Out & About: Hope Cross & Edale

Talk about up hill & down dale, this weeks walk took us from Edale End at just over 600 feet above sea level to 1044 feet. Then down to 890 feet, back up to 1050 feet then down to road for the car, and it was just over 3 1/4 miles phew!!!
Because we had a longer drive up to Edale we set off at 6:00am and arrived at about 7:15, parked up at the side of the road beside Edale End. We walked a couple of hundred yards along the road to the footpath marker and then up past this national trust property.

Ike checking the way.

It was all uphill, the path went through the bracken up to the roman road which looks just like an old packhorse route. The climb from bottom to top was 420 feet in just under 1/2 mile, quite a few stops to get my wind back.

Its like being in the jungle

Rob doing a spot of dry stone wall building.

The views from the old roman road were spectacular as we went off towards Hope Cross. This has got a date of 1737 on it and is by far the largest stoop we have seen, it must be close to 7 feet tall.

Hope Cross (Stoop D1) with Lose Hill and the great ridge in the background

We thought it was a good spot for breakfast.

Some cyclists came down the track and stopped for a chat.

That Rambo gets everywhere

Ike & Rob setting up their camera's for a delay shot.

Rambo reckons the views are second to none from up there.

After breakfast it was back on the track up towards Crookstone Barn, the track levelled out here and then it was downhill to the ford at Jaggers Clough

The view from Crookstone Barn track towards Hope Cross

I felt a bit nervous this followed me for a while until Rambo chased him off

Geoff just taking in the scenery

Rambo taking a breather

This was just a gate post on the route down to the Ford

Geoff getting his boots wet

Cyclist crossing the ford at the start of Jaggers Clough

After crossing the ford there was another uphill climb and then down again to the road.
We went off path and straight across a couple of fields to the road but this meant an awkward climb over a dodgy wall.We got into the car and set off to find stoop D2 which is in Edale by the main road.
Well the book said it was on the south side of the bridge, so we left the car in the car park thinking 2 minutes and all over, wrong!!
We searched all over the place and Geoff was worried about a car parking ticket so he went to move the car onto the main road, meanwhile Rob and myself looked for the stoop D2. Rob went back to see where Geoff was and i somehow saw it buried in the hedge and i mean buried.

Stoop D2 buried in the hedge

Geoff at stoop D2

Ike photographing stoop D2 just to the right of the sign.

After successfully logging D2 we went through Hope where we spotted a very special building. It looks nothing now but it was once located in Birchinlee "Tin Town".
Birchinlee was a "tin town" built to house the workers who constructed the Derwent & Howden Dams. The workers houses were made from corrugated tin sheets and the town had a population of around 900 people. There were dwellings, a post office, a police station, a school,a hospital and recreation facilities in fact everything you would find in a normal village. When the dams were finished it was all taken down.
This hairdressers shop is one of the few that remain.