This was my third trip to our usual venue in the Peak District, Thorpe Farm near Hathersage. There are several bunkhouses on the site and this time we were in the Old Stables, easier to find than the last one we stayed at but in need of some maintenance, although we got one of the showers to work after a while!

Saturday was very windy indeed. Poor Anna was ill and didn’t come out but the rest of us walked around Derwent and Howden reservoirs, which are a short drive from the hut, went up on to the ridge to the west and struggled to make progress against the wind. The only other people up there were the mountain rescue (just practicing I think). We beat a hasty retreat on to lower ground and back to the hut for lemon drizzle cake. The village of Hathersage is in walking distance so we popped into town for tea at the Little John, with the predicted enormous portions – definitely a case of never mind the quality, feel the width.  

Although I’ve been to the Peaks a few times Bleaklow was a blank on the map for me so despite the name I was keen to go there. I fancied an approach from Howden Reservoir but the road is closed, as we discovered when we parked at the Derwent dam on Saturday. So we worked out a route for Sunday involving complicated ferrying to make sure we had cars at the start, Alport Bridge, and the end at the Snake Pass. The weather was fine on Sunday morning but there were a couple of showers and we got a real soaking as we got on to the plateau around Bleaklow Stones. About an hour of blundering through a maze of groughs followed before we found the summit and millions of other walkers, which perhaps led to us leaving the summit with undue haste and taking several attempts to find the right way down. That’s my excuse anyway. As we got down to Snake Pass and more car manoeuvring, more hordes were heading uphill in the afternoon sunshine, mostly in pristine gear. Unlike mine – covered in proper mud. It was nice to get a good couple of days in despite the unpromising weather. Brecon Beacons here we come!

Sandy Gordon