We began the walk at the Old Bridge of Tilt car park- a lovely space with lots of trees, and the river nearby. We passed a bug hotel on the way up towards the castle.
Bug Hotel
We stopped to admire the statue of Hercules from the 18th century near the entrance to the eponymous Hercules Walled Garden. This statue cost £25!
Hercules and his walled garden
In front of the castle we saw (and heard!) the piper who presumably comes out at regular intervals to entertain (or scare away) the visitors.
We went into Diana's Grove where there were some truly spectacular conifers, again largely planted in the 18th century.
The path took up to the few houses which constitute Old Blair and then we went into the woods along the high riverbank. This took us, after a sharp turn back, up to open country with lovely views. The track then went into another plantation, passing a small reservoir which was a surprise, leading to the firing range and a bridge over a small stream.
Bridge by the firing range
Luckily there was no activity there that day and we just wandered down the track towards Gilbert's Bridge (an excellent lunch spot), passing Siobhan running the opposite direction- she had already clocked up 12 miles when we met!
We turned around at Gilbert's Bridge, the shorter version of the walk in the Cicerone guide that Rachel had given to us- this meant that we messed the opportunity to see Marble Lodge again (visited in June 2018, just before Jacinta's retirement). It was a lovely walk back to the car park, with extensive views of the rolling hills, the various lambs and their mothers (some limping...).
A field of limping sheep
Most memorably, we passed two pigs who were having the best sleep in the sun at the side of their custom built house.
Most of the way back we were able to take a green, grassy track until it joined a lane above Fenderbridge from where it was a pleasant stroll downhill to the car park, passing the private drive up to Marble Lodge.
Moscar, Stanage and Ughill It was somewhat fitting that we headed out on Boxing Day to do a walk that we started the year with on January 2nd. We parked near Moscar Lodge and walked up to Stanage End. The day was (miraculously) dry and the views good, but the view of The Great Ridge and Kinder were not as good as on the second- the photo from the 2nd January is the background to this year's blog... this is how it looked on 26th December! Year-end view of The Great Ridge and Kinder At the Stanage Pole we enjoyed the last of Olivia's shortbread and then ambled down to Redmires Reservoir. It was busy there, with lots of dog walkers out for a stroll. We headed across rough moorland to come to the Sheffield road, then we struck out across the fields, heading for the bench below Crawshaw Lodge where we stopped for lunch. From here, we hardly passed any more walkers; the walk went across the fields towards Ughill Moor, passing Crawshaw Farm and a very large and intimidating dog. It w...
Castleton's Hollow Country (The description is from the Bradwell's guidebook walk title!) We fancied doing a walk from Castleton so we chose this one from Bradwell's "Longer Walks in the Peak District". It certainly proved to be longer, as in the book it is scheduled to be 8¾ miles and we ended up doing 11½ and descending into Castleton in the semi-darkness! The walk started with a pleasant walk up Caveday, below Peveril Castle. Cavedale and Peveril Castle At the top, we passed the grassed-over diggins at Oxlow Rake- old lead mines- making our way down to the tiny hamlet of Old Dam. From there, the walk went up Eldon Lane past Sweetknoll Farm with two adorable donkeys. Jacinta communes with adorable donkey We decided to go to have a look at Eldon Hole- classed as "one of the seven wonders of the peak" in the 1600s. Eldon Hole- it goes down a long way- honest! There was a lovely lunch spot just below the fencing around Eldon Hole where we ate and admired...
Shining Tor and Thursbitch Our last walk of 2023 was not very ambitious on account of the weather. We went up to Shining Tor as usual- battling into the wind; the cloud was low and just grazing the top of Shining Tor. Shining Tor with its head in the clouds After a very short break at the top, instead of just reversing the walk, we went down into the valley and visited Thursbitch for the first time this year. Clouds blowing in from Shining Tor towards Cats Tor The ruins of Thursbitch We saw no one except for some (hopeful) sheep who wrongly assumed that we might be bearing food. Optimistic sheep Persistently optimistic sheep The only downside to this really nice walk is the somewhat boring plod up the road from the end of the drive to Howlersknowl up to the car park at Pym Chair and the welcome sight of the car. It was then home for lunch. An occasionally cold and occasionally wet outing of 4.6 miles with 320m ascent but well worth doing nonetheless.
