David and Jacinta's Walks- 2025

Edale, Win Hill and The Great Ridge A solo walk for David today.  The Great Ridge (Win Hill in far background) Book on Rachel's shelf the next day The forecast was decidedly iffy but I decided that I'd like to do a walk that I'd outlined with Jacinta (who had more common sense today... as ever). This would be starting in Edale, crossing the road bridge west of Hope, going up Lose Hill and descending from Hollins Cross. However... As I was on my own, I wanted to take a scenic route so I went up Ringing Roger, with its view of the walk to come from the south edge of the Kinder plateau.. Lose Hill and Back Tor (Win Hill just about discernible) A line of beaters was out on the edge of Crookstone Out Moor and, as I passed the first of them, a radio command came through for them to advance towards Madwoman's Stones and a few shots were heard. I passed the Lonely Trees (the weather and visibility were both still good). The Lonely Trees Crook Hill (twin humps), Derwent Edge in ...

Wessenden Head and Black Hill As it was a Bank Holiday, we planned to go to Wessenden Head and do the walk up to Black Hill. It was due to be very hot, so we managed to set off early and fortified by refreshments from Carol's tea wagon, we began the walk down to the reservoirs. Descending to the Wessenden reservoirs The levels of all the reservoirs we have seen recently are dangerously low and it is very different from last year. The weather was warm and breezy and we made good time up to the top reservoirs at Black Moss. The next section up to the main road can seem a little unchanging, but we completed it with no problems. Since we'd been here last, a sculpture of a hare has been mounted where the Cotton Famine Road meets the old Pennine Way. Hare today! Crossing the road and beginning the climb up to Black Hill is always interesting but enjoyable. The ground was so dry that many of the muddy sections which are a feature of this part of the route, were completely dried out. E...

Wildboarclough and Three Shires Head It was a sunny Sunday and we were delighted to meet with Ann and Julian for a pleasant walk near Wildboarclough. We made our way up beside Cumberland Brook and up to the bridleway between The Cat and Fiddle and Danebower Hollow and made a decision to do the walk to Three Shires Head. Jacinta and Ann by the upper reaches of Cumberland Brook Before setting off again, we stopped for lunch in the sun.  Shutlingsloe in the distance  The route to Three Shires Head is very familiar, but still enjoyable on a nice summer's day. When we got to the Head there were the expected crowds of people enjoying this scenic spot and the opportunity to cool down in one of the rock pools. The latter part of the walk took us around Cut-Thorn Hill, through a couple of fields until eventually Leech Wood was reached and from there the short amble down to the road, past Crag Hall and back to the car. It was lovely to have the time to do this favourite walk with excell...

Chinley, New Allotments and Whiterakes We fancied a short walk on the bank holiday Saturday and Chinley fitted the bill. It's not too far from home, and there's been a parking space for us every time we've been there. We chose the gentle way up, along Stubbins Lane and Over Hill Road, turning up the bridleway just past Throstle Bank. We'd seen common buzzards from Over Hill Road about a year ago, but none were around today, sadly. The bridleway passes thorough the "New Allotments" and a quick and lazy search with Google didn't really shed any light on the origin of the name- the OS map shows the area as heath or rough grassland. There's a mention here , but it just relates to the square on the OS map itself. The view of Kinder was great, and it's always good to spot the shooting lodge and its little outhouse from any walk. Mill Hill, the edge of Kinder and the shooting lodge We crossed over to the east side of the Chinley Churn ridge, descending pa...

Moscar to Stanage Edge and Wyming Brook Another dull day weather wise, but off we went again to the Dark Peak. This time our location was Stanage, having begun to walk from our familiar Moscar Lodge. As usual the walk along the top of Stanage was exhilarating and we kept going until we reached the Stanedge Pole, where we had lunch. Win Hill and The Great Ridge from Stanage End  After the usual walk down to Redmires Reservoir and over to the water conduit, we were looking forward to doing some new walking as the route was to take us down to Wyming Brook which we had not visited before. The way down to the brook was through woodland with some obscure directional features we felt.  Heathery path towards Wyming Brook On reaching Wyming Brook we had to adjust our route as there was remedial work going on to restore the stepping stones across the  river. Instead we followed the bridleway for what seemed like a long way until we eventually crossed a stone bridge and took a footp...

