Wednesday December 10th

Hathersage Moor and Stanage Edge

With a dry, clear day forecast, we set off on a walk from Hathersage. The first section is unremarkable, along riverside paths to Leadmill Bridge. Then, following the river and later the pastures by the river, the footpath eventually enters  Coppice Wood. After a short section in woodland, the route goes uphill towards a railway bridge and then past the 15th century Padley Chapel. The next section through the wooded Padley Gorge beside Burbage Brook remains muddy and strewn with oak and beech leaves, but not as confusing as before. Negotiating the major footpath from the gorge, led us on to the Toad's Mouth and then to the Iron Age Fort of Carl Wark, where we stopped for lunch, out of the wind. We were graced with a rainbow as we ate.

Rainbow over Higger Tor from our lunch spot

 It was very blowy on the way up to Higger Tor, our next objective and along the edge to Burbage Bridge. The final section of the walk took us up to Stanage Edge where the wind was quite fierce and we made a strategic decision not to go all the way along to the Long Causeway, and instead descended to the Stanage Plantation and made our return to Hathersage across the fields.  We had a classic view of Stanage, some of the greatest climbing in the universe, as we descended to North Lees.

Stanage Edge from the path down to North Lees

A brisk and invigorating walk and good to be able to get out for a 10.6 mile walk with 600m ascent at this point in December. Fortunately, none of the navigational misfortunes of the last time we did this walk!




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