Peak Pilgrimage Day 4

I didn't expect to walk any unfamiliar paths today, but the route held a surprise for me close to the end. We had a sunny 17km to walk from Baslow, starting with the ascent to Baslow Edge, and then along Curbar Edge.

The edge becomes wooded towards the north

Despite walking along frequently, the distance between Curbar Gap and the main road always surprises me. The steep descent through Hay Woods was a reward with its bluebells and hints of temperate rainforest. Once in Grindleford, after the obligatory refreshments, the path turned back southwards towards Froggatt.

A variety of trees and a millstone grit wall

The guidebook offers a choice of routes from Baslow, the longer steeper one we took, or a much shorter route between Baslow and Carver. Whichever you take, you miss a church, unless you add a detour onto the edge route. We elected not to do this as the sun was hotter than expected and we didn't want to risk missing our bus home.

Stoney Middleton is a larger village than first appearances suggest and it has a rare octagonal (Wikipedia lists 11 whereas the guide suggests there are only two in England) church, in this case dedicated to St Martin of Tours.

Strong sunlight providing the atmosphere

The final walk was over 'The Cliff' towards Eyam. We've never walked on this ridge even though it is central to the historic story of Eyam as 'The Plague Village'. The boundary stone between Eyam and adjacent Stoney Middleton is near the summit of the ridge and marked the border of the 17th century lockdown. 

After visiting the last church on the route in Eyam we had a wait before the bus was due and found The Miners Arms close to the bus stop.

Summary

Over the 5 days we've recorded walking 73km, including 5km from home to the railway station, with an ascent of around 1700m. The 4 and a bit day schedule has been fairly easy going and due to the well-made paths should be within the reach of many. We were fortunate with the weather in being dry throughout and only briefly rather hot. The weather forecast was for a prolonged dry period beforehand so we took the risk on taking only lightweight waterproofs. This saved a fair bit of weight and volume. In view of the mild weather and lowland nature of the pilgrimage we packed lightly, each using 20 litre rucsacs. Our pack weights were under 5kg and 8kg, mine being the heavier due to a 1litre water bottle (there are many spots to fill-up should it be needed), a camera and various oddments such as USB charger, first aid kit and FRA-style survival bag.  

Peak Pilgrimage Day 3

Today was our longest walk on the pilgrimage at 21km with 400m of ascent. We also moved into an area we are more familiar with. Just on the outskirts of Monyash we took the path down Lathkill Dale. Over the next 5 km the dale changed from dry and grassy, to damp, narrow and oppressive and eventually to deep with a significant river.

Small falls along the river

Along the way various streams emerged from the valley walls and floor to strengthen the flow. In the valley near Over Haddon there used to be mills powered by the water. It was a fair ascent up to Over Haddon village and its welcoming pub. Along the way we passed the church on a small level piece of land. Once on higher ground, and fortified, it was a short walk to the exceptionally busy town of Bakewell. This is a handy place for provisions for the last quarter of the journey, should they be required. The church is on the far side of town, up a rather steep road.

Once again, sunlight highlights detail in a church

From Bakewell we were on a route we knew well, across the ridge to Chatsworth. We were relieved to see the village of Edensor as we descended from Calton pastures knowing that we had only a few kilometres to walk into Baslow. The guidebook suggests that one might like to detour into Chatsworth House and its gardens. We've been a few times over the years but I'm not convinced that a stately home visit sits well in a pilgrimage, in whatever way you wish to experience a few days of peaceful walking.

Although Baslow is a substantial village with 3 hotels I found very few spaces when I booked. Ultimately we were not impressed with where we stayed, especially in view of its price. On the bonus side, there are two little shops that supply chocolate bars and bananas into the evening.