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

Pen-y-Ghent

Reminiscent of a lion at rest, with the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale nestling at its feet, Pen-y-Ghent is my favourite of Yorkshire's Three Peaks.

Parking in the village, I proposed a counter-clockwise traverse for a change, approaching from Brackenbottom.  There were the usual critical comments from Nick about uPVC window frames in the many renovated buildings, which I've become used to on our walks.  

Pen-y-Ghent from just above Hunt Pot

It was the perfect walking day with clear blue skies, crisp air and firm ground underfoot

Pen-y-Ghent from the Brackenbottom path










The first section of the walk climbs up onto the limestone bench which is riddled with many caves systems, the most extensive being Penyghent Pot, a grade 5 cave with a flat out crawl in water for around 700 or 800 feet made more challenging by the requirement to drag ladders and lifeline (or SRT ropes) for 350 ft of vertical descent in ten pitches to the lower streamway.  I went down the cave once or twice in the 80s but never quite bought into why it was considered to be one of the great caving trips in the Dales.  It's a dark and gloomy place and the section of streamway to the terminal sump is along narrow canyon having a floor broken up by frequent cross-joints that require your full concentration to avoid being tripped up.  In recent years, some significant extension have been made in the lower reaches of the system and from what I have read, these are a serious undertaking and require and enthusiasm for extreme discomfort which I lost (or grew out of) some years ago.

But enough of la recherche du temps perdu, today it was good to be above ground in bright light and expansive moorland with views of Pendle Hill, Ingleborough and the blot on the lanscape which is Horton Quarry.

All of the Three Peaks are made up like layer cake of three distinct bands of rock, with the Great Scar carboniferous limestone overlain by a series known as the Yoredales and topped by gritstone.  It is the impervious nature of the upper two layers which have given rise the extensive cave systems in this part of Yorkshire by channelling rainwater and snow melt into cracks and fissures in the Great Scar limestone and opening them out into networks of horizontal tunnels punctuated by vertical drops and chambers.

As you continue up the hill, the observant walker can spot the boundaries between the three layers, that between the upper two being more obvious than between the Carboniferous limestone and the Yoredales.  Even if you miss the actual horizons in the rock you should notice a change in vegetation.

Above the stile, are two steep sections of rock steps, which give some easy scrambling fun followed by a gentle stroll to the summit.

Looking down the final ascent

For some reason, I forgot to take a summit photo (too busy eating I think) but after crossing the wall onto the west side of the fell, the ground took on a white hue with frost covering the low lying vegetation.

Wind blown frost crystals










The descent from the summit looks across to Ingleborough, Whernside and further rightwards towards the fells of the northern Pennines, whilst looking down onto the limestone bench the eye is drawn to a large gash in the ground, Hull Pot.




The dark gash of Hull Pot from the western flank of PyG








But before reaching Hull Pot, the track back to Horton passes close to another open shaft, Hunt Pot.

Hunt Pot



















Water from a beck collected high on the flanks of Pen-y-Ghent plunges 90 ft down Hunt Pot onto a ledge, bouncing off the far wall on the way down.  Below the ledge is a further 60 ft drop to the floor of the shaft, where the water sinks through boulders to be seen again in Penygent Pot before rising at Brants Gill Head above Horton.  It's possible to exit Hunt Pot via a different route, coming out of Shrapnel Pot, a small hole in the north-west edge of the Hunt Pot shakehole.  To do this requires a series of pitches to be laddered first, usually by a second party, who will exit up Hunt Pot.  Shrapnel is very tight and loose at the top and a through trip exchange is a serious undertaking to be undertaken by experienced cavers (so don't be tempted to crawl into the entrance of Shrapnel for a quick look as that way is likely to lead to the cave rescue missing a pint).

The edge of Hunt Pot











After pausing to photograph the ice formations decorating the top of the shaft, we carried on to Hull Pot.  This is an even more impressive feature, especially in wet weather when the water from Hull Pot Beck plunges 60' into this tear in the rock.  I seem to recall reading somewhere that it can fill to the top but I think that may be apocryphal.

Hull Pot














From here it's back to the gate and a brisk stomp down the track into Horton.

The route from Hull Pot, rays from a weak afternoon sun piercing the darkening clouds.











Distance 6.75 miles, Ascent 1700ft

Edale and Ringing Roger

I'm a little late with this post - it happened the weekend before Christmas.

Every few months, my old university caving group meet up, often taking over a Youth Hostel or climbing hut for the weekend. The group has grown over the years through the addition of children and friends and the children of friends and their friends and so on, to the extent that filling a hostel is no problem at all. This particular weekend they all came to Hathersage, which is a) just about my back garden and b) where I have just moved my office to (if I'm going to have to work for another 9 years while my kids get through university, I might as well have a nice view from my desk).

After my walk over Derwent Edge two weekends before, in fluffy deep snow and under bright blue skies, I'd suggested a route from Edale along the southern edge of Kinder Scout, thinking that it would offer good views without any real navigational problems.

We drove out of Hathersage under leaden grey skies and as we ploughed through the deep snow into Edale car park, I started to think we might be about to make a mistake. But the Hull group is like a supertanker and once set in motion it is difficult to change course so we headed off through the village under dark and threatening skies towards Golden Clough.

Golden Clough - though it looks more silvery here (photo CHK)

The track up the clough is narrow and steep and offers a satisfyingly remote and wild feel -  if you like that sort of thing. The snow was a few inches deep with variously ice and boggy ground underneath.

A weak sun squeezes through clouds over upper Edale (photo CHK)

When topped out onto the edge, we left the shelter of the clough and were hit by a biting, Arctic wind. My thoughts were to keep going and get to somewhere more sheltered but there were calls for a lunch stop.

Lunch Stop at the top of Golden Clough

As well as the wind, there was a lot of ice underfoot and without crampons, people were falling or being blown over like nine pins. The original plan had been to follow the edge as far as Hope Cross and then drop down to Edale.  We consulted the map for an escape route.

Too many cooks? We should go along here.  No, let's go over there. (Photo CHK)







.

We could see another party of walkers below us, coming up from the valley, and made the decision to continue along the edge a little further and then pick up a track which drops down below Ringing Roger and goes via The Nab back to Edale.  (We tried ringing Roger for advice but he didn't pick up).

Below Ringing Roger (Photo CHK)

Approaching The Nab

The clouds thinned out a little as we approached Grindsbrook Booth











Best described as a bracing walk but seemingly enjoyed by everyone.  

Distance: 4 miles, up: 1100'