Sunday August 10th

Burbage (Buxton) to The Goyte Valley

Armed with a new Cicerone guide to the White Peak West, we chose a walk in familiar surroundings but with some new interest. The walk begins up the Macclesfield Old Road in Burbage. After climbing the track the moors come into view on the right.

The old "road" leading down to Derbyshire Bridge.
Cat and Fiddle on skyline (just about visible)

It was a lovely walk through the heather which is in full bloom at the moment.

Descending through the heather

The route then goes downhill into the Goyt Valley, a densely packed area of greenery, bracken and heather. At the footbridge we headed up the steep side of Goyt's Moss in which the bracken was remarkably tall.

Far too much bracken!

This section was very pleasant once we had extricated ourselves from the bracken and the views were great on a very sunny day. We met a Bengal being transported up the hill in a carrier- a most handsome looking feline and one who looked quite keen to be out walking. We stopped for lunch on the side of the hill and then walked up to the car parking area at the top of the hill. 

On the way up to the dismantled railway

At this point the wide level bed of the dismantled railway - Cromford and High Peak- opened out in front and it was welcome clear and level walking after all the bracken. 

Dismantled railway with panorama

The railway line led to a blocked up tunnel entrance, although our route went off to the left just before the tunnel. After going up and over a hill and then taking a woodland path through the trees,  we emerged onto a tarmac lane. This led through the rather affluent looking Edgemoor which was not much more than a few houses, but the spaciousness of the roads was very marked. Once we had passed Plex Farm, it just remained to negotiate another farm and various fields before the start of the walk was reached.

A walk of 6.6 miles with 350m ascent.



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