3/2024

 Another training walk for The Yorkshire Wolds Way. This time on my own and a clockwise circuit of the resevoir.

Cup of tea in the campervan when I finished before setting off.

A nice brisk walk in cool , still conditions. About 8.5 miles. 

 

Cromford 28th February 2024

 Another warm up walk for the Yorkshire Wolds. This was a walk out of the White Peak walks in the Northern Dales book. 

Took the Camper Van and parked at Cromford Rughy club car park (half the price of the Cromford Wharf car park !!)

I have walked the first two thirds of this walk many times. Along the canal to High Peak Junction and then up the High Peak Trail to Black Rocks. From there it was down to the B5036 for a short distance before picking up a footpath over the road. This footpath leads to the top edge of dene quarry where there is a birds eye view of the quarry next to an information board. Eventually this path drops down to a road which leads to Tarmacs  entrance to the quarry. The route then rejoins the B5036 down towards the centre of Cromford. Turn right at Nort Street which was originally built by Arkwright to house his skilled workers. A footpath then leads back down to the centre of Cromford. I picked up some lunch from Arkwright Storeand then crossed the busy A6 to pick up the path past Scarthin Rock and St Mary's church bac to the car park. I enjoyed a nice cup of tea (first one made in the Camper) to go with my sandwhich before setting off.

Lunch

Carving on the path past Scarthin Rock

North Street

View from High Peak Trail

High Peak Trail

Cromford Canal

About 5 miles. 

Carsington Resevoir 23rd February 2024

 I haven't posted for a while as all my walking has been local, and as Meg gets older she can't manage much more than 4 or 5 miles. It was nice to get out with my Grandaughter Lily on a circuit of Carsington.

Parked at the visitor centre and headed out along the dam wall in an anti clockwise direction.

Lily was struggling a little bit near the start but stuck at it to complete the 8.5 miles.

This was a great start to my prep for the Yorkshire Wolds Way in a few weeks time. I'll need to do a couple of similar hikes a week to so I have a good level of fitness for this long distance walk.

Cromford November 23rd 2023

 Lovely short walk with Rowan. 

Parked at Cromford wharf and then headed up the hill beyond the station and looped back round to the canal at High Peak Junction and back to the car park alng the tow path.

Looking back to the Derwent Valley

Radio mast Black Rocks

Cromford Mill

Only 4 miles but quite a climb at the start of the walk.

Curbar Edge 24th September 2023

 Haven't done this walk for  some time, so it was nice to get out with Ben on this occasion.

From the carpark at Curbar Gap we did the route in an anticlockwise direction :-

• Baslow Edge
• White Edge
• Froggatt Edge 
• Curbar Edge

Eagle Stone

Trig Point on White Edge

Curbar Edge

An excellent walk. About 6 - 7 Miles. OS OL 24 White Peak.

Pennine Way Day 1 Edale to Crowden 13th September 2023

 The plan was to do a three day trek from Edale to Hebden Bridge. Due to my left ankle waving the white flag on day 2 I had to settle with one day.

Edale Start

I planned this at short notice which was probably a contributory factor to only managing one day. Anne gave me a lift to Langley Mill where I got on the train to Sheffield and then onto Edale, where I arrived around 8:45. Given the distance (16 miles) , the terrain and the amount of daylight available I decided I needed to up my normal walking pace and keep breaks to a minimum. 

The conditions were perfect for walking. Clear , warm, gentle breeze and no rain. 

I have done the walk out of Edale along the PW up to Kinder Downfall many times, so navigation on this first leg was straightforward with no map reading required.

Kinder Low

Kinder Resevoir from the edge of Kinder

As I was dropping off the North West corner of the plateau I bumped into a couple (in thier fifties I reckon) who were starting off on thier third Pennine Way adventure. I caught up with them a few times but every time they overtook me later on !. The trail over Mill Hill and then onto the A57(Snake) summit was flagged all the way which made for good going and easy navigation. When the PW was first opened this section was a notorious boggy slog.

View from the edge looking South West

The trail down from the plateau

The first part of the route from the A57 towards Bleaklow summit is a good ,cear path but fairly soon (after the turn off to the aircraft wreck) it becomes very boggy and sketchy. 

Bleaklow Head

One of the few  direction markers you get on Bleaklow

Once I had reached Bleaklow Head I was feeling very tired with aches all over. I guess I am not used to carrying a 28lb pack over this sort of distance and terrain. The final 5 miles or so following Torside Clough is what I think did for my ankle. Verry narrrow and rocky path.

The trail between Kinder and the A57

Torside Resevoir

Tarmac path across the top of the Resevoir

A brilliant days walking. I should have done more training to ensure I was in one piece to carry on the next day.

Here is a link to a few clips from the day PW day 1 clips

I arrived at the campsite around 6:30 which gave me an hour to check in and pitch up before it went dark. The camsite manager was great - he knocked me £10 of my booking fee down to a 'backpackers rate'

I awoke in the morning to heavy rain and a sore ankle. After some thought I decided I could do more damage if I carried on. I have walked the first half of day 2 and the climb up Laddow rocks is steep and rough. Anne came to my rescue and picked me up by about 9:30. 

End of the walk

Disappointed but not deterred. I'll be back.

About 16 miles. OS OL1 Dark Peak.