Another walk from "Day Walks in the Peak District", and a complement to the walk that we did on May 4th.The walk starts from the Hathersage car park and rejoins familiar territory at the Leadmill Bridge, where there's a short overlap with the May walk.
Inscription on Leadmill Bridge
On reaching Hazelford Hall, the two routes diverge and this time we went more or less directly up to the Sir William Hill Road. Rather than following the public road, we used the byway to skirt Bretton Moor and stopped for light refreshments (including crisps!) at The Barrel Inn at Bretton. From there, we followed the (currently closed to traffic) road across Hucklow Edge- easy walking, and very quiet. It was clear why the road was closed- there were landslips to its south and the road itself had collapsed at its western end, although not to the extent of the Mam Tor road!
On nearing the Gliding Club, the route took a welcome break from tarmac, cutting across a couple of gullies and passing a sad-looking building.
Off the road and onto paths
We were crossing the head of the valley that the Bretton Brook runs through; the southern side looked steep and appeared to have many landslips!
Above the Bretton Brook valley, with landslips, sheep and hawthorn blossom
Before starting the traverse of Abney Moor, we took advantage of a well-placed bench to have our lunch.
A perfect lunch spot
On crossing Abney Moor, we passed a field of horses- Jacinta stopped for a chat with one.
Deep in conversation
On starting our descent back to Hathersage, we could spot familiar landmarks- Win Hill, Ladybower Reservoir and Bamford Edge, amongst others.
Win Hill, Ladybower and Bamford Edge in the distance
The way down to Hathersage started with a steep descent towards Offerton Hall.
At the start of the descent to Offerton Hall
An enhancement to any walk is seeing any unusual livestock. This time, it was a couple of very impressive hogs.
Impressive hogs
Rather than follow the rather convoluted instructions to get back to Leadmill Bridge, we made straight for the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, running beside the river- very cool and pleasant.
Forest of Bowland- Cross of Greet, Bowland Knotts, Ravens Castle and Raven's Castle The mist was down and remained so for the day, but nonetheless, we managed to get out and do an 8-mile walk. It started out at Cross of Greet Bridge, the old dividing line between Yorkshire and Lancashire. We followed the line of the River Hodder and then up the hill above Catlow Farm and past a barn, Passing Catlow Farm barn working our way up to Bowland Knotts. On the way to Bowland Knotts Bowland Knotts- the views (apparently) are excellent Bowland Knotts views At Bowland Knotts, we followed the wall in the (increasing) mist- it went up and down, not as easy walking as the guidebook suggested. Due to the conditions, we didn't get the views over the Yorkshire Dales and the Three Peaks. We carried on past Copy Nook and Cold Stone to the first Ravens Castle (no apostrophe) and then on to Raven's Castle (with the apostrophe). On the way to Ravens Castle At this point, we were able to cross t...
Pendle Hill: David and Paul For one of their occasional walks, David met with Paul at Whalley Warm and Dry where Paul was buying a new pair of boots (after his old pair had trashed his feet on our last walk.). As time was therefore a little restricted and the weather forecast was not encouraging- Scotland was being lashed by Storm Babet- we chose a walk on Pendle Hill, a couple of miles from Whalley. David chose Walk 10 from the Freedom to Roam guide to The Forest of Bowland , which Jacinta and he had used during their January stay . The walk started in the picturesque village of Worston with a three-kilometer walk across fields. Initially, the view of Pendle Hill wasn't encouraging: Pendle Hill- mostly in the clouds By the time that we reached the very distinct start of the hill (the ground steepened considerably), the clouds had lifted to above the summit level and we were able to enjoy the views. After a pretty steep climb on a relatively unused path, we reach...
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.
