Walkers take in stunning vistas

St Oswald’s Walking Group

A WALK from Hope to Castleton, Cave Dale, Mam Tor, Great Ridge, Lose Hill, and Hope...

We left Ashbourne in watery sunshine, hopeful for the day. However, by the time we reached Hope, it was drizzly, misty, and very cold, with the odd snow flurry.

It could only get better, and it did, eventually!

We followed the riverside path from Hope to Castleton. We enjoyed beautiful autumn colour and glimpsed the Great Ridge and the various peaks of our walk between breaks in the cloud.

On reaching Castleton, we followed the narrow limestone gorge of Cave Dale, behind Peveril Castle, which led steadily uphill to the high pastures above the village.

Level walking along highlevel tracks gave us a chance for a breather before our next ascent to the summit of Mam Tor.

This hill was the site of an Iron Age hill fort, and the ramparts and other earthworks are still clearly visible.

It was very blowy on the summit, but surprisingly crowded, considering the weather.

The ascent of this hill features in the BBC’S top 100 walks and as a spectacular viewpoint is justly popular.

We descended from the top along the ridge on the well made-up path, and found a spot near Hollins Cross, just off the ridge and out of the wind, for lunch.

By this time the far-reaching views which we had hoped for were unfolding, and we had spectacular vistas over the Hope Valley and Kinder Plateau.

After lunch, our next top was a steep but short little climb to Back Tor, then a gentler, but longer climb to the shapely summit of Lose Hill, another splendid viewpoint, where there is an interesting topograph pointing out all the landscape features we could see in all directions.

We then began the gentle descent all the way along the Lose Hill ridge, down to a track which led past Lose Hill Hotel and Spa, to the road, which we followed for a short distance back to Hope, where we enjoyed a cup of tea.

Nine walkers, two dogs, 9.5 miles (15.2km) 1,890 feet (580m) of ascent.

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