Walk Description

Neil had organisied today's walk, we were all to meet at Heatherdene Carpark at approx 9.45 am.  The seven us (Neil, Keith,  Simon, Richard, Ed, Steve and I) set off towards Ashopton and the Derwent Valley.  As we walked along the sides of Ladybower Reservoir the views became better and better.


We stopped for a while at Mill Beck and studied the Derwent Village Information Board, as the water was low, some of the ruins could be seen near the edge of the reservoir.  Just around the corner from here, we left the main reservoir track and headed up to the moorland and Pike Lowe, where we had a group photo.  As we made our waypast the Millbrook Plantation we could clearly Black Tor and Derwent Edge to the east of us and the Mam Tor to Lose Hill ridge to the west.

As we crossed Green Stiches we had the first arctic hare sighting of the day.  Steve and Keith wanted to get a closer look and photograph the hare, so they quietly followed the hare across the moor.  When the mission was accomplished they rejoined us and began the walk up to Lost Lad.  I now started to fall behind a little as the others quickly ascended Lost Lad Hil.  When I finally caught up with them we had another group photograph at the cairn and toposcope.  It was now just a short stroll to our lunch stop at Black Tor - at 538m the highest point of our walk.

 
After lunch and some scarmbling on the rocks of Black Tor we set off to walk the flagged path along Derwent Edge.  We had now reached the most entertaining part of our walk - the assorted rock formations that are found along Derwent Edge.  Steve made a beeline for the Cakes of Bread and was joined by Simon and Ed in a quest to conquer as many of the outcrops as possible.  They even persuaded me to clamber onto the rocks on Dovestone Tor.

After visiting the Salt Cellar and realising that it wasn't going to be scaled today, we set off for the Wheel Stones.  Here Steve put all his scrambling skills to the test and managed to get to the top of the massive boulders that make up the Wheel Stones.  It was now time to head to Whinstone Lee Tor and begin our descent down a steep rough path back to Ladybower Reservoir.  The walk finished at the Ladybower Inn where we had a very welcome drink and some great food.