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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Saturday 18 August 2018

Saturday Walk - [Peak District Trip] Bamford to Edale via Win Hill and Great Ridge

Length: 20.3 km (12.6 mi) [shorter and longer versions possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent:  846/753 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness:  10 out of 10 
                
Take the 09.02 Sheffield train from St. Pancras, change at Sheffield for Manchester Piccadilly (11.02/11.14, usually departs from platform 2c, at the southern end of platform 5), arriving Bamford at 11.36.
Return trains to London: 16.32, 17.34, 18.32, 19.32 (change at Sheffield, from 3 hours)
Or, if staying in the area: xx.47 until 19.47, then 21.45 and 23.21 towards Manchester; 16.32, 17.34, 18.32, 19.32, 21.30 and 23.01 towards Sheffield.

“This strenuous walk cuts through the boundary land between the Dark and White Peak areas of the Peak District National Park. A steep ascent up to Win Hill opens tremendous views to the surrounding Upper Derwent Valley reservoirs, the Vales of Edale and Hope and the exposed and isolated tracts of rugged moorlands, covered by cotton grass bogs and heather, and dramatically sculpted gritstone escarpments (or ‘edges’) of the Peak District’s iconic Dark Peak area.
From there you follow a heathery ridge running northwest to steeply descend and re-ascend to Lose Hill, the easterly end of The Great Ridge, which separates the vales of Edale and Hope. It extends for approximately 3 kilometres to Mam Tor at the western end and is very popular (in benign conditions). Mam Tor, once the home of Iron Age people, is on the southern edge of the Dark Peak (sandstones) and overlooks the White Peak (limestones), including the notable deep cut dry gorge of Winnats Pass.
Despite a lunch pub just off route, this walk lends itself to a picnic lunch on one of the tops or on the ridge
Diversions to lunch or a finish in Hope and Castleton are described, as are an alternative start from Hope Station and shortcuts from the Great Ridge to Edale, as well as an extension across Brown Knoll’s upland peat bog and down from the head of the Vale of Edale via Jacob’s Ladder (path).”


An Alternative Start from Hope Station cuts 4.9 km/3.0 mi and 263m ascent and is rated 6/10.
Diversions down from the Great Ridge to Hope and Castleton villages for lunch or an early finish:
·        To Hope as an out-and-back (adds 3.0 km/1.8 mi and 40m ascent);
·        To Castleton from Back Tor and back up to Hollins Cross (cuts the least interesting stretch of the Great Ridge, but adds 4.4 km/2.7 mi and 205m ascent);
·        To Castleton from Back Tor and through the dramatic Winnats Pass to the end of the Great Ridge at Mam Nick, the pass between Mam Tor and Rushup Edge (adds 3.0 km/1.8 mi and 100m ascent).
A couple of Shortcuts lead down from the Great Ridge to Edale:
·        From Hollins Cross, the lowest point on the Great Ridge just before the ascent to Mam Tor (cuts 6.7 km/4.1 mi and 350m ascent, rated 5/10);
·        From the end of the Great Ridge at Mam Nick, the pass between Mam Tor and Rushup Edge (cuts 4.5 km/2.8 mi and 200m ascent, rated 7/10).
An Extension across Brown Knoll’s upland peat bog and down from the head of the Vale of Edale via Jacob’s Ladder adds 5.4 km/3.4 mi and 172m ascent.
See the route map and check the pdf for more details.

Lunch: The Cheshire Cheese Inn (500m off route, after 8.4 km/5.2 mi of walking, food all day).
Tea: The Penny Pot Café, The Rambler Inn, The Old Nag's Head or Cooper’s Café/Cooper’s Chippy.
                                                                                   
For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files  click here. T=swc.302

3 comments:

PeteG said...

As far as I can tell, the cheap advance tickets don't come up if you do a London to Bamford, only by splitting, and doing London to Sheffield and Sheffield to Bamford. Oddly, you can get a through cheap ticket back to London on the Monday.

Thomas G said...

18 started the walk an hour early, mainly Friday arrivals plus one or other off the 8.02. A further 10 were on the posted (and jam packed) train, 1 of whom walked the short walk, starting from Hope, and 2 did there own thing from Grindleford. At Bamford 2 car drivers were awaiting, so in total n=28 on the walk, with 2 doing other stuff. A couple more have announced arrival on Sunday. So 32 SWC folk will be in the valley.
The weather was better than feared, namely w=clouds-with-sunny-periods-and-dry.
All 27 Bamford starters walked the main walk or the extended walk across the upland peat bog (12 did this version I believe). So the shortcuts off the ridge weren't tested. The later starters met the larger group as they were having their picnic by the Noe River, before the second fierce ascent of the day, so we strut on half way up Lose Hill before lunching ourselves. A good handful from both groups had earlier diverted to Hope for lunch.
Plenty of Heather, gorse and bracken, with the heather a rather dark purple colour, not as vibrant as last year, due to the dry summer. The bog as well was very dry, easy to walk on when stepping off the engineered path through it.
From the elevated big we could see Manchester and Blackpool Tower, showing how great the far views were on the day.
Fab day.

Thomas G said...

28 plus a dog, I should have said