High Peak Trail

The High Peak Trail is a 17 mile trail and runs between Dowlow (near Buxton) and Cromford. It had been formed from the line taken by the Cromford And High Peak Railway that was opened in 1831 to carry minerals and good between two canal systems: the Cromford Canal at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. The first section of the line closed in 1963 and a full closure occurred in 1967.  In 1971 somebody in the Derbyshire County Council had the bright idea of converting it into a trail and their legacy is a wonderful route for walkers and cyclists.  It is quite high up (I guess the clue is in the name) and it has splendid open views across the surrounding countryside. The industrial heritage of the route has not been forgotten and there are plenty of information boards along its length to explain its features and peculiarities. There are also many remnants of its industrial past discarded along the trail and it is well worth keeping an eye out for these. Another feature of the route is the large number of quarries in the area. Just look at the above Google map; all those white splotches are quarries. They are so close to the trail that on a couple of occasions during the day I was coated in a white dust as a breeze disturbed the quarries.

Minninglow

I have to confess, I felt a little underwhelmed at the ancient burial site of Minninglow. It is a chambered tomb (Derbyshire's largest) and barrows surrounded by a circle of trees on the hill top. It's possible that my expectations had been too great. Maybe I'd been expecting some druids cutting mistletoe with sickles or painted ladies dancing naked around a small Stonehenge. Disappointingly, I got neither of those and instead saw some large rocks on an undulating grassy surface. I assume all the interesting chambers and barrow stuff was underneath all this. Somebody had put a bouquet of flowers on the top of one of the stones. I'm not sure if they were in memory of a relation who was buried there. Since the site may be 6,000 years old, their ancestral tree must be something to behold. The circle of trees and the enclosed space did give the site a secretive and possibly spooky atmosphere.  I exited the circle of trees and felt more comfortable with the open views across the retreating landscape. Well, that was Minninglow ticked. I started heading back downhill to the High Peak Trail. 

Harboro' Rocks

The track led me eastwards. Some of the stretches were so long and straight that it reminded me of one of those roads that you see heading across deserts to a vanishing point on the horizon.  Occasionally the trail would be carved into a ravine, but mostly the views were open. There were a few minor ripples of land to the south, before a flat plateau stretched out to meet the sky. For me, this is where the 'North of England' starts...where the hills begin. The trail side was abundant with colourful wild flowers and the birds were busy getting food for their young.

Harboro' Rocks is more of an outcrop than a hill. People have not treated it kindly and their is much evidence of the lead and baryte mining that has left scars on its craggy face. There is a mineral processing plant on the other side of the trail and this provides a constant drone to the area like bad tinnitus. There is a large farmhouse at the foot of the rocks, but its residents had clearly left many years ago. It is an easy ascent through the dolomitic limestone crags to the summit cairn. The sun greeted me at the top. At last the light grey clouds that had dampened my mood thus far were now burning away. There were fine views in all directions from the top. I noticed that I could still hear the grinding from the processing plant below. Two Ethels down and one more to go. I dropped back down to the High Peak Trail and continued my eastwards journey to Bolehill.

Hopton And Middleton Top

There were nine places  on the 33 mile railway route that the Victorian Civil Engineers couldn't find a suitable natural contour of the land, and so the carriages had to travel these sections along an incline. These were know as inclined planes, but were often referred to as 'planes' by the staff. The workers who operated the planes were called Planemen. Trains were chain-hauled up the inclines by a stationary winding engine at the summit. I came across one such incline at Hopton. By 1877 steam technology had improved so much that the winding gear was removed and trains would make their way up the Hopton Incline under their own steam. In 1903 they eased the gradient to 1 in 14. This was the steepest gradient worked regularly by conventional steam locomotives on British railways. I was impressed to see a couple of mountain bikers making good progress up it. When they past me I noticed that their machines were battery assisted.

After Hopton Incline, I came across the Hopton Tunnel. On my approach I could see the other end of the tunnel and I didn't think it was that long. This was a bit deceptive, since it took around 140 steps to get through it and so I'd guess it was about a 100 metres in length. It didn't seem long before I got to Middleton Top.  This was the top of a serious looking 1 in 9 incline. The winding gear still exists at the top of the incline and is housed in a building with a tall chimney. Its beam engine worked the incline for 133 years and so I think it is nice that it has been preserved in its retirement.

