Back Tor and Strines
Described as "a fascinating circular walk"- we chose this one, Back Tor and Strines, from John Gillham's Dark Peak book for the first of July. The weather needs to perk up a bit for July, but it did remain dry throughout the walk. We set off along Dukes Road, a wide, well-defined track along the crest and we admired a red kite, which we saw a couple of times.
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| Dukes Road |
We stopped for a snack at our usual spot of choice at the pile of rocks at the north end of Cartledge Stones Ridge (possibly the Cartledge Stones?). We followed the line of Cartledge Stones Ridge to reach Back Tor (truly impressive) and David resisted the urge to scramble up to the trig point this time.
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| Approaching Back Tor from the north |
The views from Back Tor are great and we could see The Great Ridge, including the other Back Tor, quite clearly.
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The Great Ridge from Back Tor (Derwent).
Visible: Lose Hill, Back Tor (the notch), Mam Tor and Rushup Edge |
From this, the highest point of our walk, we descended, via the charmingly named Foulstone Road, to a short and unpleasant but necessary stretch of road via Strines Bridge to Brogging End, where we could return to paths and tracks. The last three times that we've come this way, we've kept to the fields to the northwest of Dale Dike Reservoir but this time, we took the guidebook path which runs to the southeast after crossing below the dam of Strines Reservoir. This was a great choice and a note in the guidebook said that we had walked this way in August 2015, although neither of us can remember it! The woodland provided a good lunch spot- nice and dry but it had been damp enough to cause the lichen to bloom. David loves lichen.
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| Lichen at our lunch spot. Symbiosis between fungi and algae |
The way along above the reservoir provided us with a view of the walk that we'd taken previously and has been waymarked by Sheffield City Council.
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| Old wall and fenceposts, with Sheffield Council's waymarker |
The way was sprinkled with more wild orchids than we'd ever seen before, and larger, too.
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| One of many wild orchids |
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| Taking in the view back to Strines Dam |
We walked down to the new Dale Dyke dam, with its elegant spillways (quite a sight!), past the outflow tunnel, and across the footbridge below the dam.
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| Dale Dyke Dam outflow, with modern-day ironmongery |
The original Dale Dyke was the scene of Britain's worst reservoir disaster in 1864, when the dam gave way. The resulting torrent devastated the village of Low Bradfield and the Loxley Valley, killing over 244 people and destroying over 500 houses. The centreline of the original dam has been marked with stone posts, one of which was beside a memorial stone and information board. From here, we walked up to Dale Road and a hundred metres along this a bridle way climbed over scrubland up to Mortimer Road. One of the things that we love about this small area is that the roads all seem to have names, marked with signs. After negotiating a bunch of sheep who were blocking our way, we reached Mortimer Road.
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| Surly sheep blocking our path to Mortimer Road |
After a few hundred metres we turned into Windy bank.
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| Country lanes with urban names (and signs) |
The we passed the wreck of Wilkin Hall, an outdoor pursuits centre that has seen better days, and turned left into the Agden Woods. The path crossed Agden Dyke on a footbridge and then up the hill, squeezing between the line of a stone wall and the edge of a conifer plantation. This led, eventually, to Agden Side Road and the (brief) road walk back to the car, parked beside Mortimer House.
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| Another urban sign, with the car and Mortimer House in the distance |
A good walk with added interest of a new section and a great way to spend six hours on a Friday.
12½ miles and 580m ascent.
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