Peak District - Derwent Edge 28th October 2014

Peak District - Derwent Edge 28th October 2014

Lost Lad - 10 Miles, 5.5hrs

A rather sunny end of October day, and an ideal chance for a Peak District walk.
We had been at a concert at Sheffield Arena (rock band Black Stone Cherry), the night before and stayed over in Sheffield.

We had done "Lost Lad" a few years ago and enjoyed the walk so thought it would make a good jaunt amongst the Autumn leaves along the reservoir mixed with some height and longer views.

We parked by the side of the road just up from the main Fairholmes car park, so parked for free. It was then just a short 5 mins or so to Fairholmes and only another few minutes then to the start point at the Derwent dam.

The Autumnal trees were impressive with the light catching them on such a pleasant day.

Heading up a track, through the trees you can see above, took us to the main wide track running alongside the Derwent reservoir. It was then an enjoyable and flat stroll for about two miles along this.

We headed right off the track at Abbey Bank, quite steeply zig-zagging back, and then across to give the view down to the reservoir.

We then headed away from the reservoir and across more open moorland.

Eventually meeting more rockier, rugged, grit-stone terrain, and the rather unique rock formations and "Lost Lad." The hill of Lost Lad gets its name and its impressive cairn from a story of a shepherd boy who got lost and lost his life on the moors in a severe blizzard. It wasn't until the spring that another shepherd passing by found the lost shepherd's body and by it written on a rock were the words "Lost Lad".

The high summit of Back Tor has some very impressive grit stone formations.

The views from Back Tor are quite unusual, there aren't many places in the Peak you can see so many of its highest features. The Great Ridge, Derwent Valley Reservoirs, Stanage Edge, Bleaklow and Kinder Plateau can all be seen from this viewpoint.

Passing various rock formations with names such as "Cakes of Bread", "Salt Cellar" all adds interest to this walk, before a relatively easy descent down after about three miles walking along the ridge.

Ladybower reservoir seen on descent

Nice path.

Then an easy walk back along the edge of the reservoir to the car park about another three miles.

A fairly long walk altogether, though not too taxing from an ascent/desent point of view, with great views and interesting rock formations.

A cup of soup at the car park facilities, and then home at 15:30 as it's starting to get dusky pretty soon now at this time of year.

roll on spring 2015!

Our Walk Score: 7.5/10

Peak District (Win Hill) - 9th April 2014

Peak District (Win Hill)  - 9th April 2014

After our gig at Sheffield City Hall, we headed for the Peak District the following day from the Premier Inn  at Meadowhall.
We arrived at Ladybower reservoir around 10:45, parking along the road just down from the reservoir head and crossing point. boots on we set off at 11am on a dry, but cloudy day.

View near to the reservoir head and the large overflows.... 

Big plug hole.................

Once across the reservoir we took a right turn, then a left on a clearly marked path heading upwards into the woodland.

This widened into a distinct, but rather muddy trail for about half a mile or so, before narrowing to a trail upwards and signed towards Win Hill.

From there a step like path leads up to the top of Win Hill at 1590ft., with good views around the Hope Valley. 

It was rather blustery at the top, so we did not hang around there for too long!

The view after coming down from Win Hill, with the hill in the background. Nice wide trail here, with plenty of puddles though from previous rain. Nice open views all around, though the wind was head on. 

After a couple of miles we arrived at Hope Cross, a junction of ancient trails and an old stone way marker.

Walking past the way marker and through a stile we then headed immediate right into more woodland, and headed off downhill. The way down here was a little confusing as we struggled to find the described path down, but eventually found a way down to the main path, following the course of Ladybower Reservoir. 

From here it was about another 4 miles back to the car, but along easier trails just following the shore of the reservoir. A few inclined but nothing too severe.

We arrived back at the car around 16:00, a little tired, this was the first decent walk of the year, so guess we are a little out of practice. distance was just short of 9 miles.

Our Walk Score: 7.5/10