We still appear to be cursed! After last weeks ankle snapping escapade we were both looking forward to getting some miles in on our first trip to Castleton. Good old TomTom said the drive should have been 1hr 14minutes. Excellent, no problems.
Unfortunately it took nearer three hours due to backed up traffic on the M1 (J27-28), which meant all the traffic to Chesterfield was incredibly heavy on the other routes. Then to top it off a road is single lane outside Matlock. Seemed like we'd never get there.
After three hours we managed to park up (not in Castleton ofcourse, totally full by that time) by Speedwell Cavern. The ticket machine bless it let me pay for 3 hours, but only gave me two hours. So some heavy map studying was done so we could get part of the walk I'd planned done. We had to be back home for 6pm so we couldn't hang about and decided to treat this more as a recce than anything else.
So we start at the carpark just south of Winnats Pass at SK13885 82755 taking the footpath heading North and following the road to where the old Sheffield to Manchester road use to run until it fell apart for the 3rd time in the 70's. The fact anyone would consider it a sensible route for a road was something neither of us could understand.
At SK 13233 83915 we headed up the footpath towards Hollins Cross. The path is pretty clear with a few muddy bits (well it aint a proper walk if you're totally clean at the end of it). The path is fairly demanding as it's constantly uphill, in fact this walk is 75% uphill, so I was a bit puffed out by the time we got to Hollins Cross. Some excellent views from here (apart from the cement factory to the south) across Edale and the other peaks. On a very clear day the views must be stunning.
We then followed the paved path towards the summit of Mam Tor itself. As it was paved it was fairly busy and it was here we saw possibly the most bizzarre thing I've ever seen walking. A couple were out walking, the woman was mainly dressed for the occasion he however thought that a blazer, trousers and formal shoes where suitable attire!
After a while we reached the top of Mam Tor (trig point 517) , but didn't linger. We took a couple of shots towards Rushup Edge and headed south around the edge of the face for a bite to eat. Now I don't like heights but I got close to the edge to take the close up shot. Very impressive, as my mate commented it won't do it justice and he was right.
Castleton as you probably know is quite touristy and has many diversions to avail you of your money (car park machines aside) including the famous Blue John Caverns. We followed the path in front the Caverns and back towards the car. One final look at Mam Tor before a hot tea and snadwich.
Despite the walks brevity (3.4miles in 1hr 45m) it was a good and moderately challenging walk (I was sweating buckets, but that says more about me than the walk). We'll definitely be going back, a little wiser about parking spots etc, but an enjoyable walk none the less.
Enjoy the pics.
Map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of Ordnance Survey, © Crown copyright.
© Dazza