The Peak Traverse

An Idea Realising

Four Families Cross The Peak District

It’s a fantastic world out there. Explore it.

And so, a 4-family mission to criss-cross the Peak District.

Take a glance at the journey so far - 6 of 8 hikes completed.
We’ve just completed Number 6!

April 2019: The Roaches: we kick off in the south-west

The Roaches are the first of many intriguing edges

Aug 2019: Bleaklow - from the top of the Dane to the start of the Dove

Aug 2020 - to the The Middle Peak during a Covid trough

It was like a healing to get out in between the Covid waves of 2020

May 2021 - We cross the Wye at Monsal Head

Huge vistas open out from Longstone Moor

July 2021 - from the lush greens of Bretton Clough

It's July 2022 and we're north of Castleton heading for Mam Tor

Peak Traverse I - The Roaches to Flash (April 2019).

It was 2019. Eve was recovering from a massive Scoliosis procedure the previous year and needed to put on some muscle. The pandemic was just around the corner. We had every reason to get out there.

*A post-Scoliosis Eve leaps on top of the Roaches*

The south-west corner of the Peak is a remarkable combination or eerily-rocky ridges, mountain-like streams, wild moorland and vivid farmscapes.

*Farmscapes near the River Dane, from the Roaches*

Track left and right, and you can include spots like Lud’s Church. Never take shortcuts.

*Lud’s Church is a natural cathedral. It feels like a hang-out from the dark ages.*

Climbing above the Dane on the way north, the landscape very quickly becomes marginal for farming, which is magic for diversity.

*Southern approach to the Three Shire Bridge. That way!*

Peak Traverse II - Up the Dane | Down the Dove (Aug 2019)

Flash to Crowdicote

*Too much energy! There’s nothing quite like walking and talking with lifelong friends*

It’s always good to think of the Peak in terms of its rivers and ridges.

Up the Dane

Last time, we started off along a ridge - The Roaches., and then we wound our way up a river - the Dane.

This day, we follow the Dane onwards to its source up on the western moorlands, around Bleaklow.

It’s August, but up in the clouds at the highest village in England, it can appear wintry.

Down the Dove

The head of one river is likely to be the head of another. And so we found the source of the Dove as we drifted eastward off Bleaklow and towards the middle of the Peak.

We sunk below the morning mist and into the sunshine of the Dove. We pushed southwards past Chrome Hill (recently climbed) to the village of Crowdicote.

It’s a long way down the Dove!

Peak Traverse III - Middle Peak (Aug 2020)

Crowdicote to Sheldon

*We say goodbye to the Dove. The view back to the source of the Dove (Bleaklow) - from Pilsbury Castle*

Who would have guessed that our next chance to experience nature together - legally - would be a whole year later! August 2020 was a moment’s freedom in amongst the cursed months of lockdown. Four desperate to re-connect families head out from Crowdicote in the upper Dove. We cross the middle of the White Peak, via a ruined castle, a stone circle and an old lead mine to end up just above the Wye.

*During pandemics - always engage your offspring*

Teenage angst at the prospect of a day’s effort turned into a day of talking and sharing - and occasional moans.

*Worshiping Nature at the old stone circle, Arbor Low*

The weather is always brewing up there in the Peaks, but sometimes it just stays calm to the end.

Censorial: It’s possible that the social distancing rules of the time were not always observed. But the health benefits spoke for themselves.

Peak IV - Beyond the Wye and onwards to Eyam (May 2021)

Sheldon to Eyam

The trick with walking across the Peak, is never to take a straight line. The glory of the Peak is in its nooks and crannies. We concocted a walk that intersected the better-known spots but largely consisted of less well-trodden paths.

From Sheldon, it’s all too easy to just drop northwards. But we took the time to go west and then approach Deep Dale from its origins. It’s a nice way to end up at the end of a dale, to have started at it’s beginning.

The summer walks offer plenty of daylight but there is the summer haze and UV to contend with.

From Deep Dale, we approach the Wye and wander up towards Monsal Head. Full of tourists sure - but that means toilets, ice creams, and even a half pint!

We left the Wye and the tourists behind and tracked up onto some high ground, Longstone Moor. It’s another world up there - a sort of high plateau. The sun was hot, and we took shelter for lunch.

*Longstone Moor, a real gem of a lunch spot*

From Longstone, one sees a long way in all directions.
We walked across the moor and then descended towards the Derwent, before climbing again at Stoney Middleton towards Eyam taking in some Black Death history.

*A hot descent into Combs Dale, a highway robbery sort of place*.

Peak V - To the Eastern Edges (Jul 2021)

Eyam to Upper Burbage

From Eyam up to Bretton offers a fine vista south over the recently traversed White Peak before we leave it for good, into the edges of the Dark Peak.

From this edge, we turn into a descent northwards towards the Derwent valley and those eastern edges.

The Peak switches from barren top to lush inner valleys with such regularity.

*Bretton Clough* - the descent towards the Derwent

This is a walk that starts in the green middle of the Peak, descends to the Derwent (a river running south along the eastern edges), and climbs again up onto purple moorlands that wrap around the Peak and define it.

*Recovery time by a stream - Upper Longshaw Estate*

It’s a hot old climb all the way from the Derwent up through the Longshaw Estate and on towards Upper Burbage. Another stream followed - this one, from its entry into the Derwent to its source in moorlands.

Finally, the crew are looking out wistfully for the end of this long hot hike.
But of course, the end of one, is only the start point of another. Peak Traverse VI is now due in July 2022 - deferred, would you believe it, by the prevalence of Covid-19 among us at Easter 2022.

Peak Traverse VI

Upper Burbage to Mam Tor

July 2022

It’s July 2022, one year later. Another hot and dry day.
We always start off where we ended, in order to achieve an end-to-end continuous weaving through the Peak. We leave Upper Burbage behind and advance onto Stanage Edge. From the northeastern edges of the Peak one peers up Hope Valley to Mam Tor, and behind it Ruship Edge takes one onto Kinder Scout - that’s our next walk (penned for September).

There’s a set on Flickr if you want to see the whole lot

The day was lengthened by the need to recover and cool. The shade ended 3/4 of the way just under Lose Hill. But the open views made up for all the exposure to the sun, and it was worth it.

Our next walk takes us from Mam Tor north to Snake Pass, and after that… I have devised a route that touches the ceiling of the Peak (Bleaklow) and source of the Derwent before we start to head south to complete the southbound part of our number 8 traverse of the Peak.

We march on. The 7th walk walk in our series gets us up to Snake Pass. This time it isn’t heat pursuing us, but a blanket of fog that arrives just as we kick off from Mam Tor. Much missed were the vital views to the south of the peak, highly anticipated reminders of the land we had covered .

Nevermind.

The blanket of mist faded away revealing the north of the Peak, and our next set of hills to cover.

Peak Traverse VII

Mam Tor to Snake Pass

September 2022

And What Besides?

The Loops (2018-2024)

Since hitting the far north Snake Pass we haven’t figured out a way to get over the very top of the Peak and start back down south again.

There is a plan to navigate the 24km through unmarked trails east of Bleaklow down to Howden Reservoir and finally we are researching the route with a view to a few of us taking this on in a dry period of summer 2025. This would be our 8th walk in the series, and only for the hardiest of us.

In the meantime we have embarked on a series of loops off the main path north over time since 2018. We call these Traverse Loops, and we are marking these up in OS Maps and on Flickr.

And now we have also decided to march all the way south again so as to complete a sort of figure-of-eight. Possibly the first southbound hike kicks off in October 2024.
More on this later

The details of the 5 Traverse Loops are being added in what is a work in progress during Sep 2024. Apologies.