I made my way down the incline and was surprised at the steepness. Near the bottom I looked across the valley and saw a wooded hill that I took to be my final Ethel, Bolehill. The trail headed towards it and before long I came across the small railway station of Steeple Grange. This is a narrow gauge line, run by volunteers, that uses industrial locomotives and rolling stock from disused mines, quarries and steelworks. It has a 0.62 mile railway line to the station near Middleton.  Near to the station is a headstone with the following inscription: 

After the Great War of 1914-18 more than 120,000 headstones were carried on this line destined for imperial war grave cemeteries. We will remember them.

Good Day At Black Rock

I left the High Peak Trail and headed upwards on a woodland trail that a fingerpost indicated would take me to Cromford Moor. After a short while I came across a significant gritstone crag that is know as Black Rocks. It is apparently famous with climbers and a couple today had just reached the top as I arrived. It has an E9.7a graded climb called 'Harder, Faster'  that is considered one of the most dangerous climbs in Britain. A fall near the top would be fatal and the climb is rarely repeated, the third ascent being in December 2020.  

My trail continued through the woods, past an abandoned millstone and up on to a ridge path. Before long, I was standing near the summit trig. Five other chaps arrived at the same time with camera equipment and a drone that they immediately launched on their arrival. I lingered around a while to see if I could overhear what they were up to. I couldn't deduce much though and so I set off back on my return journey. Bolehill had been my final Ethel of the day. I'd climbed another Ethel called Bole Hill at Burton Moor. I'd learnt on that occasion that 'bole' indicates that the hill was used for smelting lead. This was done on the top of the hill so that a breeze would blow the fumes away. The spoil heaps from the lead mine were in evidence near Black Rocks. Lead was mined there from 1615 to 1850.

It had been a good day at Black Rocks. I started back on my return journey along the High Peak Trail.

The Return

Over many years my walks have made use of various sections of the Pennine Bridleway national trail. I'd never really took much notice of where the trail starts and finishes. As I worked my way through some information boards at Middleton Top, I found one relating to the Pennine Bridleway. It said that this was the start (or finish point) of the southern end of the trail. I'm not sure where its terminus is located at its northern end since the map seemed to fade away above Kirkby Stephen . I've decided not to look it up on Google and see if I'll cross paths with it on a future walk.

The sun had brought out the bikers and I met plenty pedalling the trail on my way back. At Longcliffe I came across a metal beam from a bridge that had taken the railway across the B5056. In 2019 an HGV ran into the bridge and a temporary one had to be put on place. A permanent bridge replacement was installed in October 2022. The surviving bridge beam is now proudly displayed alongside the trail, just before the new bridge. There was a picnic table near to the beam and so I took the opportunity to sit down and eat an apple. Within seconds I was surrounded by Hens, some so inquisitive that they jumped up on to the bench beside me. They were so intimidating that I had to pack up my stuff and make a swift departure. It's the first time I'd been bullied by Hens before. It isn't a pleasant experience.

I kept to the High Peak Trail rather than take the diversion over Minninglow. The hilltop did look friendlier now that the sun was out. I was nearly back at the carpark when I came across two crows perched on the stone wall next to the trail. They couldn't have been more than 4 metres away from me. Normally the proximity radar on a crow sets them off flying when I'm tens of metres away. I was curious as to why these two let me get so close. They even let me take a photo of them. How odd. I'd walked about 20 metres away when there was an eruption of loud, raucous squawking from the tree opposite them. The noise was obviously emanating from their youngsters in a nest in the tree. The two crows on the wall flew up to the nest. It's a shame that they built their nest right above the High Peak Trail since I would have thought that they'd get disturbed quite frequently.

Well, that's the 17 mile Ethel Fest out of the way. It wasn't half as bad as I thought it might be. In fact, I'd really rather enjoyed all the historical features that the High Peak Trail had to offer.