Castleton, Edale, Upper Booth, Barber Booth, and Hope

The earlier I go to bed the later I seem to wake up the next morning; there must be some complicated and counterintuitive reason or mathematical formula to explain this which if I knew about it I probably could take advantage of it to optimise my sleeping patterns.

I went to bed at 9:50 last night, that's quite early for me, but woke up at 6;20 this morning - about half an hour later than I normally do. Even though I had everything ready to go, my clothes piled up at the top of the stairs with everything I'd need already inside the zipped pockets of my fleece, my map already folded and inside the mapcase, my boots selected and my food and drink and all my other provisions in my rucksack I still didn't reach the railway station until 06:55...and then the first train going to Sheffield was delayed. 

So...I ended up arriving at Castleton an hour later than planned: after a quick visit to the toilets I walked along Hollowford Road towards Hollins Cross, the lowest point on the Great Ridge. I then immediately descended to Edale.

The church at Edale was open today.

I walked along the first two miles or so of the Pennine Way to Upper Booth and then looped back to the south east towards Barber Booth.

There would have been some more nice scenery to photograph as I was heading for Barber Booth but it really was quite misty and it was drizzling a bit. Something interesting I noticed though was several small painted concrete pyramids that had been placed at the side of the footpath all the way to the Methodist Chapel at Barber Booth as part of an installation art project. I got down low to take some photographs of them, trying to feature them in a landscape shot...all I got was sore knees though.

The weather brightened up as I climbed up Harden Clough towards Mam Nick, completing my second crossing of the Great Ridge of the day.

On the way back down to Castleton I called in at the shop at the Blue John Cavern and bought a butterscotch flavoured ice cream. It was delicious and refreshing but would not have been my first choice if there'd been more flavours to choose from.

I arrived at Castleton with enough time to continue on to Hope, taking the footpath that goes alongside the river.

I caught the bus that goes from Hope Valley College [at Hope] to Knowles Lane at Whirlow where the service terminates and we have to get off - there are plenty of other buses going the rest of the way into the city centre though...although it is a bit annoying.

On the train coming back to Doncaster from Sheffield I was standing in the vestibule area right next to a man who was reading his own article in The Geographical Magazine. I decided not to disturb him by telling him that I recognised his face from the thumbnail photograph at the top of the page - he might have thought I was being nosey or rude.

Castleton and Mam Tor

I woke up a bit early this morning and so rushed to get ready and go to the railway station to catch the first available train to Sheffield to make sure I'd arrive in plenty of time to catch the first bus to Castleton...in fact I then had twenty minutes to wait at the bus station.

The bus pulled in to Castleton's tiny one stand bus station at nine o'clock; the weather was still quite murky and so I took some photographs in the village to give the mist some time to clear. It was improving all the time but I still couldn't see the tops of the hills, so I decided to delay setting off on my climb up to the summit of Mam Tor by eating my sandwiches in the shelter at the bus station - quite early, but this was my plan.

There was quite a bit of minor flooding today caused by the snowmelt and some of the footpaths I used as I was leaving the village were functioning as fast flowing streams.

Mam Tor, at nearly 1,700 ft above sea level is the highest point of the Great Ridge and remained shrouded in mist most of the day, but at least visibility was good enough for me to be able to climb up there...and the last few yards to the top are easy, whatever the conditions.

When it's slippery, coming down is always a lot more difficult than going up. I took my time getting back down to Castleton; by the early afternoon I was surprised by the number of people now climbing up the mountain. As I was just beyond the Blue John Cavern it was particularly difficult underfoot in places, and these places seemed to coincide with the spots where people were taking their dogs for a walk, either running free or on leads. The dogs were causing a lot of problems; for their owners if kept on a lead, and for everyone else if not. I didn't say anything; there was nothing I could think of to say to the people...there was nothing I could tell than to do, or not to do, so I didn't bother. I needed to concentrate on where I was placing every step anyhow.

A bus wasn't due for about forty minutes when I arrived back down in Castleton and so I had another wander around and took some more photos.

Castleton, Pindale, and Hope

Two buses going via different routes depart for Castleton within half an hour of my train arriving at Sheffield on a Sunday morning, and so that's where I chose to travel to today.

Castleton wasn't looking at its best today though. It was misty, cold and damp, and a few snow flurries were falling when I got off the bus. To make matters worse half the shops were closed and there was a series of roadworks along most of the length of the main street. 

The pub sign at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese provided a bit of colour on an otherwise dreary day; I was pleased to notice that both here, and at the nearby Peak Hotel it is prominently displayed that muddy boots are welcome.

