Another weekend, another wander, I’m getting rather used to this weekend walking lately. Thankfully my daughter agreed to come out in to the Peak District for a short route along Stanage Edge, only after I promised that there would be a nice cream van at the end of the walk :-).
The day began with coffee in Chesterfield on the way to our proposed parking spot, I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really walk at weekends so I have no idea of typical parking availability then. I’m used to being able to park pretty much where and when I like so I had my finger crossed for a good spot at Burbage Bridge. Thankfully, yet again my misconceptions of madness at weekends was squashed as ample parking was still available at 11am.
The day was already hotting up as we began walking up towards the edge from the car park, I had intentionally planned a shorter route today as I knew my daughter wouldn’t be overly keen to walk miles in the heat.
As we rose higher in the direction of the edge the breeze began to pick up which was a welcome feeling today that’s for sure, I think with the humidity today it would have made it pretty unbearable for my daughter if not for the breeze. We reached the trig pillar on White Path Moss in no time at all and it was time for a spot of early lunch. Nice food is always a good bribe to get my daughter to accompany me 🙂
After a short break we continued along the Edge path and came across a couple of folks waiting to paraglide, I had a quick chat with them and found they were waiting for optimum conditions to materialise. When we eventually returned to this point we spotted them sailing high up just below the cloud base, I’d love to give that a try with my GoPro strapped to my head.
I’m lead to believe Stanage is one of the best places in the UK to go climbing and it certainly looked that way today. There were lots of groups of climbers tackling the numerous routes along this fine section of Derbyshire gritstone.
During the wander along Stanage we paid a visit to Robin Hood’s cave, it’s an excellent little feature that you must stop at if your here. I’d quite like to Bivvy there but we’ll leave that for another trip and at a time when Stanage is a little less busy, winter perhaps.
DISCLAIMER – A little word regarding the video at the point where I leave Robin Hood’s cave, I jumped across the gap in the rock instead of going back through the cave itself… Naturally I would like to insist that you don’t do this as there is a flipping huge drop and you’d probably break every bone in your body if you fell. I’m an idiot but don’t want others to copy, e.g. small children etc 🙂
After visiting the cave I met John who was out climbing with a group of friends, he recognised me having watched my YouTube videos in the past. I must admit it is a real boost to meet Peak Routes readers/viewers/listeners when I’m out and about.
Long Causeway is a pretty controversial spot, it’s been the subject of recent activity between walkers and off roaders. It has been used by folk in four wheel drives and on motor bikes and there has been a lot of opposition from conservation groups and walkers, I’m led to believe that access has now been blocked to off roaders and the council have taken it upon themselves to re surface the ancient route. Whatever your stance is or was the causeway has now been made sterile, flat and virtually featureless.
The heat during the day had been rising gradually during our walk, I decided after lunch in High Neb that we would walk straight back along Stanage rather than head down to Bamford Edge. This was the best option for my daughter because as soon as she knew we were heading straight back for an Ice Cream she picked up the pace :-).
On the way home we called off at Chatsworth as I really fancied a dip in the river. When I was younger my friends and I used to come here during the summer holidays and spend hours jumping in and out of the River Derwent. I didn’t manage to take many pictures as I left all my gadgets in the car, all except my GoPro which I used to film a few jumps for the video of today’s activities. I felt like I was a teenager again for a few brief moments 🙂
DeanRead.net 