Barber Booth, Jacob's Ladder, Edale cross, Oaken Clough, Kinder reservoir, Kinder's southern edge, Edale, Pyrenean shape-up.

With France coming up - we decided to try a 'challenging' walk. So, I wrote one from Barber Booth, up Jacobs ladder, then along Oaken clough - losing ALL the height we just gained - and drop to the Kinder reservoir. Then, after a lunch in the warm sun, listening to the water lapping on the shore, it was another climb up to Kinder's Southern edge via the steep William clough. Once on top, I had something extra to carry - a BIG smile! It was TERRIFIC. The wind was strong, lovely and cool, but just what we needed to keep the temperature down as we laboured. The views, although a little 'blue', were stupendous. The camera has a job to capture just what we saw, I HAVE seen the odd photo that gets close, and I took one which I hope did, you be the judge. Anyway, around the edge we went, until we reached the waterfall of Kinder Downfall. I thought it might be bolder than it was, but today - it was small, almost a dribble. I've seen it in spate, and it's a sight to behold. Sometimes, when the wind is in the right direction, it blows back on itself, and looks like it will never empty. Anyway, it was still a lovely place to sit and look awhile. After this, we pressed on - along the WRONG path! My fault entirely, and I noticed after about 1/4 of a mile. Thing is, I've made this very same mistake before. You are drawn to walk around the edge, when what I SHOULD have done was head into the centre of the high moor. To cut a long story short, we decided to do a bit of bog trotting. This can be fun, very tiring, but fun. We had a lot of laughs, and eventually found out path again. You can see by the pics, Kinder is a very barren and featureless place. I have no problems up there, but you can see how people get lost! The fact is, you are never more that about 3 miles from a road, so long as you walk in a straight line! Easy, you may think, but Kinder has some magnetic rock in places, which makes the compass read wrong on occasions. This phenomenon has also been blamed for some of the many air crashes on this moor in wartime. After we found the top of Crowden clough, we set of down. It's not so much a walk here, as a scramble and small climb! No WONDER there is no marked footpath here, it's just not safe really. Again, we take this sort of thing in our stride, but when it comes towards the end of a walk, you really must take care. Tired legs can let you down, some people have been known to fall into streams, that sort of thing ;-)
The day ended with stunning evening light, and a nice, low, warm sun. What better than a pint in the Nags Head, Edale, to round off a perfect day.
Cheers!

After a slightly grey start, this is what greeted me on my way to Barber Booth car park.
This is Winnats pass, with a lovely blue sky.

And here is your April fool - wearing SHORTS!
(They mocked, but I had the last laugh on a very warm day, the right decision).

Our destination awaits, irresistible!

The wide path up to Jacobs ladder, as you can imagine from this picture, a very popular path.

The path gets steep, but lots of people come to climb it.

This is Edale cross, a famous saxon landmark.

This is Oaken clough. The big hill centre left is Mount Famine. I haven't done that one, but it's on the short list.

This little packhorse bridge could easily be missed, but what a gem!
I always want to know what people do for a living to be able to afford to live in places like this.

This is Booth sheepwash. The Peak district has many of these, one other notable one is at Ashford in the Water.
I have a picture of the explanatory plaque, if anyone wants it, ask me and I'll email it to you.

This was the view up to Kinder from the lunch stop.
Not bad, eh? Kinder downfall is in that central nick.

My attempt at the blue view we got.

Kinder res', from near to Kinder downfall.

In the troughs and grykes of Kinder high moor.
Would YOU be able to find your way through this little lot?

Even when you climb out of the troughs, there's not much to see for navigational purposes.

Our goal, and the way down to the pub :-)
Ha - looks EASY, doesn't it?

....come and have a go if you think your hard enough.......HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Looking back after the hard bit - all steady downhill from here on.

Lots of pretty little waterfalls on the way down, the water is cool, but VERY brackish and unpleasant to drink.
Still a lifesaver though, if you were desperate.

Almost back at start level now, and Kinder smiles at us in the evening light

After this, it was a short 1/2 hour to the car, then five minutes to the pub.
Watch out, Mount Famine, your card's marked!

Castleton, Winnat's Pass, Speedwell Cavern,

The forecast wasn't very good at ALL, with a big band of rain sweeping across the country over the course of the day, so I decided to do a shorter walk but take in one of the show caverns at Castleton. I'd been in Treak Cliff a few years earlier, and had always been intrigued by the thought of the underground boat trip in the Speedwell cavern, so I chose that one.

To be honest, it wasn't anywhere NEAR what I expected, and it was a big disappointment to me. It is, in effect, a trip through a horizontal mine shaft in an open boat, with nothing much to see. When you reach the 'show cave', it's not much at ALL! I've seen a few caves, both in potholing with friends, and as a tripper in other show caves, and this one rates as the worst so far. I wish now I had seen the ad's for the Peak cavern, as it's recommended as the best. What's more, it's cheaper too! At £7:25, I felt the Speedwell cavern was overpriced by twice what it should be. £3:50 is all it's worth, in my view.

