Bagging Ethels Around The Roaches

Finally, for the first time in 2023, the weather warranted shorts. Holidays aside, it’s been a pretty miserable winter so far, so it was absolutely lovely to get out into the Peaks under blue skies and warm winds.

I’m gonna say it: I think I might have a bit of depression atm. I don’t want to go on about it cos I don’t want sympathy, just normality. It is what it is, and I have to blindly believe that brighter days are coming. In the meantime, it’s important I do things I enjoy, like getting out into the countryside and writing blogs about it. It’s my own personal therapy.

This year I’m gonna try extra hard to bag as many Ethels as possible. In case you missed it, the Ethels are 95 prominent hills in the Peak District, mostly over 400m above sea level, and the challenge is to top them all and tick them off on the Ethel Ready app. Last year I accompanied my good friend Brendan as he finished the challenge so this year I’ve assembled my own team to do the same.

I’ve bullied Jack and Tim into downloading the app themselves and they have finally started ticking off some peaks. Jack’s dog Monty is yet to download the app.

So here we are in Staffordshire for an Ethel Bagging road trip. On today’s to-do list was:

• Gun, 385m
• The Roaches, 505m
• Hen Cloud, 410m
• Ramshaw Rocks, 460m
• Revidge, 400m
• Merryton Low, 489m

Though it has to be said, we absolutely would not be hiking those heights from sea level…

First up…

Gun

Many of the Ethels are fairly easy to bag. For Gun, you can park in a little lay-by marked on Google Maps as Rolling Hills View, where you can view the rolling hills. From there you can find a gate access to Gun Moor and it’s less than a ten minute walk to the summit.

Ethel #17 bagged.

Well, that was easy, and a lovely start to the day. Now, I could go all Brendan Clayton and walk to the next Ethel on today’s to-do list, but said list is 6 Ethels long. Jack, Tim and I are gonna have fewer opportunities to get out together, so we need to make our outings fruitful. We headed back to the car and drove the five miles over to The Roaches.

The Roaches

There are plenty of spaces in the lay-bys up here, but still, we were lucky to find one.

Sadly we’d planned our day trip before we realised it was half term. Ah well.

In the background is Hen Cloud and we would be visiting that later. But for now we headed up The Roaches, passing Rockhall Cottage (Don Whillans Hut) on the way.

According to the internet, the cave section of the building was home to an old crone called Bess Bowyer in the 1700s.

I don’t blame Bess for wanting to live far away from other people in this lovely part of the world.

We continued up the stony path, passing rock climbers on the way. The sheer rock faces are popular with people who like to climb hills vertically.

Once upon the ridge, it’s a simple walk along to the trig, with lots of opportunities to gaze out upon the Staffordshire countryside.

Monty enjoyed a dip in Doxey Pool.

Legend says the pool is inhabited by a mermaid called Jenny Greenteeth who lures people to a watery grave. She must have been at the dentist today.

The Roaches bagged. Btw, the prominent hill to the left of the horizon is The Cloud, whilst the prominent hill to the right is Shutlingsloe. It was nice to see them on such a lovely day! Every other time I’ve been to The Roaches it has been foggy and miserable.

From The Roaches you can continue on to Lud’s Church if you so wish to see a beautiful mossy canyon. Sadly, we had to skip that today as we had more Ethels to visit, so we headed back on ourselves.

Inspired by the rock climbers he’d seen, Jack decided to forget we had a busy day planned and attempted to scale these boulders.

I mean, fair play, he managed it. Oh to be 21 again without creaking bones and sore joints.

As I said before, I’d never been up The Roaches on a nice day before, so I was a little surprised we could actually see Tittesworth Reservoir.

Eventually the path started to descend as the ridge depresses, revealing our next destination.

Hen Cloud

No, it’s not named after poultry. Its name comes from the Old English Henge Clud meaning “steep rock”. The path up Hen Cloud isn’t too strenuous or steep, but there are some steep rocks you can enjoy the view from.

There’s no trig point on Hen Cloud, so you just have to find the highest point and touch it.

Ethel #3 of the day bagged. Number 6 for Jack & Tim.

I had wanted Monty to get in the selfie, but we think he was a little scared of the summit.

Bless him.

We headed back to the car. At some point on The Roaches, Monty had had a poo and Jack, being a responsible dogwalker had bagged it up. Sadly for Jack, the poo bag he hung from his rucksack had nestled next to his water bottle mouthpiece.

Now he couldn’t take a sip without smelling Monty’s excrement.

Ramshaw Rocks

It’s just a short drive around from The Roaches to Ramshaw Rocks. There is a small lay-by on the Back Of The Rocks Road – what a subtle name that is…

 On the path to the top I made a very rare discovery – rarer than gold.

As a retail worker, the words “You got any Prime?” are etched in my memory, and can only be heard in a whiney pre-pubescent voice.

Again, it’s a simple walk to the top, and again there is no trig point so you have to rely on yourself to find the summit.

Our 4^th of the day, Jack and Tim’s 7^th, and my 20^th Ethel.

We had two left on our to-do list: Revidge and Merryton Low. The plan was to drive over and climb Revidge (which was furthest away)  and then drive back to Merryton Low, bag that and then stop off at the nearby Mermaid Inn for tea. However, as we were driving through the beautifully empty and peaceful moorlands, we noticed a trig mere metres from the road.

Merryton Low

That’s it. That dot in the grass on the very close horizon. This has got to be the easiest Ethel to bag on the entire list!

We all ran over to the summit and took a moment to enjoy the views. Here I am taking a photo of Tim taking a photo of Jack taking a photo.

Another Ethel bagged, with my car in the background.

Revidge

Now then, this is a difficult one to find parking for. We drove along the roads surrounding the hill, but couldn’t find a suitable lay-by. Not wanting to park on the main road, I pulled into a tiny “lay-by” which was just a wide entrance to a private road that led to a wood. 53.131570, -1.889675 on Leek Road – if you wanna try it out.

Walking a short way south-east down Leek Road, we came to a stile and pathway up Revidge.

It’s just a ten minute walk through the fields and the trees and the heather to the trig point.

Our sixth Ethel of the day. I suggested to Tim and Jack we head off and find another, but the day had been long and we wanted pub grub.

We headed to the Mermaid Inn and HOORAY it was closed. So we got back in the car and headed somewhere else – briefly stopping at the nearby Mermaid Pool for a photo.

Pretty.

We headed to The Winking Man on the A53, near Ramshaw Rocks.

Dogs aren’t allowed inside during food-serving hours, so we sat outside.

Monty was very tired after a long day of walking.

Here’s how Monty’s day had gone. He had gone out for a walk in the morning with Jack’s dad before being dropped off at Jack’s nana’s house. Then, Jack’s nana took him out – only for a white Corsa containing Jack and two strange men to show up and dognap him from the side of the road. He then accompanied these men to Staffordshire and ticked off six Ethels.

The food at The Winking Man was lovely, the outside booth was WELL heated (we felt like we were getting a tan from it) and the staff were lovely and friendly. We recommend it.

Tim and Jack are now on 9/95 Ethels, I’m on 22/95. Seventy-three to go, and when you say it like that… Crikey. I hope all this hiking makes us handsome!