Enjoy Britain E R I H S K R O Y

O T

E M O C L E W

©

Engrlooaftnopd ro’uste In the first of a two-part series marking the 50th anniversary of the , Barry McLoughlin embarks on a trek along the rugged rooftop of t

6 CHOICE OCTOBER 2015 OCTOBER 2015 CHOICE 7 Enjoy Britain

View from the Pennine Way in One of the unusual rock formations on the Kinder What to see in the plateau Derbyshire section Castleton The village of Castleton, at the head of the Hope Valley, nestles at the foot of majestic , one of the largest and highest Iron Age hill forts in the , and the dramatic contours of Winnats Pass. It’s the only place in the world where you’ll find the semi-precious stone , seen to best effect in and Blue John Cavern. Jewellery made from Blue John is sold in several local shops. boasts the largest natural cave entrance in Britain, while you can travel by boat along an underground canal to see the ‘Bottomless Pit’ in . A steep climb to the ruins of , built by William Peveril, illegitimate son of William the Conqueror in the 11th century, is offers panoramic views across the Hope Valley. Derwent, Howden and Ladybower Rocky outcrops like this heighten the sense Another distinctive rock formation reservoirs of drama at the summit of Dubbed ‘Derbyshire’s Lake District’, these three man-made dams near are popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders seeking a relaxing day out in a tranquil setting. Derwent reservoir achieved fame as the training ground for the RAF’s 617 Squadron before its raids on German dams during the

Second World War, and featured in the classic Y Y Y

E post-war film The Dambusters . A museum

E E R

R R H

H H P P

P housed in the dam wall is dedicated to their M

M M U

U U H

H H

exploits. The area was also home to the ‘Tin E

E E I

I I L

L L U

U U J

J J

Town’ for workers who built both Howden and © © © Derwent in the early 19th century; find out more The beginning of the route at the Upper Derwent Visitor Centre. t first National Trail, and this year the Pennine with the fact that the 2070ft summit was Although it’s less than half the length of is gentle and sylvan TANDING ASTRIDE the Way is celebrating its 50th anniversary. considerably higher than the meagre 425ft the South West Coastal Path ( Choice , The Moorland Visitor Centre summit of windswept Crossing no fewer than three National achieved by the free-runner who had June 2014), the Ramblers organisation Located at the start of the Pennine Way in Kinder Scout, looking Parks, it covers almost 270 miles over the climbed the Wembley Stadium arch for describes it as one of Britain’s most , this flagship centre of the Moors for the down vertiginously on the ‘backbone of England’ and into southern the first time the day before! (Technically, popular and toughest trails. Future Partnership provides a focus for valley below, you really feel Scotland. It also spans two National Kinder doesn’t have a single specific The Pennine Way was the brainchild of moorland research and an inspirational you’re on the rooftop of the realm. Nature Reserves, an Area of Outstanding ‘summit’ as it’s a plateau covering some 15 the walker and writer Tom Stephenson, experience for visitors to the What had started out as a gentle stroll Natural Beauty, and 20 Sites of Special square miles.) inspired by similar tracks in the USA. He National Park. S n The Moorland Visitor Centre, Fieldhead, from Edale over a partly paved path had Scientific Interest. From the north of Derbyshire’s Peak proposed the idea in the Daily Herald in Edale, Hope Valley S33 7ZA, tel: 01433 670207, ended with clambering over rocks made For those hardier and more determined District, the Pennine Way runs along the 1935 in an article titled ‘Wanted: a long website: (www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/ slippery by a stream – as I found to my cost souls who aim to complete the Pennine Pennine ridge through the Yorkshire green trail’, following the mass trespasses You can see historical locations such as visitor-centres/edale). – then scrambling up scree to the Way in one go, the Kinder Scout leg is just Dales, the Northumberland National Park on Kinder Scout in the Thirties, which the southern Pennines – birthplace of peat-layered peak. the first of a gruelling two or three weeks and the Tyne Valley. After a short section were pivotal in the creation of Britain’s the Industrial Revolution – pass near the Standedge Tunnel and Visitor Centre The last time I’d been up Kinder Scout, of such ascents. along Hadrian’s Wall, it turns north again national parks and the universal ‘Right to Haworth home of the Brontë sisters, Visitors can pause en route to get right to the the highest point in the Peak District When my partner and I – very much across the Cheviots, ending at Kirk Roam’. However, it was to be another 30 follow the famous Settle-Carlisle railway heart of the Pennines on a cruise through the and the start of the Pennine Way, was rookie ramblers – made the climb, the Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. years before the Pennine Way was and cross Hadrian’s Wall. longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in nearly 50 years ago with the school landscape seemed unchanged from how I The variety of habitats makes it one of the opened, on April 24, 1965. An estimated quarter of a million Britain, on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. rambling club in the Sixties. This was remembered it in the Sixties… unlike my best places in Europe to see birds such as But it’s not just the scenery that attracts ramblers use the path every year, and n Website: (www.yorkshire.com).

