A 17.5 mile High Peak Walk with Dearne Valley Ramblers

An early start was in order for Dearne Valley Walking Group for our High Peak Trail walk, meeting at 8am to the start point of the walk in the small hamlet of Dowlow near Buxton.
Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail WalkDearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk

Liz Davis set a scorching pace over the first few miles of the walk covering the first 3.5 miles from Dowlow to Parsley in just 65 minutes.

We continued through Friden and to Minninglow having covered 8.5 miles of the 17.5 miles of the trail. The next stretch of the walk from Minninglow to Middleton Top is no doubt the toughest part of the trail with a six miles stretch to be walked between refreshment stops.

Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail WalkDearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
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Following a coffee and ice cream break at Middleton Top, it was time to complete the last 2.5 miles of the walk, the last 2.5 miles being by far and away the most interesting parts of the walk with the remaining buildings at Middleton Top and Middleton Incline to descend. This leads on to the stunning Black Rocks and wonderful views then opening out over Cromford and Matlock not to mention a great view of the superb Willersley Castle, which was the seat of Sir Richard Arkwright the inventor of the Spinning Jenny.

Upon reaching the winding house at the top of Sheep Pasture Incline it was time to descend through the woods down the incline and reach the finish of the High Peak Trail at High Peak Junction just outside the lovely village of Cromford.

Upon reaching Cromford it was great to see the restoration work which has now taken place at Cromford Mills, which is a World Heritage Site.

A beer in The Greyhound in Cromford was a well-deserved reward for our party prior to taking the journey home at the end of a fabulous day of walking. The return journey was a quite sombre affair with some tired walkers on board, this was of course after we had eaten the remaining delicious homemade cakes supplied by Andrea Turner.

Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail WalkDearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
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Our arrival in Wombwell must have been quite a sight for onlookers with our party collectively groaning as they disembarked from the bus, most of us were pretty stiff too!

Well done to the 13 people who completed this walk which covered 19.5 miles of the High Peak and thank you to Richard Eastman of Eastman’s Coaches who once again did us proud with bus travel.

A big welcome goes out to Jill Heppinstall who chose this walk for her DVWG debut, a somewhat brave act, in doing so she became the 240th adult to have walked with DVWG since the group was formed back in 2009.

A few milestones were also reached too, Emma Powell and David Kirk reached 200 miles, season to date, while Sue Case and Andrea Turner both reached 100 miles. While cumulatively, David Richardson passed 750 miles, Liz Davis passed 600 miles and Andrea Turner passed 400 miles. Well done to everyone.

Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail WalkDearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
Dearne Valley Walking Group High Peak Trail Walk
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Our forthcoming walks see our first evening walk of the summer at Whitwell Moor on Tuesday April 17 and our Eyam and Sir William Hill Walk on Sunday April 22. The Whitwell Moor Evening Walk is a four mile walk starting at 6.30pm from The Castle Inn, Heads Lane, Bolsterstone, Sheffield.

S36 3ZB where as the Eyam Walk is an eight mile walk starting from Eyam Museum, Hawkhill Road, Eyam, Derbyshire, S32 5QP at 11am.

Anyone wishing to join us on either walk please email [email protected] or call David on 07904 010347 and then join us at the relevant meeting point. More details of all our walks are on our website at www.dvwg.org.uk.