Kestrel

A Kestrel followed us down from Bamford Edge. It seemed deep in concentration at hovered above the heather waiting for its breakfast to appear.

The ruins of the Holy Trinity Chapel are in a field just beyond Green;s House. It is thought it was a Roman Catholic church and was later ruined in the seventeenth century by Protestants.

A couple of women with four small dogs toured the ruins whilst we were though. Each of the dogs had a onesie type outfit on. I felt a bit sorry for their street-cred since each outfit was either electric orange or electric green.

Higger Tor Car Wreck

As we approached Higger Tor, we could see that a car had come off the road and ended up at the bottom of the hill. The flattened ferns described its path as it departed the road and made its way down the steep slope. I looked up the incident up provided by the local Mountain Rescue. Apparently the car had come off the road in September 2021 at around 21:30. It was fortunate somebody spotted the accident and informed the emergency services since potentially nobody would have found it until the next morning. Thankfully the driver survived but had serious injuries. I wonder if the car wreck will now be a permanent fixture on the moors. Given its location, it would be tricky to remove.

Near to the top of Higger Tor four runners passed and shouted 'Hello again'. We'd seen them near the Dennis Knoll car park about two hours before. Evidently they were out for quite a long run.

Rock Climbers

Rock climbers were out in force on Burbage Edge and Stanage Edge. It has been a long time since I'd seen this many. The conditions were quite blustery and I enjoyed being an a horizontal rather than a vertical surface. Some were climbing near the large overhanging rock known as Quietus, although nobody was braving the overhang itself.

Grouse Water Bowls

From around Quietus northwards along Stanage Edge, you find curious features on some of the rock slabs. There is an indentation in the rock with grooves leading into it. Each one has a number chiselled into the rock near it. There are supposed to be 108 of them but I've never seen numbers above 30. Presumably some are away from the edge and possibly overgrown with heather. They are grouse water bowls. The chiselled channels collect water into the bowls. I'm split between seeing them as works of art or as environmental vandalism.

The path off Stanage, eastwards towards Jarvis Clough passes a row of substantial grouse butts. They have been submerged into the ground, are well camouflaged and seem more suited to Dunkirk than a Peak District moor.