soon after it had been designated Britain’s fitness levels. However, I comforted myself breeding waders in spring and early summer. the visitors, spectacular though that is. thousands of long-distance walkers t

8 CHOICE OCTOBER 2015 OCTOBER 2015 CHOICE 9 Enjoy Britain

View down the valley from Kinder Scout N I L N I H L G H U G O U

The eco-friendly Moorland Peak L O C L Can you make out the horse’s M C

Y

District visitor centre at the start of M

R Y head in this rock? R R A

the route in Edale R B

A © B

N © I L H t G U O

complete the route annually. This heavy On a multi-day walk, you’re likely to country brings with it. Pay close attention Park as the route makes its way northwards. L C M

use has boosted the local economies but encounter the British weather in all its to detail in your choice of equipment. The Cumbrian section crosses the North Y R R A B

also, inevitably, has led to erosion of the many varieties, sometimes creating Brush up your navigation skills, carry the Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural

terrain in places, and teams of dangerous conditions, particularly in appropriate large-scale maps and know Beauty, and joins the Hadrian’s © conservation workers have been helping high, windswept and isolated locations. how to use them.” Wall Path at Gilsland. Then the Kinder Mass Trespass grow and it was gradually, if reluctantly, granted preserve footpaths. ThePennineWay website warns: “As A more detailed description of the route Northumberland section runs from The Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout on Sunday over the decades, culminating in the Countryside Large areas of peat have also with all walks, sound planning is will appear in Choice next month, but the North Pennines AONB, along the April 24, 1932 has entered fell-walking folklore. and Rights of Way Act of 2004, which gave disappeared, partly as a result of important. There are sections of the route, briefly, the Pennine Way begins its Hadrian’s Wall Path past Housesteads Members of the Lancashire branch of the general access rights to the public for walking. overgrazing by sheep: for example, the peat especially at each end, which require 268-mile journey at Edale in the Peak Roman Fort and up through the British Workers’ Sport Federation had been turned Coincidentally, the hotel where we stayed around the summit of Kinder Low has careful thought about accommodation; District. Fittingly, it crosses Kinder Scout, Northumberland National Park. off Kinder by gamekeepers a few weeks earlier. during our Peak District visit, Losehill House at vanished to a radius of almost 200 yards. A advance booking is advisable at most where the pioneering Mass Trespass The final legs of the walk go through They were frustrated at the lack of progress by Hope, had just discovered a connection with the five-year, £2.5m project was launched in times of the year. changed the course of walking history. the Cheviots before finishing one mile the official ramblers’ organisations in persuading Mass Trespass. The Arts and Crafts-style building 2011 to restore vast areas of the bare and “The Pennine Way takes you into The Yorkshire stretch takes you from the north of Northumberland in the Border landowners to grant the Right to Roam. was opened by the walking charity, the degraded blanket peat landscape. isolated country. That is part of the Peaks and drops you straight into the village of Kirk Yetholm. The protest had a strong political edge as it Co-operative Holidays Association, in 1914. Indeed, while we were going up exhilaration, of course, but consider atmospheric moorland of West Yorkshire, n Next month: The route in detail, including was supported by many Communists who saw Owners Paul and Kathryn Roden said: “We Kinder, we spotted a helicopter with a the challenges and responsibilities such before bisecting the Yorkshire Dales National Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland. the prohibitions as yet another example in the recently