Marsden to Edale Challenge Walk, Peak District
24 miles
I'll be honest, challenge walks generally aren't my cup of tea but I've done a
few for various reasons. My first was the Lyke Wake walk. 40 miles of bog-trotting
across the North Yorkshire Moors. Completing the thing allows me to wear a
black tie with coffins on it at social events (funerals etc.) which more
than makes up for the 20 hours of effort involved. My second was the
coast-to-coast walk which I did alone because no-one else would join me in
the second half of December. The route goes through the best parts of the
Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors and right
from the beginning at St. Bee's Head you're seeing some of the best of the
British countryside. I first read about the Marsden to Edale walk in a
book called Classic Walks in Chesterfield library. I didn't know this at
the time but Classic Walks is part of a famous series of books which
includes Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Extreme Rock. In Classic Walks
is a large black and white picture of a group of stern faced walking club
types battling across the route in a blizzard. Years later I found another
reference to the route in a Peak District walking book and resolved to do
the walk on my next day off. I can't remember the name of the chap who
came up with the idea for the walk but I remember that he used to get
apprentices at his factory to do it every year. Now people do the route of
their own volition once a year as part of Tanky's Trot - a fell race
across the route organised by local outdoor celebrity Tanky Stokes. The
walk largely follows the Pennine Way over Black Hill and Bleaklow before
veering off to take a different route to Edale. You're unlikely to have
been to Marsden. It's a small market town not far from Holmfirth and
there's a little bit of the Last of the Summer Wine about the place. The
walk begins in the town centre and follows the Pennine Way out past some
mills. You're heading for Butterley Reservoir which marks the boundary
between the town and the countryside beyond. As you walk steadily uphill
by the side of the reservoir the scenery changes to the familiar dark peak
mix of peat and heather. Two kilometres out of Marsden and you've left the
town well behind. Up past another couple of reservoirs - Wessenden and
Wessenden Head and you arrive at the A635 Woodhead Pass. On the other side
of the road you can see the bulk of Black Hill. The lower slopes are criss-crossed
with small streams and not particularly steep. A flagstone path leads
across some marshy ground and as you get closer to the summit the ground
steepens up and the path climbs up a spur to reach the broad flat top of
the hill. The area around Black Hill is dominated by the Holme Moss
Television Station and this will help you get your bearings for the next
part of the route.
Here the walk leaves the Pennine Way and heads directly south over
Tooleyshaw Moss and down to the A628 Woodhead Pass at Crowden.
Tooleyshaw Moss is a large expanse of heather-covered high ground and the
views over the next part of the walk are spectacular from here. It's a
shame to lose height when you know there's more climbing to do but the
route down to Crowden is on a good path through peat and heather and
before too long you are at the old gritstone quarries on the way into
Crowden. When you consider the size of the quarries today these tiny
quarries - perhaps only fifty feet long - seem tiny. There used to be an
outdoors centre at Crowden but it was entirely destroyed by fire a few
years ago and now stands derelict. The youth hostel is still there and
obviously still popular with people wanting to explore this northern part
of the Peak.
The route crosses the A628 and from here there are two choices. The
direct route heads up Wildboar Clough (one of the most rocky and exciting
scrambles in the area) and rejoins the Pennine way after a couple of
kilometres of bog-trotting. If you 're going to take this route you need
to be handy with a map and compass as there is no trace of a path. The
alternative route takes the Longdendale trail westwards for a couple of
kilometres before hopping on the Pennine Way and over Bleaklow. Bleaklow
is perhaps the only real wilderness area in the Peak District. The Kinder
plateau is more famous purely because there are better places to stay in
nearby Edale and the Hope Valley. The walk up to Bleaklow Head is
physically tough and by now you can feel the weight of a rucksack and the
miles already covered. If taking the direct route up Wildboar clough
you'll be navigating hard until the excellent path of the Pennine Way
appears at Bleaklow Head. This path takes you down past the Hern Stones -
weird gritstone houlders - to meet the A57 at Doctor's Gate. With only one
hill left you walk down the road for a short way before ducking off into
the Woodlands Valley. Weaving through the trees feels very different and I
remembered that I hadn't been back to this place since my first overnight
bivvy trip when I was a kid. After finding a way through the Woodlands
Valley the route follows Blackden Brook (very steep at the top) and up to
'the seven minute crossing'. The route crosses the plateau at it's
narrowest point. It' supposed to take seven minutes to get across but by
now weary legs mean that getting across at all will be good enough.
Eventually you reach the other side of the plateau and can look down on
the village of Edale. Quickly down past Ringing Roger and the Nab to
finish at the Nag's Head.
This is a walk with something for everyone. There's the industrial
heritage of Marsden, the majesty of the reservoirs where the town meets
the wild areas of the dark peak. Later on there are great views over
Laddow rocks and heather moorland on the way down from Bleaklow. Finally,
the stiff pull up Blackden Brook and directly across the Kinder plateau.
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