Seven a.m arrived without warning, as such an ungodly hour is want to do.
I arose (with no little effort) and began trying to rouse my family, but no-one seemed very interested.
I resorted to playing various stirring 'morning' tunes through the stereo - 'Wake-Up Boo' 'Sun Arise' and 'Morning has Broken'.
This had no effect, so I started taking duvets away instead...
And so it was that we were running a little late as we drove up the A6 through a misty but promising morning on our way to 'Youlgreave II', a repetition of the popular walk I organised early this year that takes in as many of the strange and wonderful places as possible on and around Stanton Moor at the south-eastern edge of the Peak District.
Fortunately we weren't the very last to arrive, but a good group of people had already assembled outside the George Hotel in Youlgreave:
In attendance were:
All of Clan Joester
Glyders and Daugther B
Gotmeheadshaved and partner Lynne
Peakbagger
cliff.pepper
Starling
Little Bird and Littler Bird.
Micky and Mrs Micky
Pasiro and Di with Tuvok, Chakotee and Kes (I think that's right?)
Gilly62 and Dex
Requiem
TheguyUK
I'm Spartacus
So not a bad turn out!
Following the same route as before, we headed south out of the village towards Harthill Castle Ring, the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort (but these days just a curiously-shaped hill).
The morning mist was dissipating but still clung to the hillside, making for a nice atmospheric start to the walk:
All the same, the steep ascent up to Harthill Moor proved too much for at least one member of the group:
And a rescue party, complete with carrier, had to be dispatched:
As we reached the plateau the mist had all gone and we headed down to the first of our proper sites, The Nine Stones (just visible):
(I'll let the others flesh-out this report with there own photos, in time-honoured fashion).
After we had marvelled at the four Nine Stones (!), we popped across to Robin Hood's Stride, which is very close by.
Robin Hood's Stride is a natural gritstone outcrop, although its twin-turreted shape can make it look otherwise, and give the place its other name 'Mock Beggar's Hall'.
Most of the group had a little play around on the rocks, the kids especially enjoyed exploring the place:
After we'd all chilled out at the Stride for a while, we made another very short walk across to its neighbour, Cratcliffe Tor.
Cratcliffe Tor hosts the Hermit's Cave (complete with rock-carving of Jesus, of which I'm sure they'll be plenty of photos).
The other feature of note (for us) is a slab of rock that's just right for sliding down, I managed to encourage quite a few members of the group to made the slide:
And even:
I think Abs regretted this excursion - 'When sliding down Grit - cheap leggings doth rip'. I believe there may be photographic evidence of this, but I'm not the one to provide it...
As we left Cratcliffe Tor there was much activity of emergency vehicles - MRT and an Ambulance Helicoptor. They seemed to be heading for the same place we were - The Druid Rocks (or properly 'Rowtor Rocks') at Birchover.
There are all sorts of caves and carved features amongst the outcrops of the Druid Rocks.
As well as our group, there were also a lot of MRT members hurriedly searching hither and thither. Apparently someone had come off the rocks, but weren't able to describe to the emergency services exactly where!
Thus MRT members kept appearing, breathless and searching...
They eventually found them, and unfortunate casualty was dispatched in the helicoptor.
As well as this excitement, there was the rocks themselves to explore. I like the carved chamber the best (and I think the kids did too):
Again, ther are many more photos from the others to elaborate on this, as well as hopefully some good ones of the helicoptor leaving (for there was much frantic snapping away!).