discovered that the house also played large tank slung below it spreading lime, febrile Thirties of industrial workers being host to the and Ramblers seeds and fertiliser on the plateau. denied rights enjoyed by the wealthy. who were planning the Mass Trespass, which Top of the world… On the day, around 400 ramblers set off Average walking time is 16 days, but for a dramatically laid the foundations of the creation “Crossing no fewer than from Bowden Bridge quarry. In a confrontation first-timer about three weeks is not unusual. Kinder Scout of the national Right to Roam and ultimately the three National Parks, the with the Duke of Devonshire’s gamekeepers Peak District National Park – Britain’s first.” Most walkers head from south to north, At nearly 2100ft – the highest in the Peaks approaching the Kinder plateau, one keeper Paul, who chairs the Visit Peak District keeping the wind generally behind them. – Kinder Scout is a wild, wind-blown upland Pennine Way covers was slightly injured and they pressed on to the organisation, explained how the hotel had been The Pennine Way Association says: gritstone plateau. Its sometimes almost 270 miles over the plateau. There, they met a Yorkshire group closed by the foot-and-mouth epidemic in 2001 “Everyone has different objectives relating sinister-looking rock formations and bleak ‘backbone of England’ and from Sheffield who had set off from Edale. under its former owners but was now playing a to the Pennine Way.” peat topping give it an almost lunar aspect. After celebrating on the summit, they leading role in the area’s tourism revival. The association has detailed a suggested It’s the grandest and biggest of the into southern Scotland” returned respectively to Hayfield and Edale. The Peaks’ identity problem in the past has great upland areas of the ‘Dark Peak’. In walk of 18 days which could be extended to As they returned to Hayfield, however, five been that it is associated with no fewer than really good weather you can see 21 days allowing for rest days and travel home. ramblers were arrested by police who had been three English regions – the , the Manchester and even Snowdonia. Not having three weeks to spare, I’ve alerted by the gamekeepers. Next day, one of North West and South Yorkshire. Now, says Paul, a The plateau rises steeply from the unavoidably had to focus much of this the leaders, Benny Rothman, and four other co-ordinated marketing effort is taking place. surrounding ground and its edges are article on the southern section through the protesters were charged with unlawful A Spirit of Kinder Day is held every year on studded with rocky outcrops and crags. On n Peak District – perhaps appropriate as this assembly and breach of the peace. the anniversary of the trespass, calling for the western side, the flows was where it all started 50 years ago – but Their arrest and subsequent imprisonment access rights for walkers to be further extended. down in a spectacular waterfall. from contacts with walkers I can vouch for sparked a massive wave of public sympathy Plans are already being drawn up for next year’s The edge of the plateau is covered with the rest of it being equally spectacular. and united the various ramblers’ groups. A few event to be held in Hayfield, the starting point of

deep cloughs or river valleys. N I There are many guest houses, B&Bs, L weeks later, no fewer than 10,000 ramblers the 1932 protest. The Friends of Kinder Trespass H

The most popular approach for walkers G U gathered for an access rally at Winnats Pass, camp sites and youth hostels en route, O scheme has been launched to raise funds to open L

is either from Edale village or from C

M near Castleton – still a record. a visitor centre at Hayfield to commemorate the

though these are obviously limited in upland Y

Hayfield on to the north-western corner R

R The pressure for greater access continued to areas. You can book in advance and even A history and achievements of the demonstration . B of the plateau. ©

