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Regions - Trip reports, destination advice, recommended routes, etc. => Peak District => Topic started by: mike knipe on 22:55:12, 16/03/08

Title: Howden Moors and Edges
Post by: mike knipe on 22:55:12, 16/03/08
Following another serious boozing session (see Win Hill) and a premier division breakfast this morning (Sunday 14 March) - I met up with a pal from Manchester for a walk on Howden Moor, aiming to bag some of the tops around the edges.
So we set off from Fairholmes car park and climbed by Walkers Clough up on to Green Sitches. The Derwent Reservoir overflow was in full spate following a very wet night (during which a small lake appeared in my tent porch. I had to be rescued by lifeboat in order to attend for breakfast. This is an exaggeration, obviously)
Anyway, we soon bagged Back Tor, which has a nice tiered crag and various typically gritstone curiously shaped rocks. We retraced a little way then headed North to Sheepfold Clough  and after crossing the beck with some difficulty as it was slightly in spate, we then took a long  rising path which took us on to  High Stones and Margery Hill, where it started snowing.
At Cut Gate we decided we'd had enough and cut down to Howden Reservoir from where an easy track took us back to the start.
Quite a nice walk, but there was a perishing cold wind, but it was much easier walking than I expected.
One of the pics below appears to be gigantic scibbling on a hillside. I think this is from re-seeding of heather plants... but I'm not sure.
Signs of spring: None on the moors, but dwarf daffies by a bench in the valley - probably B&Q garden centre rather than wild, but nice all the same.
13 or so miles and 1900 feet of climbing....then 100 miles of M1/A1(M) home for a cup of tea