Langsett to Howden Edge Out on Wednesday for our second walk in preparation for The Dolomites and this time from Langsett. After a coffee stop with a great collection of mountaineering and walking books, we left Langsett Barn car park and walked along beside the Langsett Reservoir. Looking back to the Langsett Reservoir from the Cut Gate bridleway The route then flows easily along Mickleden Edge and Cut Gate, rising gently through the fantastic swathes of pink heather at this time of year.  Path sign above Mickleden Edge We stopped for lunch, enjoying the views and the solitude. From the cairn at Howden Edge there was a little bit of bog negotiation to reach the trig point at Outer Edge. Quick break at Outer Edge trig point. Note: Jacket on, sun hat in backpack pocket The path from this point was a little more sketchy but we made our way to the left of Harden Grough, passing boundary stone with the letter B chiselled on the face. Apparently these stones relate to the grouse shoots ...

Combs Moss and Castle Naze from Buxton In preparation for our forthcoming walking trip to The Dolomites, we decided to see if we could manage three walks on successive days- this was the first! The Walking in the Peak District - White Peak West Cicerone Guide said that the views were panoramic, something that we looked forward to, and that the fort at Castle Naze was not visible from below and we looked forward to seeing both. Unfortunately the cloud was down so, for the first part of the walk, the views weren't that great. The walk started from a quiet residential road in Buxton (there were some quite impressive stone-built houses) and goes up past a couple of overgrown and green reservoirs. The woods ("Light Wood") are a nature reserve financed by Nestlé, possibly to engender goodwill from the spa town. Hopefully, not as a supply to their bottled water, looking at the state of the reservoirs. There's a fairly steep but clear path up to the path running north-east al...

Marsden and March Haigh On a Sunday, there's usually plenty of parking at Marsden's railway station, so it was off there today. I took the path up from Tunnel End to the Kirklees Way- far nicer than going both ways along Waters Road- and under Great Edge with its views across the valley- the way that we went with Rachel and Matt back in May . The March Haigh Reservoir had been drained back in May and, although there was a little water in it now, it hadn't reached the level marker post- let alone the outflows. A very dry March Haigh Reservoir. March Hill in the background I had my lunch in the notch with the remains of a sheep fold on the way up March Hill. Lunch spot- nice and sheltered As this was to be a relatively short walk, I went down via the Marsden Pack Horse Road (as we did back in May), marked with the P. H. Road stones. Marsden Pack Horse Road marker I was back in Marsden after a walk of 7.6 miles with 330m ascent.

The Circuit of Kinder- David Solo It had been over a year since I'd done the circuit of the Kinder plateau and today seemed as good a day as any to do it. Rather than go up Ringing Roger (our usual way up from Edale), I went up Golden Clough to ensure that I did a complete circuit. Views were great, with many familiar landmarks (including Win Hill, the twin humps of Crook Hill and The Wheel Stones on the far horizon) to the east. Eastern views I stopped at Crookstone Knoll for a break and took in the view of Fairbrook Naze in the distance- a couple of hours away. Fairbrook Naze in and out of the sun At around Blackden Brook, Jacinta (who was in London) asked if I'd managed to get out to Edale, so I sent a pic of points north- lots of heather and Back Tor just about visible. View from above Blackden Brook The Kinder Plateau has lots of gritstone formations; I keep telling myself that I'll do a circuit and take pictures of most of them. In the interim, here's one. One gri...

Tintwistle and The Chew Reservoir We wanted to avoid driving far and David's variant on the walk from Crowden to The Chew Reservoir seemed a good choice (and cut out a visit to Crowden completely!). Parking is on Stocks Green in Tintwistle and follows the cobbled section of Arnfield Lane. Rather than taking the Pennine Bridleway immediately before Arnfield Farm, we took the far more green and pleasant path leading from the farmyard. Being a warm day, the sheep were taking advantage of the shade of a wall. Sheep being cool The view up Ogden Clough is fairly typical of the recovering Dark Peak- a lot of heather, which is spread as brash (vegetative propagation) and a bit too much bracken, which is pretty invasive. Lower reaches of Ogden Clough Although the stile above Ogden Brook has been repaired, the path to it is smothered by bracken and the clear path takes you up to the gate on the Pennine Bridleway, where we were greeted by a goat. Sheep waiting for us The walk along the edge o...