Peak district boundary walk

Buxton to Wormhill.

25/03/2018.

The day dawned bright and sunny. What a great morning to start our new adventure, for today was the day we set out to walk the Peak district boundary walk. A 190 mile walk around the boundary of Britains first and arguably most beautiful national park. We shall be following the route in short day sections, probably taking us about a year [but then you never can tell...The Pennine way took us over 2 years to complete.] I'm really looking forward to visiting all the rarely visited nooks and crannies around the edges of the peak park. The walk begins in the elegant spa town of Buxton, I would have liked to have had a look around the town before we set off, but with a long day ahead we decided to get cracking. We parked by the Town hall and set off along High street, before long we were free from the town.

What a difference in the weather from last weekends snows, to the spring like conditions today, The sound of birdsong and the sun on our backs made for a cheerful mood...it was Dafodils to the right...Lambs to the left and wall to wall blue skies, seemed a bit strange to see blue skies again. I almost broke into a whistle..As we left Buxton behind we took a look back to admire the impressive Ashwood viaduct.

A nice steady few miles eased us in gently..i always find that it takes a mile or two to get into a walk.With good views and easy ground underfoot we were soon on autopilot.We passed through the hamlet of Staden and then on to the small village of Cowdale [ no cows and not much dale]. Before long we found ourselves on the rim of Deepdale. One of the many Limestone dales around these parts. Such a beautiful place, we didn't want to rush it so we sat in the sun, soaking up the scene, drinking coffee and eating Kit Kats..i do like a KitKat.After 20 minutes or so we took the path that zig zags down into the dale, crossing the stream at the bottom.

No chance of a fast passage along the valley as the path is so rocky, screes running down from the slopes. We slowed down and picked our way between the ankle twisting rocks.

Very quiet along here today, just as it should be. We passed Topley pike quarry to make it down to the River Wye one of Derbyshire finest rivers said to be popular with Anglers due to its large numbers of Grayling, Brown and Rainbow trout. We saw a few fluff chuckers trying their luck along the banks. At Blackwell mill cottages we crossed the river to follow the path into Cheedale. Must be great to live here in one of these cottages I have long admired Cheedale as the river and rock scenery is superb along here.

The path leaves Cheedale after a couple of hundred yards to follow a steep path [Pennine bridleway] up and out of the valley There are some tremendous views along here. The views are one of the main reasons I go walking. A walk amidst scenery this good makes you feel great. Steep ground doesn't matter, I fact I love that ache in the legs after a climb.

We had planned to walk as far as Peak forest and catch a bus back to Buxton, But this was a sunday and buses in the countryside are few and far between, so we would walk as far as Wormhill, have a bit of lunch,peruse the map and plan a route back to Buxton. Over a sarnie there seemed one obvious route back but the path went through an area of quarries, not fancying that we decided to simply retrace our steps. It was no hardship.The walk turned out to be 14 miles long which is the furthest we have walked for years. A year or so back I suffered with a bad foot at first we thought it to be Plantar fasciitis but an X.ray revealed it to be a bone fracture. Writing this a day after our walk with no pain in my foot, I think I can say it has well and truly healed....Back in Buxton we had to have a celebratory pint...so many pubs to choose from, we opted for the old Sun where I was happy to see my favourite pint on the pumps...That Sneck lifter was like a gift from the gods.

I'm looking forward to next weekend now, getting back to chip a few more miles off. Nothing beats a good walk.

The Hole of Horcum, Levisham and Newtondale.

17/03/2018.

It happens every year, you begin to think that spring is just around the corner, then "smack" winter has one last sting in her tail. Well today we felt the whiplash as the tail was wagging like crazy. Not known a day quite like it. Rosy cheeks would be guaranteed today....The route for todays walk was taken from the latest [ spring] edition of Country walking magazine, only instead of starting from Levisham we chose to start from the Saltergate car park to make the 7.5 mile walk a little bit longer. A great start to the day, as the pay and display machine wasn't working, the whole thing was frozen solid. I tried to pay [honest I did] but it kept spitting my money back at me...Saving me the princely sum of £2.50...A good start.

We crossed the road to be instantly greeted with the impressive sight of the Hole of Horcum. The ground drops away before us in a most spectacular fashion, its one of the grandest sights in the whole of the North York moors national park. Local legend has it that it was formed by Wade the giant, who while arguing with his wife, picked up a huge handful of earth and threw it at her, resulting in this giant crater. The earth landed a short distance away to form what is now the hill called Blakey topping..He must have had massive hands.!!..That's just nonsense. In reality the hole was created by a process called Spring sapping, where water welling up from the hillsides gradually undermines the slopes above, eating away at the rock,over thousands of years to produce the fantastic landscape we see today. There was a dusting of snow on the slopes today making the whole scene look that little bit more beautiful. We picked up the path that dropped down into the hole. The problem here was the ice as we slipped slithered and slid downhill.

