Edale

 EDALE

 

April 12, 2023

 

 

 

 

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. Hard in wind.

 

Weather: Fine at first. Fierce wind and rain on The Great Ridge.

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe and Daisy, Julian Ross, Cliff Worthington.

 

Alternative walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly (Barber Booth to Nags Head and return).

 

Apologies: Alan Hart (weather concerns), Alastair Cairns (car battery problems), Micky Barrett (country estate management duties), Chris Owen (car MoT), Dean Taylor (chest infection), Simon Williams (daughter back from uni).

 

Leader: Blease​​Diarist: Beal

 

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

 

Starting time: 9.44am ​Finishing time: 2.06pm

 

 

 

 

Alan was the one Wanderer to own up to his absence being down to the dire weather forecast but who knows how many other absentees were put off by the predictions of strong winds and rain?

 

Six of us decided to brave the elements and were rewarded with 90 minutes of fine and dry conditions before the weather gods took their revenge on the ascent of Mam Tor and the walk along the Great Ridge to Hollins Cross. Our ordeal was limited to three-quarters-of-an-hour before we reached the calm sanctuary of the Edale valley.

 

Today’s walk marked the leadership debut of Andy Blease. He arrived well-prepared with a previous walk report, impressive digital mapping and a good memory that saw him put not a foot wrong. He should do this again.

 

This could also be one of the last times we were able to enjoy free parking at the small National Park car park on the road to Upper Booth. The park authority have an application in to turn it and several others in to pay-and-display, when a day’s parking would be £6.

 

Leaving the car park we turned left towards Edale and after passing under the viaduct carrying the Manchester to Sheffield railway line took a stile on the right leading in to fields. Just before Manor Farm we crossed a track and followed the path through a series of gates and stiles with the steep slope of Rushup Edge immediately ahead of us.

 

We climbed to reach a gate that brought us to the broad track of Chapel Gate, originally the main route between Edale and Chapel-en-le-Frith (.5 miles). We turned right here uphill, with the bulk of Rushup Edge above us on our left and started a sustained climb of nearly a mile. This brought us to the junction with a flagged path on the right, leading to the summit of Brown Knoll (1.5 miles). We bore left on level ground and, just before reaching the Chapel to Castleton road, turned left uphill on the start of the climb up Rushup Edge.

 

Steady but fairly gentle climbing brought us to the highest point of Lord’s Seat (1,804 feet), the summit of which is marked by a large Bronze Age burial mound(2.5 miles). From here it was a gentle descent to reach the Edale road at the pass of Mam Nick. A lack of shelter here from a freshening wind caused us to postpone the planned pietime and to press on up the stone staircase ahead leading to the summit of Mam Tor (1,695ft).

 

Here the wind became fierce and driving rain, with some hail, started to assail us from the right. We barely paused at the summit (3.5 miles) and forged on downhill to a dip in the ridge at the stone column of Hollins Cross (4.5 miles). This was once the highest point of the coffin road along which the Edale villagers carried their dead to the churchyard in Castleton, before Edale built its own church in the 17th century.

 

We turned left here on a steepish rocky track downhill and within a matter of yards the wind disappeared and we were in the sheltered calm of the Edale valley. We crossed a stile to join a muddy farm track that emerged on the Edale valley road (5.5 miles). We crossed this, then took a footpath immediately in front. At a gap stile we turned left across a field and under the railway line. The path took us across another field, crossed a stream and climbed to join the road in Edale village opposite the church.

 

We turned right and at 12.20pm reached the welcome sight of the Old Nags Head (no apostrophe), which marks the southern end of the Pennine Way (6 miles). Your diarist enjoyed a pint of the Celtic Gold at £4-60. We were soon joined by Jock and Keiran, with Milly, who had walked from the Barber Booth car park and were to join us on our return.

 

We left the pub and turned right to the Cooper’s Farm camp site. Shortly before the farm buildings we took a stile on the left which lead us through countless small gates across fields to reach the hamlet of Barber Booth. We turned left down the road and soon reached the right turn towards Upper Booth and our cars (7.5 miles).

 

Next week’s walk, led by Tom, will start at 9.50am from the square in Longnor (free parking), calling at the Devonshire Arms in Hartington shortly after noon. We should be back in Longnor by 2.45pm. A previous report of this walk describes it as nine miles and easy.

 

Happy Wandering!