Edale

  

 

EDALE

 

October 20, 2021

 

 

CAR PARK ON ROAD BETWEEN BARBER BOOTH AND UPPER BOOTH, CHAPEL GATE, RUSHUP EDGE, LORD'S SEAT, MAM TOR, HOLLINS CROSS, THE OLD NAGS HEAD AT GRINDSBROOK BOOTH, COOPER'S FARM, BARBER BOOTH

 

 

Distance: 7.5 miles​​​Ascent/descent: 1,440 ft

 

Difiiculty: Moderate

 

Weather: Bright with one short shower

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Cliff Worthington 

 

Apologies: Alan Hart (caring duties), Tom Cunliffe (calf niggle), Hughie Harriman (weather wimp), Alastair Cairns (dentist), George Dearsley (Turkey)

 

Leader: Beal​​​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: National Park car park on minor road between Barber Booth and Upper Booth, Edale

 

Starting time: 9.44am​Finishing time: 2.02pm

 

 

 

Any Wanderers looking at today’s weather forecasts could have been forgiven for pulling the duvet back over their heads and writing the day off.

 

In the event eight of us decided to ignore the BBC and Met Office doom-mongers and were rewarded with a dry day with only one short shower worth mentioning and even some spells of sunshine.

 

We left the free National Park car park on the lane that leads to Upper Booth and headed right towards Edale. We soon went under a viaduct carrying the Manchester to Sheffield railway line and shortly afterwards crossed a stile on the right in to fields.

 

We crossed a track leading to Manor House Farm just before the farm buildings and crossed a series of fields by way of gates and stiles, with the bulk of Rushup Edge looming in front of us. 

 

We climbed slightly and reached a gate at the junction with a major track known as Chapel Gate, originally the main route between the Edale Valley and Chapel-en-le-Frith.

 

This track was once highly-regarded by four-wheel drive enthusiasts whose – at the time perfectly legal – activities caused widespread protests at the damage being caused. Some years ago after a legal battle that finished in the High Court, a ban was imposed and the track repaired.

 

We slanted right on a steepish climb up the track that cuts across the flank of Rushup Edge. We reached and ignored a green footpath sign on our right, pointing to Dale Head, and after this the slope eased (38 minutes).

 

After this the track bore gradually round to the left until reaching a junction with another track, where we turned left (50 min). This was the start of the Great Ridge, two-miles long and linking the tops of Lord's Seat, Mam Tor, Back Tor and Lose Hill.

 

A gentle climb, with some stiles, brought us to the ridge's highest point of Lord's Seat (1,804 feet). The summit is topped by a large Bronze Age burial mound or barrow, once fenced off to prevent interference but now accessible.

 

From here there were magnificent views, stretching along the ridge and, across the valley, over the massive Kinder Scout plateau, now free of the mist that had covered it at the start of the walk.

 

We started the gentle descent that led us to the road crossing at the pass known as Mam Nick, where pietime was declared in a copse of trees, and then up the stiffishclimb of the man-made rock staircase to the 1,695 ft summit of Mam Tor (115 min). It was here that the only real rain of the day struck, but lasted little more than 15 minutes and ceased by the time we started our descent.

 

The naming of the hill might commemorate a pagan mother goddess. Its summit was also the site of an Iron Age hill fort, the largest in the Peak District, much of the evidence of which has been removed by successive landslips that have sculpted the almost sheer southern face of the hill.

 

We continued downhill to reach Hollins Cross, a stone column that was once surmounted by a topograph, but now only has a plaque dedicated to Tom Hyett of the Long Eaton branch of the Ramblers. This dip in the ridge was once on the coffin track over which the dead were carried from Edale to the churchyard in Castleton, before Edale got its own church in the 17th century.

 

From here we descended steeply on a rough track to Hollins Farm, then crossed a road in to fields. We went through a tunnel under the railway line and soon crossed a stream to reach the village of Edale. More properly the named is applied to the whole valley and the village is actually Grindsbrook Booth.

 

A booth was a farm building on land enclosed to keep livestock safe from wolves and the five in Edale - Upper, Barber, Grindsbrook, Ollerbrook and Nether Booths - would originally have been rented from the Crown by foresters or private landowners.

 

We turned right to reach The Old Nags Head (152 min), the pub that marks the start of the 270-mile long Pennine Way, and which is sadly on Alan's list of pubs committing the cardinal sin of leaving out an apostrophe where one should be.

 

Most of our party enjoyed excellent pints of the local Bradfield Brewery’s Farmers Blonde (again no apostrophe). Your temporary diarist notes that on an earlier visit two years ago the same beer raised eyebrows by selling at £3.90 a pint (he knows this because it was his birthday). Despite the passage of time and the current turmoil the price had risen to only £4. We were treated by Andy, celebrating the arrival of his second grandchild Jessie Jane, to whom glasses were raised.

 

From the pub we bore right through the entrance of the Cooper's camp site and along a track towards a farm, just before which we crossed a stile on our left and followed the path through fields and a succession of countless gates.

 

This brought us to the road at Barber Booth, where we turned right and immediately right again to retrace our steps to our cars (193 min).

 

Next week’s walk will start from the car park (free) opposite Bollington Recreation Ground in Adlington Road. Our planned route has been amended after finding the Robin Hood at Rainow now does not open Wednesday lunchtimes, but Chris will lead us on a route ending with refreshments at the splendid Vale Inn in Adlington Road.

 

Happy wandering!