We made it eventually down into the valley where we passed the old farm building of Low Horcum. There were once two farms in the hole, Low and High Horcum, only Low Horcum remains, but it hasn't been occupied since 1966. When I say "it hasn't been occupied" that's a bit of a fib as it has been kitted out to be a home for the local wildlife. In fact the whole farm has been turned into a giant nestbox. With lots of entrances for our feathered friends.Popular with Bats, Owls and Swallows so I am reliably informed. What a great use for an old abandoned farmhouse.

We continued along the valley following the Levisham beck to Levisham village. Its probably a couple of miles to the village but a couple of miles that seemed to take an age due to the mud. The path in places turned into a quagmire..it was a case of head down and get on with it. Levisham is a nice little settlement with a nice pub [The Horseshoe], its well known for its good food. If you are ever in the area you should pop in for a meal, or maybe just for a pint....All quiet in the village this morning. No one about except for the local postie [wearing shorts]. I had a laugh with him saying that I had thought about wearing shorts todays but I had decided to leave them for a week or two. He laughed ,but probably though "what a prat".

We left the village following a lane to reach the moors, Lonely moors, windy moors, bloody windy moors. The snow showers came every 15 minutes or so, battering us, only to be basking in sun a few minutes later. The sun was so welcome as the wind was so cold, chuffin cold. We were now heading along a moorland track bound for Skelton tower.

The romantic ruins of Skelton tower are perched on a hilltop overlooking Newtondale. This 2 storey tower was built as a shooting lodge in around 1830 by a former rector of Levisham. Some say he came up here to write his sermons but it is also rumoured that he escaped up here to enjoy a quiet drink...Even vicars need a drink from time to time. I had planned to have a drink here, Coffee and maybe a butty, but the wind was so strong and cold that the idea never really took off. The only thing that took off was my hat, I had to run to catch it. On a nice day the views from up here would have been the highlight of the walk, looking down into Newtondale where the North Yorkshire Moors railway winds its way along the valley floor. I made the mistake of removing my gloves to take a photograph of the view, what a mistake, I could have cried, the pain was that bad. I shall return in fine weather to admire the views.

Looking at the map,all seemed easy now as we had to follow a decent path back to the start. But this wasn't to be as the wind and snow slowed us down to a crawl.

Before long we rounded a corner and there before us was the road and the Saltergate hairpin bends. The sun came out...It had been a grand 4 hours.

Langsett.....Silence broken by chuckling Grouse.

04/03/2018.

Sitting at home this morning munching on a Sausage and egg butty....Are we going out or what?..The day looked totally miserable, misty and murky and the last of the weeks snow was turning to slush, not very inspiring but we said sod it. At least we will be out, even if we can't see out...We set off to do a walk from Penistone but at the last minute I changed my mind..We would do a walk around the reservoir at Langsett. Snowing quite hard as we pulled into the car park...We followed the path through the trees along Langsett bank. Nobody about, just the sound of falling snow.

We reached the bridge at the end of the reservoir and decided to change our route [again] to follow the valley of the Porter brook, glad we did as I love it along here. I always enjoy this path above the river. Its been an interesting week with some great weather, great to see so much snow still knocking around. I was a happy bunny, in a beautiful white world.

Like little kisses from heaven the snow continued to fall, we left the valley and headed uphill following a wall up to the Hordron road. Well its called a road on the map but in reality its a rough track up to a barn. A beautifully remote spot. We commented on the fact that we couldn't hear a thing...complete silence...have you ever stood and listened to silence?, its wonderful.Then from out of the blue its "go back go back go back" the call of the Red grouse...The countryside is great to listen too, never a dull moment. Anyone that knows the Grouse will know what I mean..and if you don't then sadly you are missing out...The snow got serious up on the moor, deep crisp but not very even.

Downhill along Hordron road..Amazingly we saw several people along here. I said morning to one chap that overtook us. "are you ok" I said."As long as it keeps snowing" was his reply..glad I'm not the only one I thought. Some pretty big drifts across the track up there and we sank in thigh deep in places.All good fun though.

Made it down to Swinden lane. 

Winter is nearly over, its been great, we have had a few snowy walks but spring is just around the corner a whole new world awaits. Soon we will be going out to see the Primroses and Wood anemonies followed by the Bluebells, Cowslips and Orchids...Damn it I'm getting carried away. That's what I love about my country, things always move on...But maybe there is time for one more winters walk....Please.