An Edgy Walk in the Peaks

On a warm summer’s day in February, four friends assembled in the Peak District’s Upper Derwent Valley. They came from all four corners of the UK (Winsford, Wilmslow, Barnsley and Wigan) for the sole purpose of walking whilst talking. This is their tale…

 

10:20am. 26^th February. The UK was experiencing unseasonably high temperatures and beautiful sunny weather – perfect conditions for a T.W.A.T.S. ramble through the Pennines.

The meeting point was a car park beside the northern tip of Ladybower Reservoir. Brendan and I were first to arrive, followed closely by Rob. This was to be Rob’s induction walk with The Walking And Talking Society, only a mere 17 months since he first joined the Facebook group. He was “quite excited” initially, but less so when Brendan informed him that today’s ramble was around 15 miles long.

Around 15 minutes later, the final team member Joel arrived. The plan was to leave three cars here at the finishing point besides Ladybower, and take one car around to the starting point on The Dale road near Stanage Edge. This edgy walk would follow Stanage Edge before heading to Bamford Edge where you can take in some great views of the reservoir and Hope Valley (an Instagrammers dream on a day like this). After Bamford, the destination was Derwent Edge, along which you can find the Coach and Horse rock formation. Finally, the route descends down to Derwent Dam and the three cars. A great plan, but we’re not called T.W.A.T.S. for no reason and of course, we were destined to get it wrong somehow.

11:20. Brendan drove us around to The Dale and we alighted. The weather really was perfect for a ramble: warm, not too hot, cloudless and pleasant with freshness still in the winter air but hardly any wind. We walked and we talked, whilst Rob and particularly Joel vented frustration at Brendan and me for continually taking photos and using social media.

Up on the rocks, we posed for photos and scared one another by seeing who could act most nonchalantly on a cliff edge.

Joel still wasn’t happy at being made a model.

Somehow, Brendan had forgotten to include Stanage Pole in his route plan – I would have liked to have seen it. A pole has stood on the site since at least 1550, and marks the border between Derbyshire and Yorkshire, as well as the ancient border between Mercia and Northumberland. A quite interesting landmark missed!

A fork in the road came upon us and Brendan suggested we go right and continue along the Edge, rather than left and downhill.

We had been walking for 90 minutes and my team members were feeling peckish. We found this shelter.

I have gone on about this in previous blogs BUT I cannot reiterate enough how I feel more peaks/walks should have a shelter like this on the trail (Scafell Pike, I’m looking at you). Today, the weather was glorious, but too often The Walking And Talking Society has been caught out by Britain’s temperamental weather (Whernside, I’m looking at you, you monster).

We sat in the shelter and the boys had some dinner. I was still running on my Monster Energy from the drive up. It did result in me having to have a pretty massive wee behind the shelter. Luckily, there being no wind meant it didn’t splash in my face.

Onwards. The path took us off of the cliff.

It was at this point, Brendan realised something.

We were lost.

Ok, maybe not “lost” but definitely “off route”. The aforementioned fork in the road was where we had gone wrong – the left-hand route would have taken us off Stanage Edge and in the direction of Bamford Edge. We had walked for an hour in the wrong direction and were pretty much halfway to Derwent Edge – our third destination. From our current point, there were no visible pathways to take us to Bamford – we would have to retrace our steps back to the fork. And we weren’t up for that. Alas, we had to forget about Bamford Edge and its beauty spots and soldier on to Derwent Edge.

The Walking And Talking Society. Messing up explorations since 2017.

14:00. Our new route brought us off Stanage Edge just outside a village called Hollow Meadows. It was around this point that Joel started voicing his wishes for a pint of cider, but T.W.A.T.S. know better than to stop for a pint. Also, Rob had hurt his ankle and was starting to fall behind. We walked along the A57 until we reached a bridge, where we could stop and listen to the babbling brook and the passing traffic that perforated the tranquillity.

At the bridge, we left the road and joined the path that led up to Derwent Edge. Half an hour later, we reached our first reservoir viewing point. It was basically a crossroads on top of a hill.

And what’s being healthy if you don’t take a selfie?

Heading north along the ridge, the Coach and Horses rock formation comes into view.

It reminded me of Game of Thrones – it felt like we were walking along the King’s Road towards Winterfell.

Close up, it didn’t look like Winterfell, but nor I felt did it look like a coach and horses. Perhaps coaches and horses looked different hundreds of years ago.

We had a nice climb all over the rocks (well, Joel, Brendan and I did – Rob sat at the bottom embracing the “dad of the group” role). At one point, the three mountain goats got stuck, after jumping across a gap and being too scared to jump back. Eventually, Rob helped Joel down on his belly before Brendan leapt back in an act of blind madness. I was wrestling with my choices until the fear of slipping and breaking my neck overcame the shame of backing out of a challenge. Obviously, I didn’t document my internal turmoil with photos – it’s brave of me that I am even admitting this.

As the sun closed in on the horizon, a golden light was cast upon the group as we reached this white cairn – the highest point of Derwent Edge.

I found a stick but Joel threw it away.

Our travel time was being hampered by the limping Rob. By this point of the walk, Rob was well and truly regretting his involvement. Joel and I could not stop talking about pie.

And suddenly, the reality of the sun setting before we got off the peak was blinding. The sky turned gold, the hills turned blue and the air turned colder.

At 17:30, the sun dipped below the horizon. But we had begun our descent. The Derwent Reservoir came into sight, looking black and glossy.

And we entered the woods on the banks of the water. The residual light in the sky was quickly draining colour from the Upper Derwent Valley. It was a good job Brendan had a small but powerful torch. Rob stalked us in the background like a ghost you just cannot escape.

We reached Derwent Dam, relieved in knowing the cars were not too far away. It was almost completely dark now – the stars had come out and, thanks to the relative lack of light pollution in the Peaks, the night sky was lovely to gaze up at.

At around 19:00, we reached the car park. After a quick rest and change of footwear, we headed to the Yorkshire Bridge Inn for tea. Rob plonked himself at a table and refused to get up. He even offered to pay for all of Brendan’s food if Brendan agreed to get up and order Rob’s as well. Obviously, Brendan agreed.

I had the steak and kidney pie. Unfortunately I was so hungry I forgot to take a photo of it before I tucked in. This photo makes it look like it’s already been through my system but trust me, it looked good. And it tasted amazing.

And that was that! After a round of puddings, we split. I drove Brendan back to his car on The Dale, where we encountered a few stargazers enjoying the clear winter sky. One last treat before I set off for home.

Despite the fact we ballsed up the walk and missed Bamford Edge, it was a very enjoyable ramble. There were no major inclines to deal with – it’s just lengthy – we did around 14 miles without walking Bamford. But the views were great, obviously helped by the weather. Having a car at the start and the finish was definitely a good idea. I would recommend a visit to this part of Derbyshire if you want a ramble, and of course, having three mates to wander with definitely increases your enjoyment!

 

And guess what. There’s a video. Joel will be delighted to hear I downloaded my Snapchat story and uploaded it to YouTube.