Redmires - Stanage

After a glorious day on Pen-y-Ghent, I unexpectedly ended back home in Sheffield on Saturday night and woke on Sunday feeling grey.  Actually I didn't really wake because I hadn't actually been asleep, which was the reason for the greyness.  Anyway it matched the day outside the kitchen window.  After catching up on some catch up TV and still feeling restless, I grabbed the daysack and drove up to Redmires with only a vague idea of where I might go.  I ended up sneaking up on Stanage Edge by a route which started by following sheep tracks until they ran out and then landrover tracks in the bracken until they ran out and then a stream until that ran out and finally across some burnt heather until that also ran out just before the High Neb trig point and moments before my legs ran out. It was a breathtaking thrash.- that is, I felt quite out of breath.  Clearly my body doesn't function well after no sleep.  Anyway, despite the greyness or as a result of it, the Hope Valley skyline was one of receding silhouettes

Silhouettes

Hope Valley panorama from High Neb, Stanage

To the north west, dense grey smoke was rising high into the sky from burning off the heather.  There had been signs of this at various sites across the local moors all last week.

Close by the trig point is a rock with a cup and water channels carved into it.  There are a series of them up this end of Stanage, from the time it was used as a drove road used by Jaggers, the local name for the drovers who transported goods over the moors using pack-horses to carry things such as salt from Cheshire.  This cup is labelled number 9, though it's not clear from the image below unless you zoom in above the cup.

High Neb Cup (no. 9)












A few photos later and I headed east along the edge towards Stanage Pole with the sun just starting to turn the clouds pink over my right shoulder.

Fading red sun over Hathersage









I reached the Long Causeway to find two 4x4s had just arrived, radios on at full volume and preparing to descend the track to the plantation near Dennis Knoll. 

The Long Causeway from Redmires, below Stanage Edge to Dennis Knoll











At the Pole I checked the geocache, which my son had shown me last year - a sad, broken plastic box filled with trinkets and a soggy notebook to log visits. 

Stanage Pole















Duly logging my visit I headed off down towards Redmires and it was then that I saw the new anti-4x4 defences which have been erected since New year, from just below the gate all the way down to the reservoir.  The damage done by the off-roaders was unsightly (why do these folk think it's ok to go off the track?) but I think this fence and random blocks of stone looks far worse.

 Landrover proof fence

 Damage done by 4x4s

Not glacial erratics








The track is currently a Public Byway, meaning that 4x4s and trails bikes may legally go along it.  The good news (from my perspective)  is that Derbyshire Country Council have posted a notice at the bottom of the track, stating they have evidence that the Long Causeway should be added to the Definitive Map.

If I understand it, this could lead the way to reclassifying the Causeway as a Public Footpath or Bridleway, which would put a stop to motor vehicles using it.


Distance 5.3 miles, Ascent 650 ft

Loose Ends

I've walked most of the paths round Redmires many times but there is one path that goes off from the upper reservoir, close to the start of the track up to Stanage Pole, that I've known about for quite a  while now (like a few years) but never walked.  I had planned to explore it yesterday but got sucked into Sheffield for the sales (I know, yuk).  I managed to get out this afternoon for a couple of hours.  It was noticeably warmer than two days ago, when I'd circumnavigated the top reservoir in near arctic conditions, and there was some very atmospheric cloud just hanging around.

End of Redmires Road

Redmires Top Reservoir from the road











The track heads southwest (ish) over some open access land on the area of the OS 1:50k map marked as White Stones.  After a bit of ascent, it branches.  East would have taken me back to the path which runs above the reservoirs on the flank of Rud Hill.  I've walked over there before so I took the western branch which after only a short distance turned down hill, back to where I had come from.  However, there are a series of sheep tracks continuing south and west, which are easy enough to follow for a while before they degenerate into alternate regions of tussocks and heather.  I suspect the open access agreement doesn't extend this far but I took advantage of the low light levels, the mist and my black 'stealth' goretex and pressed on, throwing caution and responsible hill walking to the winds. 

Redmires Top and Middle reservoirs from open access path

The open access path with the plantation and Stanage Pole in the distance













It was a truly fabulous bit of wild walking over open moorland.  I aimed for the Cowper Stone on the southern end of Stanage, which I estimated would take me 5 to 10 minutes to reach and probably took nearer 15 or 20.  Usually when it's misty I find things are often closer than they appear but I guess the tussocky terrain and the two streams I had to cross slowed me down.

Walking over tussocks towards Cowper Stone and the back side of Stanage Edge in the distance










Most of the snow had gone - such a contrast to two days ago but there was still quite a bit of ice around.

Interesting speckled ice pattern in natural (?) cup in rock on top of Stanage Edge













At the Cowper Stone, a sign dated 2005 says there is a Ring Ouzel's nest.  I guessed that even if they had returned in subsequent years, they probably wouldn't be in residence just now.  So I climbed up past the stone and headed for the trig point.

As I walked along the top of the Edge, I passed one or two folk who appeared out of the gloom and saw a couple of climbers topping out - they must have been desperate to climb as the rock could hardly be described by any sane person as 'in condition'.  I made my way along to Robin Hoods Cave area, where a track cuts over normally boggy moorland directly to Stanage Pole.  It appeared boggy today but I found that instead of sinking in, I  was walking on water - well a very thin layer of water covering a thicker layer of ice.  The mist lifted a little as I dropped down from the Pole and the clouds parted enough to show a ribbon of blue sky, which I completely failed to capture with the camera phone.

3.5 miles and about 500' of up.

Another Golden Plover Sighting

Went for a walk up at Redmires last night and saw one of the Golden Plovers again.  Here's a very grainy blown up pic of the chap.

And some less grainy pics across the top reservoir at Redmires.

Redmires towards Stanage

Redmires top dam

Moors above the Head Stone