have your luggage transferred between them. t

10 CHOICE OCTOBER 2015 OCTOBER 2015 CHOICE 11 Enjoy Britain

Passport to the Pennine Way

Getting there there are also treatment rooms n By train: Both ends of the Way are and an outdoor hot tub on the accessible by public transport. Edale terrace. The lounge and railway station is about five minutes’ walk restaurant furniture is all from the start of the route. It is well hand-crafted by a contemporary served by trains from both Manchester and chair and sofa designer Sheffield, and their regular links to London and manufacturer. and other areas of the UK, on the Hope Tel: 01433 621219, website: Valley Line – where there are also (www.losehillhouse.co.uk) Transpeak Walks, station-to-station guided n Natural England produces a walks. has frequent train services free accommodation guide. This from Manchester, and both lines operate can be ordered from the regular Folk Trains, with live music en route website: (www.national and at various venues in Glossop, trail.co.uk/pennine-way). Hathersage and Edale. For full details of Other sites include: train services, see: (www.traveline.org.uk), n Crowden Camping and Caravanning Club, for information about Folk Trains: Woodhead Road, Crowden, Glossop SK13 1HZ. n Quality accommodation to suit all pockets (www.hvhptp.org.uk/folktran.htm) and for A perfect pit-stop for walkers who need to and preferences can also be found in the details of Transpeak Walks: pitch their tent at the end of a challenging nearby villages Castleton and Bamford, (www.transpeakwalks.co.uk). For general stretch of the Pennine Way. Bookings, tel: website: (www.visitpeakdistrict.com). rail enquiries, tel: 08457 484950, website: 0845 130 7633 or 024 7647 5426, site: 01457 (www.nationalrail.co.uk) 866057, website: (www.campingandcaravan Where to eat n By bus: There are limited bus services ningclub.co.uk/crowden) n Under award-winning head chef Darren to Edale. At the northern end of the trail, n Oaker Farm Cottages, Lane, off Goodwin, the Orangery Restaurant at Kirk Yetholm has a bus service to Kelso, for Edale Road, Hope S33 6AF. Four-star Losehill House Hotel and Spa obtains its connections to all parts of the country and self-catering accommodation consisting of ingredients from local producers where rail services at Berwick-upon-Tweed. For three cottages created from a former possible, and has been awarded the Peak details of bus services and other public dairy and stables in a tranquil setting, District Environmental Quality Mark. Since transport, contact Traveline, tel: 0871 200 tel: 01433 621955 taking over the hotel in 2007, owners Paul 2233, website: (www.traveline.org.uk) n Round Meadow Barn, Parsons Lane, Hope and Kathryn Roden have built up a n By car: The Pennine Way is within a S33 6RB. A four-bedroomed B&B at the foot collection of artisan and ethical suppliers couple of hours’ drive of many major population of in the heart of the Hope Valley, who help provide a constantly changing centres in the North and Midlands. with easy access to all walking routes, tel: menu. It has been awarded two rosettes for 01433 621347/07836 689422 cuisine by the AA and was also included in Where to stay n Stonecroft Country Guest House, the Michelin guide. To make a reservation, n We stayed at the luxury Losehill House Grindsbrook, Edale S33 7ZA. A period country tel: 01433 621219 Hotel and Spa, Lose Hill Lane, off Edale B&B with an emphasis on elegance and n We also ate at the nearby Cheshire Road, Hope, which describes itself as the only comfort, tel: 01433 670262/07879 427937 Cheese, a 16th century inn in Hope, with four-star hotel in the heart of the Peak District. n The Old Hall Hotel, Market Place, Hope S33 excellent traditional home-cooked pub Our bedroom had a wonderful view of the 6RH. A 500-year-old inn with five rooms food, an affable landlord and featured in sheep-grazed hills, and the hotel has a fine ranging from a single to four-poster suites, CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. dining restaurant, The Orangery (see below). tel: 01433 620160/07966 244364 My partner particularly enjoyed the indoor n Underleigh House B&B, Lose Hill Lane, off Find out more heated pool, sauna and steam room, and Edale Road, Hope S33 6AF: Award-winning n For further information on the Peak five-star accommodation in a secluded District and Derbyshire stretch of the cottage and barn conversion with magnificent Pennine Way, see the website: views and breakfasts featuring local and (www.visitpeakdistrict.com) homemade specialities, tel: 01433 621372, n For the other National Park areas covered website: (www.underleighhouse.co.uk) by the Way, see: (www.northumberland n Wind in the Willows Hotel, Derbyshire nationalpark.org.uk) and N I

L Level, off Sheffield Road, Glossop SK13 7PT. (www.yorkshiredales.org.uk), as well H G

U An early-Victorian country house hotel, in the as: (www.yorkshire.com) O L C

M foothills of the Pennines yet close to the For more general information, see: n Y R

R services and amenities of Glossop, featuring (www.nationaltrail.co.uk/pennine-way), A B

© oak-panelled rooms, log fires and traditional (www.thepennineway.co.uk) and (www. Official start of the Pennine Way at Edale cuisine, tel: 01457 86800 penninewayassociation.co.uk).

12 CHOICE OCTOBER 2015