It continued to snow for about another two hours, quite heavily at times. After the snow the mist came down from the hills and the visibility was even worse...a terrible day for taking photographs - not what I was expecting after reading the weather forecast last night.

I took a footpath which went round the back of the houses and came back out on to the main road just before the church.

Just by chance, and not design, the route of my walk today took me past all four of the show caves at Castleton. Speedwell Cavern is located at the entrance to Winnats Pass....it's handy for toilets too. The gents are at the back of one of the buildings, so you can easily sneak in and use them.

I continued over the hill, passing Treak Cliff Cavern and Blue John Cavern before arriving at the top of Winnats Pass. I then walked along the road for a short distance until reaching the next footpath. After passing through the large heavy gate I had a choice of two routes; I chose to take a footpath I've not walked along before. It didn't take me to anywhere in particular - just up close to some accumulation of snow that still remained from a few days ago.

I kept looking back towards Mam Tor...if I'd been able to see it through the mist. Normally from here I would have been able to get some good photographs - I reckon that when walking in the other direction, visually, this is the best approach to the mountain. 

The path took me across fields until I reached a busy byway; not just busy with hikers, cyclist and horseriders though. A couple of noisy motorbikes were somewhere off in the distance and a few minutes later a Landrover was approaching me at high speed, for the conditions, the tyres of the vehicle smashing into the frozen over puddles, making a loud crashing sound as a cascade of sharp shards of broken ice and freezing cold water was launched into the air. I didn't fancy any of that and so stepped out into the middle of the track and maintained good eye contact with the bastard until he stopped and then slowly drove past me when I got out of his way. He had a gormless grin on his face; I just waved and acknowledged his presence.

The track continued for about a mile and a half and then I needed to walk along the road for a slightly shorter distance until I reached the top of the track that goes down to Pindale...no more than three or four cottages, a campsite and some substantial ruins of an old mine. Halfway down this track there's an old quarry which is popular with owners of....LANDROVERS, and there were soon more bloody Landrovers - three of them this time. I heard their engines and so deviated from the  path and walked up to a point from where I'd be able to observe them. It looked like some sort of organised group. There were about a dozen people, nearly as many women as men, taking turns to test their off-road driving skills on some difficult and steep terrain. They didn't look like they were imminently going to start driving back down the track and causing me any problems, so I continued down to Pindale, and then down the road to Hope.

I timed my arrival at Hope very well; the bus turned up only a couple of minutes after I'd arrived at the bus stop.

Castleton, Winnats Pass, Bradwell, and Brough.

As I left the railway station at Sheffield this morning I was under no misapprehension that the Olympics start in a few weeks: only a few yards beyond the concourse there were four sturdy outdoor table tennis tables.

I walked to the bus-stop and the bus arrived on time; however I delayed it by a few minutes, and I doubt I wasn't the only one, because my concessionary travel pass didn't scan properly...it's a different machine to the ones in Doncaster, and it's a different procedure too.

I'm not impressed with the idea of having to scan the passes: since it's only elderly and disabled people who are issued with them, people who are likely to be a bit slower because of arthritis, rheumatics, poor eyesight or maybe learning disabilities, it just complicates matters...but not always, on the return journey back to Sheffield the driver just let people on.

I got off at Castleton, popped into the shop for supplies, and wandered down towards the Peak Cavern show cave...just to get some photographs of the narrow gorge that leads there.

I then doubled back into the village and went along the path leading towards the Speedwell Cavern at the foot of Winnats Pass. I then continued up the grassy hill to reach Treak Cliff Cavern, which has a panoramic viewpoint.

Just before reaching Castleton's final show cave, the Blue John Cavern, I climbed up a steep gradient to eventually reach the north rim of Winnats Pass.

The views were spectacular; I took a few photographs and then descended down to the road; arriving quite close to the summit of the pass.

I walked alongside the road for a few yards and then took a steep, rocky path which led up the other side of the gorge. A path runs along the entire length of the southern rim and if anything, the views are even better from this side - a bit dizzying at times when you look down.

I continued walking for as far as I could, but eventually a deep ravine blocked my way. I had spotted this on the map and thought it might be an interesting challenge...it was too much of a challenge for me though. I backtracked a few hundred yards and climbed over a stile I had noticed earlier, and walked across grassy fields, and then along tracks and more fields to arrive at the road that leads down to Bradwell.

I entered the village down a steep hill which brought me to the Smalldale area, where there were some very nice houses. It didn't take long for me to reach the main road which goes through the village, and turn left, walking northwards towards Brough, arriving with nearly twenty minutes to spare before the bus arrived.