Castleton - Mam Tor

 It was a bit rainy in the night, and Misty when I awoke and took Misty to the small dog walk area. There were three dogs in there and it was tricky to keep them apart with their minds on the job. We were all circling for ages. Then it was time for a Dame Shirley full English.


Full English


We washed up and I made a picnic and we were soon headed for a route I had seen on my OS app. As we ascended Lose Hill we began to climb through the fog/cloud and visibility became poor. We elected not to climb to the summit as we felt we would see nothing, and instead headed vaguely toward Mam Tor. At this point we lost all human contact and were worried we had become lost in the fog. At last, nearing a small wood, another couple loomed up in front of us. Phew!


Half way up


Lost in the fog?


A welcome wood 

As we exited the wood we found ourselves, at last, on the Great Ridge. Or at least I assumed we were. It was a wide path with fog/cloud on one side and fog/cloud on the other. It was busy now. Very busy. It made us yearn for being lost in the mist. We came to Hollins Cross, then, after a last push up the hill, the Trig Point on top of Mam Tor


Hollins Cross


It’s me!


Some cairns near the top


Almost there



At the trig


Just after the summit we found a couple of small stones to sit on, perfect for our picnic. Boy that coffee tasted good. As a bonus the cloud began to part and the valley below opened up before our eyes.



Picnic

The cloud lifted almost completely as we set off down, giving us some fabulous views, and as we reached the bottom and looked back we could see The Great Ridge in all its glory. Shame we couldn’t see a thing from the top!



Views on the descent


Mam Tor with no fog


Across the valley from a scary path






We carried on following the OS route which took us past all the Caves in Castleton then along a very scary (to me) hillside path. Then over a field of mud until we dropped back down into the town.


Back to town


We were going to have a coffee, but even with the ‘muddy dogs and muddy boots welcome’ signs, I felt we couldn’t enter a cafe in our state, so we carried on back to the site and the welcome dog and boot wash.


A lifesaver

After a rest and a shower, we decided to leave Misty at home and head out into Castleton for our Saturday pub crawl. We ate in the very pleasant, food and ambience, Old Nags Head. My lamb shank was very tasty, while Ian, who couldn’t have the shank due to the minty gravy, had stuffed chicken.


Lovely lamb shank


Tasty chicken

We could have stayed for the singer, but Ian wanted to watch the rugby and I wanted to go to bed. We could have called at the Cheddar Cheese or Swedish Tap (which was showing the rugby) but I wanted to go to bed. It had also started to chuck it down, so we powered on for home, where Ian watched the rugby and I went straight to bed. 

Neighbour watch

The drunken neighbour from yesterday turned out to be no trouble. In fact they were up and off before we even got up!

Camp site watch

It’s a perfect site. Almost in the middle of town for any pub crawls you might want to do. Close to Mam Tor and the great ridge. Lovely non press showers. And a dog wash. Wardens are nice too.

OS Watch


Our actual route


The route we were following


Comments

  1. A one pub pub crawl and bed at 9:15. I know what you are thinking “what a couple of hell raisers, how on earth do they keep it up”πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did a pub crawl once

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carsington Water - Saint Monty

Baltic Wharf - The Run

Abbey Wood - A New year in Dame Shirl