Derwent Edge and Castleton - Peak District weekend

While daydreaming at work this week I started thinking about where we could go at the weekend.  The 10th Piratemania was published a few days ago and it got me thinking about some of the lovely trips we've had to the Peak District over the years.   We attended the very first Piratemania in 2008 in the village of Hope.  It was such a fabulous weekend, the sun shone the whole time and we had great fun camping, making new friends and exploring the area.  

Our daughter started at the Uni of Sheffield in 2014 and we've enjoyed a few days out in the area since then..........  So back to this weekend and daydreaming, thinking about Piratemania reminded me that we needed to go back to the Castleton area.  Back in December last year we had an enjoyable walk on Derwent Edge, it was quite late in the day and it had been snowing so we only had time for a shortish walk from Strines Bridge to the Back Tor trigpoint. So that was the plan, go back to Derwent Edge on Saturday and explore Castleton on Sunday.


The forecast wasn’t great for the weekend but we thought we’d go for it anyway, I mean what’s a bit of rain? It’s just water

Wheel Stones

It was a very misty start to the day but the walk along Derwent Edge was fabulous, the views weren’t what we hoped for but the rock formations are simply amazing!  We enjoyed a series of Earthcaches all set by Pete37038.  Once we’d reached Cakes of Bread the temperature really dropped and the wind had got up and I was beginning to regret my clothing choice for today - cropped leggingss and thin jacket.  I delved into my rucksack and luckily stashed in the bottom was my winter hat and buff, good grief I was glad to get those on.  We have recently added an emergency survival bag to our kit, hopefully we’ll never need it but I was beginning to get so cold I was glad we’d thought to pack it.  I decided to run for half a mile or so to warm up.  Once we’d got to lower ground the sun came out and off came the winter buff and hat and I was glad of the shorts.

Cakes of Bread

View of Ladybower Reservoir

A very enjoyable there and back walk of just under 8 miles.

Next stop Derwent Dam.  We last visited Derwent Dam in 2002 on a family caravanning holiday in Buxton, we had a fab time visiting lots of place in the Peak District.  Visiting the area brought back very fond memories of happy family times together.  How time flies, so glad we cherished the time when our children were small.

Family fun times at Derwent Dam - June 2002

Howden Reservoir - October 2016

Howden Reservoir and the dam -  June 2002

The reservoirs provide water for Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester

During the Second World War the reservoir was used for practising the low-level flights needed for the Dam Busters raids due to its similarity to the German dams.

SUNDAY

Breakfast view

A very wet start to the day, in fact the rain was torrential.  We were in two minds whether to stay as it looked like it might be set in for the day but we thought we'd at least visit the Earthcaches that we had planned and then if the rain continued and we got too wet we could always call it a day.

We had a lovely walk around Castleton which was deserted as the rain was quite heavy.

Beautiful autumnal colour

After a morning of walking around in the rain we headed back to the camper van for our lunch and luckily it stopped raining and the sun came out so we decided to round off the day with a walk up to Mam Tor trigpoint.

 

Mam Tor (meaning Mother Hill) is also known locally as the 'shivering mountain'. Due to its horizontal layers of shale and gritstone, the sedimentary bands crumble when water and ice work their way into the layers.  The hill is said to 'shiver' as the rock crumbles. The effects of this on the east side of the mountain can be clearly seen from the top of Mam Tor .  The area is continually moving and you can see the former A625 main road from Stockport to Sheffield which was washed away by a landslide in 1974, it was eventually closed for good in 1979.  The road is accessible on foot and in actual fact there is an Earthcache there that we did back in 2008.  Apparently in 2005 the cost of rebuilding the road was estimated to be £10,000,000.

Former A625 from Stockport to Sheffield

All good things must come to an end and it was time to head home.......another fab weekend, why do they go so fast?