Castleton, Cave Dale & Mam Tor

[DaveK]

I thought I'd start a separate thread for this one as I got quite a few today and didn't want to clutter up the Scenery thread too badly.

For the last several weeks, SWMBO and I have been going back to the village of Castleton, which is pretty much dead centre of the Peak District. It lies in the bottom of the Hope Valley, which is bordered by Win Hill (see last week's pics) and Mam Tor on one side (see pics from a few weeks ago) and some pretty high pasture land on the other (see below)!

Today's walk was planned to be a fairly short one (5.25 miles) as the weather was somewhat changeable and we were short of time. I had to do it though, as I had a new Maxpedition bag from Parnass to trial

So, we left the picturesque village of Castleton via a rather beautiful ravine known as Cave Dale, with good cause. The bottom of the ravine was strewn with fallen rocks, which I commented on not 30 seconds before a sheep grazing high above us decided to loosen one which missed us and a family who had stopped to rest by no more the 20 feet  The path was pretty steep and not easy to negotiate in places, but the steep walls of Cave Dale quite took my breath away with their rugged beauty.


(Above) The entrance to Cave Dale from Castleton


The route ahead.


Cave Dale wall near entrance.


Well into the Dale now - fallen rocks all around!!


I couldn't help but spare a thought for the poor sods that built Peveril Castle above. That grass slope must be 60 degrees, punctuated by crags and cliffs!




Continuing up through Cave Dale, the path became steeper and steeper and increasingly treacherous, so photographs became fewer and fewer. The steep, slippy limestone floor was worth a photograph but the best I managed was this one:



Above, you can see following walkers carefully picking their steps in the rain. Eventually we reached the top of Cave Dale and I was able to snap the view that had unfolded behind us.


Looking back down Cave Dale with Win Hill that we conquered last week dominating the background.


That Sigg bottle in the Pygmy Falcon's side pocket took a pounding at this point. Thirsty work!

We were now on high pasture land, where only a few walkers and lots of sheep dare to tread. The wind was very strong, but as we slowly ascended across pastures, the view behind started to really open up.


The pyramid shaped peak of Win Hill is an estimated 6 miles from this point, and this is typical Peak District scenery to me, rolling high pasture land with almost total tranquillity, which is yours for just an hour's walking.

About 2/3 of the way around our route, two things happened. Firstly, we rounded a hill to be confronted by this view:


No zoom


With camera zoomed!

The view was stunning, however as we left the shelter of the large nameless hill that we were rounding, all hell broke loose wit the weather. From sheltered, pleasant sunshine, we got hit by horizontal rain, and it was freezing, literally. Hail stinging us to the point of digging out the gloves, Buffs and whatever we could wrap ourselves in! No pictures as we descended back into the relative shelter of Hope Valley!

Hope Valley has a unique claim to fame, and is the only place in the world that the semi-precious mineral "Blue John" can be found. For hundreds (in fact thousands) of years, along with quarrying of limestone, Blue John was the bedrock (pardon the pun) of the economy in the area. Sadly, most of the Blue John reserves are depleted these days, and as the Peak District is now a National Park, only small controlled mining and marketing of jewellery etc continues. The caverns however (and there are three) are major tourist attractions, one of which I visited on a school trip 34 years ago.

Today, the Blue John Cavern's biggest appeal was that it sold hot coffee, and given that we had just taken a proper dowsing, we made a slight detour. The tiny shop and entrance sits in a hollow at the cavern entrance, and was like a different climate to that we had walked through. The sun even came back out!


Fiona enjoying a well earned cup of coffee outside the Blue John Cavern entrance.

The small car park at the cavern entrance also offered a particularly nice view of Mam Tor (which we conquered 3 weeks ago). This shot clearly shows the aftermath of the landslide that happened 3,000 years ago. The photograph doesn't really give a sense of scale, but let's just say it was pretty big!


The 3,000 year old landslide damage to Mam Tor.

So, we started our descent back down into the village of Castleton and the steak baguettes that we'd decided we'd earned And the weather had a final crack at us with another hail storm!


This picture was taken about 5 minutes after the shot in the sunshine above!

On reaching the village, heading back towards the car and pub, we spotted some ducklings, well I had to take the picture didn't I?



Back to the car, a quick change of footwear, and into The Bulls Head for calorie replenishment before setting out for home.


The Bull's Head car park with Peveril Castle way up above the village of Castleton.

