Friday January 21st

 The forecast was good, so we headed to the lonely upper reaches of the Derwent Valley. We parked up at the Fagney Plantation, about a mile and a half short of the turning circle at the end of the road beside the Howden, Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs. We crossed the Derwent at the bridge at Slippery Stones and walked above the Cranberry Bed and along the Oaken Bank to Humber Knolls where we had lunch.

Above The Derwent, approaching Humber Knolls

As it was later than we had intended, we decided to go back but taking a different route. We backtracked a little and crossed the Derwent to take the track above Lower Small Clough.
The track above Lower Small Clough

The track passed several grouse butts and a couple of shooting cabins before more or less levelling out at the Black Dike drain, a disused "drain", which runs along the rounded ridge between Linch Clough and Grinah Grain.
Approaching the Black Dyke "drain"

Our final descent was down Linch Clough and we retraced our steps back along the Howden Reservoir.

The walk after lunch across the moors to Linch Clough felt truly remote and there was not another soul in sight.
The steep descent from above Linch Clough down to Howden Reservoir

The weather was nice and dry but a steady breeze accompanied us the entire walk. We stopped by the Derwent Dam on the way home to look at the water cascading over the edge- a great sight.


In all, a memorable 10 mile walk for its remoteness- our guidebook (Adventures in the Northern Peak volume 1) says "Crows, grouse and hare are likely to be your only company". No hares today but fantastic all the same and one to do again, in full, on a summer's day.



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