Anyway, the first part of the morning was cold but dry. I decided to take the walk over the North ridge of Winnat's Pass, as I'd never been up there before. We saw these cyclists pumping up the incline just before we went up that hillside on the left.

Here's Colin, my brother, tackling the steep climb up the hillside.

Come on bruv, it's doing you the WORLD of good!

Looking North, we could see the shivering face of Mam tor, known as the 'shivering mountain', due to its predilection to collapsing, taking the road with it!
(See previous blog entry for details and pics of the collapsed road)

Looking to the South ridge of Winnat's Pass, and the limestone buttresses.
The cars look like toys from here!

As usual, I see a lump of rock, I pose on it!

Looking East towards Castleton. The red car park and small building in the foreground is Speedwell cavern.

The main entrance (and shop - they like you to go in there and spend even more money)

Here we go - the luxury liner we were to embark on LOL!

I expected this, no problem, but I expected it to be travelling through caverns, with stunning views etc etc.........................

.......instead, all we got was this - ALL the way.

(except for a turning point and a small hole in the wall)

Colin & I in the cavern. Unfortunately, rock sucks up light, so flash is useless. Consequently, I haven't got any good pic's of the cavern. Not that there was much to take though.

EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!

THE OTHER BOAT PASSES US - WOWEEEEEE!!!!

(sorry for the sarcasm...........)

Back out into the fresh air (and rain), we climbed up onto the Southern ridge, and walked along it, then into Castleton. This is always a favourite walk, especially in snow.

Shame we didn't get any today.

Poor old Mam Tor disappears into the cloud as the rain really takes hold.

Slip, sliding away - as Paul Simon would say! 

The drop into Castleton.

This man owns 'The Emporium' in Castleton. He is one of the most entertaining guys I've ever met. It's worth a trip just to meet him. Everything in the shop is; 'like money in the bank' (according to him). Who would argue with such an honest face?

His humour is all around the shop - this notice is especially for the Yanks!

And ANY English would certainly understand the threat behind THIS one!

Oh, what a SHAME (but he was looking for a 'nice lady' to run it for him!)

After our visit to the Emporium, we got ensconced in a pub, and watched the rain get heavier and heavier, before eventually extracting ourselves, and getting VERY wet on the way back to the car. Oh well, thank GOODNESS for Craghoppers gear;

http://www.craghoppers.com/CraghoppersSite/pages/home/default.asp

Topley Pike, Deep Dale, King Sterndale, Buxton

A walk from Topley pike to Buxton

The walk started straight up Deep dale from Topley pike. As you can see, it was a lovely, crisp morning - the sort I love best. On these sort of days, you can wrap up well, feel snug yet 'alive' more in some ways? The feel of the frost in your lungs and on your face is a feeling some people would shun, but as I said, I can't wait to get out when it's like this. The other plus thing is that it's usually crystal clear air too, so makes for excellent pictures. Also, at this time of year, the light has a certain quality about it.

Halfway up the dale, we turned right, and steeply up. The warm sun - VERY warm - soon caught us and I was close to removing my fleece. There was hardly a whisper of wind, so any heat generated by the climb stayed with me. This is the view back down the dale from the direction we'd come.

I turned around and took this. Sorry for the 'sun burn', but it was difficult to get a shot without it! The right hand side of the dale has already been defrosted by the sun, while the left looks on and shivers.

The very small hamlet of King Sterndale is just outside Buxton. This is the chapel.

Our first view of Buxton across the frosty fields.

The path went across the fields and beneath this impressive viaduct. These structures ALWAYS make me stop and look. The keystones of the arches are HUGE, as are a lot of the building stones. I'd love to see something like this in the construction stage.

After King Sterndale, a short walk across frost-hardened meadows gave us our first view of Buxton.
You can see the rounded pavilion in this zoomed shot.
We heard a couple of Woodpeckers tapping away, and also heard many Robins, Blackbirds and Thrushes.

Just LOOK at those arches!

It's a while since I walked to and around Buxton. It's a lovely place, full of really great architecture and Victorian houses. You can tell it's an affluent place as everything is done that little bit better. The central park is one of the jewels, the opera house another. There's also the famous crescent, but that was one thing I didn't get a picture of today. Here's the lake, with some of the (very expensive) houses that overlook it.

The pavillion.

How many local parks have a model train running around it?
The track would be vandalised within a week in most other towns.

On Summer nights, the park echoes to the sound of band concerts from this bandstand.

On the way back, we came across this ethereal scene. The smoke was from a small cottage 'stoking up' for the cold night ahead. It made for a nice picture though.