Friday August 30th

Lost Lad, Back Tor and Derwent Edge

In preparation for September's walk with Paul, David decided to repeat our walk from last August as we had both really enjoyed it. The walk starts from Fairholmes and walks most of the length of the Upper Derwent Reservoir.

Derwent Dam - the wet side

As with last year, the heather was out and made the steady walk up past Howden Dean to Sheepfold Clough a pleasure.

Heather above Abbey Brook

Approaching Sheepfold Clough, the clough gets much more forbidding.

Approaching Sheepfold Clough

I had a memory of the walk up to Lost Lad Hillend being less well defined, but the path was quite clear- I met one couple but, for the path to be so clear, I would think that it is pretty well used.

Nearing Lost Lad

From Back Tor, I could see both The Cakes of Bread and The Wheel Stones in the distance- quite a contrast to my visit in April. The photo below foreshortens the distance considerably- The Wheel Stones (centre) are about 2½km away.

Cakes of Bread and The Wheel Stones

Clouds mirroring The Wheel Stones (poetic license!)

The weather was pleasantly warm, but the sheep seemed to find it uncomfortable and sought a little shade by nestling in the heather. They made no effort to run away as I moved closer to them.

Sheep seeking a little shade in the heather

The last section of the walk back to Fairholmes is beside the upper reaches of the Ladybower Reservoir; the villages of Derwent and Ashopton were flooded to make the reservoir. Occasionally, when the water level drops, the remains of some building and boundaries are visible, but in other places remains of the past are always visible, as with these fine gateposts.

Gateposts above Ladybower

The final section of the walk retraces the steps below the Derwent Dam.

Derwent Dam- the dry side

As it had been quite a walk on a warm day, I felt that I deserved a (medium) 99.

A walk of 9¼ miles with 510m ascent.


Popular posts from this blog

Saturday February 23rd

Image
 Mortimer House, Dukes Road and Back Tor We fancied a longer walk today as we'd signed up to Macmillan's Peak District Mighty Hike and we felt that we needed to start training sooner rather than later. Although we tend not to go out for walks at the weekends if we can avoid it to avoid parking problems, the weather looked very good. To be confident of a parking spot, we set off (relatively) early for Mortimer House. It had been a while since we'd done this walk, even though it is something of a favourite of ours. The drive was pretty quick- about 50 minutes, probably another benefit of getting out early. Striding out on Cartledge Flat After parking up just by Mortimer House we set off along Dukes Road with a lovely clear blue sky with only a few clouds in the distant west. There had been substantial repair works to the moorlands around us with lots of heather brash spread on bare areas of peat and breakwaters of rocks in rivulet runs . Back Tor and Lost Lad on the skyline...
Read more

Monday March 4th

Image
 Bleaklow: Grinah and Barrow Stones After the disappointment of not being able to get out for a walk with Ann and Julian on Friday, we determined to make the best use of a dry day on Monday March 4th. We decided to do a walk that we last did in March 2022, described in the guidebook as "adventure that delivers untamed wildness for the Dark Peak connoisseur!". This description certainly appealed to David. After a pit stop for a coffee and a gander at the ducks at Fairholmes, we set off for the Fagney Plantation, where we parked up. The day was clear, still and cold(ish), with superb reflections in the reservoirs of the surrounding scenery. The first section is along the road up to the turning circle and thence to the old stone bridge across the Derwent at Slippery Stones. From here, the walk to Humber Knolls is pleasant (if muddy) and then beyond to Hoar Clough is fairly easy going. On the way to Humber Knolls We went up the east side of Hoar Clough towards Shepherds Meeting S...
Read more

Friday May 3rd

Image
Beinn a' Ghlò: Càrn Liath, Bràigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain and Càrn nan Gabhar A big day out for David on his own. The Beinn a' Ghlò range is a set of three Munros to the east side of Glen Tilt, with a purpose-built car park which already had quite a few cars parked there when David arrived at 09:00! Strangely enough, the trudge up the farmer's track to where the path branched off towards Càrn Liath seemed quite wearying but it was probably just a matter of warming up. Initial track towards Càrn Liath. Restored path clearly visible The path up Càrn Liath was clearly visible as a great deal of effort had gone into restoring it as it had become extremely eroded. I reached the summit after about two hours- lovely views, but the car was still visible! From the summit of Càrn Liath (Car still visible in second picture) Looking northeast, the rest of the day's outing was clearly visible (but did look pretty daunting). Bràigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain (left) and...
Read more