Trail Runs in the Peak District - February 2018

I usually don’t write anything about my trips home to Staveley, but this time I made quite a few trips into the Peak District and I really enjoyed re-acquainting myself with the beautiful countryside there. This all started when I found a guidebook to trail running in the Peak District in a bookshop in Chesterfield. It was full of great ideas for runs and over the 3 weeks of my visit I made several frosty early morning outings.

Ringinglow to Surprise View

View towards Higgar Tor

The first trip was to Ringinglow for a run from Burbage Bridge over to Surprise View and back. I started from the parking lot by the Bridge and ran over the trail towards Higgar Tor - it was cold, icy cold and windy, not the best of running conditions. It was a pretty well defined trail for the first kilometer or so but after Higger Tor there was such a myriad of sheep trails that I struggled to find the right way. In fact I didn’t find the right way, I headed off too far to the west and ended up coming beneath the millstone edge above Hathersage and then up on to the road to Surprise View. 

Burbage Brook

On the way back which was also supposed to be a well defined and well groomed trail, I found myself slogging through boggy moorland again. I finally got on the correct trail for the last kilometer. It could have been a great run but I made it a lot of work. The weather was quite remarkable too; in the same 30 minutes it was windy, raining, snowing, and then glorious sunshine.

The Monsal Trail

The Monsal Trail

 The Monsal Trail is an old railway line that runs along the old Matlock to Manchester railway line from Miller’s Dale to Rowsley. I parked at the old Hassop station which is now a coffee shop and bike rental place and ran up towards Monsal Dale. After a couple of kilometers the trail enters the Headstone tunnel and then at the tunnel exit it crosses the Headstone viaduct over the River Wye. It was a beautiful run, slightly uphill but not too uphill, it had snowed and there was an inch or so of snow on the trail. Just wonderful running conditions.

View from top of Monsal Head

After the viaduct I headed off the main trail and headed up the hill to Monsal Head where there is a road and pub and a beautiful overlook of Monsal Dale. It was an easier run back downhill to Hassop where there was coffee and a cake waiting in the cafe. What a resource this trail is, though I bet it is packed with people on a summer weekend.

Curbar Edge

Towards Curbar Edge

View from Curbar Edge

This run was along the top of Curbar Edge. I started just below the Grouse Inn on the Baslow to Sheffield Road and wound upwards through the woods to the top of the moor on Curbar Edge. Again it was another windy and cold morning but the view was spectacular. The trail dips down to the Curbar parking lot where I turned around and ran back the same route. This was perhaps my favorite run. The millstone edges and moors make some beautiful and dramatic scenery.

Ladybower Reservoir

Ashopton Viaduct

 Another early morning run around one of the arms of the Ladybower Reservoir. It is a bit of a drive from the house but I made it to the Fairholmes trailhead by 9:00 am. Icy cold and windy as usual but still a beautiful run. The trail heads south following the shore of the reservoir until it reaches the A57 road between Sheffield and Manchester. The trail then crosses the reservoir over the Ashopton Viaduct and the heads along the other (east) side of the reservoir. There was a village that was submerged by the reservoir and at one point the trail passes two old stone gate posts - the entry to what must have been quite a home, one that probably still exists below the water. Halfway up the east side of the reservoir the trail turns into a road and passes a nice church and some old homes and farms.

Dam Wall of Derwent Dam

Above Ladybower Reservoir there is another dam and reservoir - Derwent Dam. The trail crosses back below the dam wall, a very impressive stone wall with water cascading down its face and impressive Neo Gothic towers at either end. A great run on a great trial.

Derwent Moor

View towards Ladybower from Whinstone Lee

Today’s trail was on Derwent Moor. The trailhead was on the A57 Snake Pass road at the Cutthroat Bridge (apparently the bridge's gruesome name is derived from gruesome event that took place a long time ago, and there was another gruesome event there as recent as 1995 - here are the details). The trail winds up to the top of the moor on a sometimes boggy sometimes rocky path. At the top of the rise there is a crossroad of trails at Whinstone Lee. At the top there is a wonderful view down to Ladybower Reservoir and over towards Derwent Edge. Following the trail up towards Derwent Edge there is another fork in the trail and I followed the downward path alongside a series of well manicured Grouse Butts. The Grouse Butts are stone structures with a camouflage top of moorland shrubbery that are used during the grouse hunting season. Fortunately this was not the season as there were lots of grouse flying around and popping up from the brush here and there.

Cutthroat Bridge

At the bottom of the hill, it was a short turn right over a few stiles through a very boggy area and down to the road by the Cutthroat Bridge.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier. I will certainly do some more when I come again.  There are a few more photos here.