Another fantastic afternoon in the Peak District

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Stunning mate, just stunning

Truly crap weather up your way too then

[DaveK]

Stunning mate, just stunning

Truly crap weather up your way too then

Well, no, it was mostly sunny, but when it wasn't, it was just vicious

Thank heavens for Tilley Hats, Buffs, and the PacLite in the back-pack

[yud]

some great shots mate

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

The who;e weekend has been a total washout down my way, but I'm glad it lifted a bit for you mate

[DaveK]

The who;e weekend has been a total washout down my way, but I'm glad it lifted a bit for you mate

We've been pretty lucky I think all weekend - just a few showers.

some great shots mate

Cheers 

[Neil]

I'm enjoying your explorations Dave, keep posting them

[Gareth]

I'm enjoying your explorations Dave, keep posting them

me too, it saves me getting off my lazy arse and doing some walking of my own.

How long does it take you to get to your start off point Dave?  My issue is that I have to drive for quite a bit to get to anywhere decent to walk, so I tend to find excuses not to bother.  I end up either mounting four day expeditions or nothing at all.  In truth I'd like to do more day hiking with a light pack rather than lugging around all the overnight gear I've put together.

[DaveK]

I'm enjoying your explorations Dave, keep posting them

me too, it saves me getting off my lazy arse and doing some walking of my own.

How long does it take you to get to your start off point Dave?  My issue is that I have to drive for quite a bit to get to anywhere decent to walk, so I tend to find excuses not to bother.  I end up either mounting four day expeditions or nothing at all.  In truth I'd like to do more day hiking with a light pack rather than lugging around all the overnight gear I've put together.

Castleton is 70 miles from home, but we avoid motorways and take some really dodgy quarry roads that you'd struggle to get up and down without 4WD. It makes the journey interesting and part of the day out too Personally, I want to get a bit further into the North (Dark) Peaks, but Fiona is insisting on staying in a B&B if we go much further. Might well be doing that soon, maybe walk the Saturday and Sunday. She's not a great fan of camping, else we'd be doing that

As for packs, I'm starting to learn the relationship between distance, terrain and what I need to carry now. The Pygmy Falcon was a much better option for a walk like today, may have even been a bit too big in fact, but not so big that it was cumbersome. Waterproof, gloves, small FAK, water, OS Map and compass (in case of GPS failure), GPS, camera, torch, multitool, 6 feet of paracord and spare batteries today. Over-prepared really, which is definitely better than under-prepared!

The Falcon II is better for longer walks, so you have the ability to carry extra clothing layers and put them on / take them off as required (e.g. fleece jacket). I'll often chuck the Trangia in there for longer walks too, as there are few experiences I've come across to top having a cuppa on top of a Peak

[David]

Wow Dave that is beautiful country. I see why you like it. I`d like to hike about there also.       

[DaveK]

Wow Dave that is beautiful country. I see why you like it. I`d like to hike about there also.       

Well, if you ever find yourself over here - I'd be glad to serve as guide

[J-sews]

Great day trip photos Dave, I really enjoy them all!

[Tsquare]

Would the advice of stay clear of the Moors be good?

[DaveK]

Would the advice of stay clear of the Moors be good?

Haha. There is a bit of moor-land around the Peaks (it's the peaty soil), but not too much.

[Zed]

great pics dave, stunning views, some pics remind me of corf near me, i must get out over there some time, 

[Gareth]

Would the advice of stay clear of the Moors be good?

As I understand it that advice was mostly about being scared of daemon dogs (Black Shuck), ghosts, witches etc.  But there are real dangers as well; on large, flat, featureless, boggy and often foggy ground it's easy to get turned around and lost.  Thank goodness for GPS eh?

[Chako]

I love these photo walks DaveK. Please keep them coming.

Lovely part of the world you live in.

[David]

I really like Daves photo walks also. I`m already looking forward to his next walk.  

[DaveK]

Then I shall keep them coming

[Mr. Whippy]

Stunning scenery.  I also like the interesting factoids and history. What exactly is Blue John? 

[Neil]

Its a very pretty fluorite.  Often more purple than blue with a bit of yellow mixed in.

I used to have some kicking round once upon a time but heck knows where that's got to.  Probably pinched by my wife to take into school.

[DaveK]

That's a pretty fair description Neil. From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_John#Blue_John

This is one of the three cavern's websites: http://www.bluejohnstone.com/ There's a bit of a concise history of Blue John on there too

[Mr. Whippy]

Wow.  That is beautiful stone (mineral I guess...)

[nuphoria]

Lovely part of the world... thanks for taking us with you

As for the weather, you were prepared for an average day in the UK I'd say!

[DaveK]

Lovely part of the world... thanks for taking us with you

As for the weather, you were prepared for an average day in the UK I'd say!

Oh yeah, we've been soaked enough now to make sure we're prepared. One essential pice of kit I've discovered is the Buff. You can see Fiona's improvised Buff hat in this pic - that's not actually a pony tail she has



When that hail started stinging my ears I pulled my Buff up - balaclava style. I may have looked like a Muslim woman (with a Tilley hat ) , but it didn't half feel better!