Lose Hill

December 5, 2018

LOSE HILL

OLD HALL HOTEL  AT HOPE, EDALE ROAD, LOSE HILL FARM, LOSE HILL, BACK TOR, HOLLINS CROSS, CHESHIRE CHEESE INN AT CASTLETON, PEAKSHOLE WATER, OLD HALL HOTEL

Distance: 7 miles​Ascent/descent: 1,227 ft

Difficulty: Easy

Weather: Persistent rain and thick mist

Walkers: Peter Beal, Chris Owen

Apologies: Alan Hart (weather forecast), Mark Gibby and Hughie Harriman (unspecified but probably same), Laurie Fairman and Steve Kemp (hors de combat), George Dearsley (Turkey)

Leader: Beal​Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Road junction at Old Hall Hotel, Hope

Starting time: 9.47am​Finishing time: 1.30pm

Often the most rewarding days in the hills are those on which the direst of weather forecasts are confounded and the cloud and mists clear to reveal scenic vistas. Sadly, this was not to be one of those.

The rain persisted for the duration and the thick mist refused to shift, leaving views non-existent.

Nevertheless, your dynamic duo - who were both rather surprised to find they were not the sole Wanderer to have turned out - enjoyed a convivial excursion.

We walked up the minor road to Edale with the Old Hall on our right and shortly after Hope School took a signed footpath on the left. This threaded its way through the fields via a succession of stiles and gates, across a railway line, and finally reached Lose Hill Farm.

We skirted the farm buildings on the right and began the stiffish climb to the 1,562ft summit of Lose Hill.

My trusty Peak District Companion tells me that local legend has it that Lose Hill and neighbouring Win Hill were named after a series of battles between rival kings Edwin of Northumbria and Penda of Mercia in 632. Another version puts Edwin in the ring with King Cuicholm of Wessex. Anyway the winning army (Penda beat Edwin but Edwin beat Cuicholm) camped on Win Hill and the losers camped across the way.

Historians think this is probably total rubbish and that Win means wind and Lose (pronounced loose) means either free land or pigsties.

Reaching the summit, we were able to inspect the stone-mounted viewfinder, indicating 73 features, that was the first of its kind in the Peak District when positioned in 1948.

Views being nil, we pressed on west along what is known as the Great Ridge, having Lose Hill at one end and Mam Tor at the other. We crossed the rocky promontory of Back Tor, followed by a short,sharp descent and reached the depression in the ridge at Hollins Cross.

This marks the point at which the ancient coffin trail crosses the ridge - used by villagers in Edale to take their dead to Castleton churchyard for burial until the time their own chapel was consecrated in 1634.

We decided against continuing along the ridge to the mist-shrouded Mam Tor and turned left to descend the steep trrack towards Castleton. Much of this has now been covered with flagstones to combat severe erosion.  

We reached Castleton village two hours and 13 minutes after starting, and gained the welcome shelter, and hot wood-burner, of the Cheshire Cheese, where Moonshine bitter, from Sheffield's Abbeydale Brewery, was £3-65.

Leaving the pub, we turned right and soon took a path on the right, taking us along the banks of Peakshole Water, the stream that emerges from Castleton's Peak Cavern, known locally and even in official Victorian guidebooks as the Devil's Arse. On the same theme, posters in the village were spotted advertising the headline act at a local fundraiser in the village hall as the marvellously-named The Fabulous Thunderbottom Brothers.

The path took us over a succession of fields, crossing the railway line leading to the Hope Valley cement works, and soon after to a minor road, where we turned left to reach Hope village. at an early 1.30pm - largely due to skipping pietime and a lunch stop in the continuing rain.

Chris had to depart for a medical appointment, leaving your diarist to enjoy a pint of Wainwright's (£3-60) in front of a roaring log fire in the Old Hall, where he partially dried out.

Next week's walk will incorporate our Christmas lunch at The Three Tunnes in Hazel Grove.The start will be at 9.45am at the (free) car park at Torkington Park, Hazel Grove, near the Rising Sun junction on the A6. We will aim to reach the Ring o' Bells at Marple at noon, returning to Torkington by 2pm. The pub is less than a ten-minute walk from the car park. Alan will be contacting us soon about menu preferences.

Happy wandering!