Heatherdene Car Park – Yorkshire
Bridge – Parkin Clough – Winhill Plantation – Win Hill
– Hope Brink – Roman Road – Hope Cross – Ladybower
Reservoir – Heatherdene Car Park
Starting
from Heatherdene Car Park next to Ladybower Reservoir
we headed for Win Hill. This was going to
be an interesting day as the weather forecast
was for wintery
showers. In fact we had all four seasons in one day
with rain, hail, sleet, wind and sun. The path
from the car
park down to the dam wall of Ladybower Reservoir is
easy and straightforward. The water in the
reservoir was certainly
being whipped up by the wind today. After crossing
the main road we then took the path signposted
to “Win Hill”
and headed off towards Yorkshire Bridge. The views
up stream towards the waterfall were lovely
from the bridge.
The next stage of the walk was the steep and muddy
path up Parkin Clough. Although the Clough
is relatively short
the steepness of the ascent makes for lots of short
breaks. However the views during the ascent
are great.
After
crossing a couple of paths on the ascent we then
made our way through Winhill Plantation
before entering
open countryside. The climb to the summit of Win
Hill from here is a lot easier and less steep.
All of a
sudden the views in all directions come into view
towards Ladybower
Reservoir, Derwent Edge, Crook Hill, Edale and Kinder
Scout, Lose Hill and Mam Tor as well as Hope and
Castleton. It was just brilliant - and the
sun came out too!!
As we walked across the rocky summit outcrop of Win
Hill
the wind took hold and it was difficult at first
to stay on our two feet. However we arrived
at the summit
trig
point (S4228) (462 metres) in one piece. We took
a few photos at the top and also met a walker who
was
trying
to
visit all the Peak District trig points. He also
took a photo
of Janet and I at the summit.
After
a short break we scrambled down from the Win Hill
summit and walked along Hope Brink
in a hail
storm. Eventually
we arrived at the Roman Road to take us to Hope
Cross. The cross shows the direction to Glossop,
Edale,
Shefield (with only 1 “f”) and of course Hope.
Our
route then took the path from Hope Cross down through
the Woodlands Valley forest. The path
was quite steep
in places and very “very” muddy in places. We
could not keep to the path at certain points.
After slow
progress
down through the forest we arrived at the start
of Ladybower Reservoir. The path back to the
dam was
very easy as
we followed the banks of the reservoir back to
close to where we started from. It was very pleasant
walking
back in the sunshine. We crossed the dam wall
and retraced our steps back to the car park.
It was
a great day’s
walk. Afterwards we had refreshments in the Ladybower
Inn. Well done to Janet on her first walk in the
peaks. |
