Captain's Log

Margery Hill

Daylight woke me up at around 06:00. A natural alarm clock when you sleep in a tent. I slept pretty well last night. Well, apart from the intermittent shotgun blasts. I heard four rounds of firing over a 5 hour period. They seemed random in nature; different number of shots each time and no set interval between them. Before getting into my tent, I’d seen two head torches somewhere in the vast Upper Commons moor over to the east. Why anybody would be traipsing across that wilderness of heather in darkness is anybody’s guess. I thought the safest thing was to retire to my tent and listen to my ipod. 

My campsite was surrounded by mist as I  welcomed the morning by poking my head out of the tent. I put on my gaiters in preparation for what I knew would be a very boggy day. I was on the second stage of my 3 day Derwent Watershed hike and in the morning I’d be walking southwards along Howden Edge and then Derwent Edge, before dropping down to the Ladybower Viaduct. The afternoon would see me heading northwards past Alport Castles, over Alport Moor and then up The Ridge to my next wildcamp at Bleaklow Stones. I’d calculated the distance at around 17 miles, but from past experience, I knew that there’d be a lot of meandering and dodging around the bogs, which would probably push up the distance to about 20. It was going to be a long day over tough terrain and due to some faffing, it was well past 8am before I was on my way. 

Bottling It

It was a lovely sunny day. Mist sloshed about the valleys. There were cloud inversions everywhere. On the top of Margery Hill, I’d looked northwards and seen the top of Emley Mast poke its head above a bank of mist. Yesterday evening I’d seen somebody pitch a tent halfway along Howden Edge. I exchanged greetings with another walker, presumably the one who had been camped. His rucksack looked incredibly small. He was obviously from the Ultralight Brigade.    

 I could see Back Tor, my next milestone, directly ahead. Unfortunately, to get there I had to swing over to the east in order to get around the watershed leading into Abbey Brook. I knew this to be a sketchy area in terms of footpaths through the heather. I found that things hadn’t changed since my last visit. I soon drifted off piste and had to drift back on again. The land was so featureless here that it was difficult to navigate without gps. Especially so, when the mist kept encompassing me as it was doing today. I crossed Cartledge Brook and started heading southeast over trackless moor. My foot disappeared down a hole that had been hidden by heather, flinging me forward onto my front. I picked myself up, dusted myself down and walked on. After about 15 minutes, I thought my pack was feeling unexpectedly lighter. I thought through the situation and feared the worst. Sure enough, when I took off my rucksack, I found that my 1.5 litre Sigg bottle wasn’t in my side pouch. It must have been flung out when I fell down. Schoolboy error. I normally hook my Sigg bottles onto my rucksack, but had forgotten to do it today. I sighed; that Sigg bottle had been around the world with me and been a close friend. It was pointless retracing my steps, since there were no steps to retrace. This also meant a bit of a water crisis. Walking a watershed walk means staying up high and there’s very little opportunity to get refills on this walk. I was now down to 2.5 litre capacity, which I predicted would have to last me until midday tomorrow. That wasn’t much water for this distance, in this heat and over such difficult terrain. It was going to be a tough 2 days. I dropped down to Abbey Book and filled my other water bottles to capacity. I also drank as much as I could too.

Back Tor And Derwent Edge

The moors were covered with large white bags. These were full of wooden stakes. It appeared that the landowner was building a huge fence across the moors. Some people just like building barriers, I guess. It’ll change the feeling of the remote landscape as all fences do. The walking got easier as I plodded the slabs on Cartledge Stones Ridge. At last, I could make faster progress. All the shenanigans crossing the moor and the diversion to filter some water had delayed me and it was already 11:00. Bleaklow Stones seemed a very long way away. At this rate, I’d be reaching it in darkness.

A woman surprised me by suddenly appearing from behind a rock as I approached Back Tor. I wondered if I'd surprised her too, since she immediately started walking in front of me without saying ‘hello.’ Near the trig, another woman had a small dog on a leash. The dog was white, but all its legs were black. ‘I had to rescue her from a bog’ the woman explained. 

I started following the path along the wonderful Derwent Edge. The route was a mixture of stones and slabs and made for fast, easy walking. There were great views down into the Derwent Valley. I walked slightly faster than the woman I'd surprised at Back Tor and I kept catching her up and passing her. I’d then take some photographs and then she’d pass me. In the end, I decided to stop the cycle by stopping for my lunch. 

There were plenty of walkers out on the edge. A group of partially sighted people passed me heading towards Back Tor. It must be so difficult negotiating all the moorland obstacles with poor vision. Most of them had a personal guide helping them along. I reached the incredible formation of the Wheel Stones. I felt I was making progress, until I looked down into the valley and saw that the Ladybower Viaduct seemed far away. I pressed on and made the descent. I reached the viaduct at 13:30. Given that sundown was around 18:30, this left me about 5 hours to make the traverse of the west side of the Derwent Valley before darkness. I took a sip from my water bottle. It was going to be a long afternoon. 

Alport Castles

The climb up to Crookhill Farm was exhausting. I had intended to go over the twin peaks of Crook Hill, but given my water situation and time pressure, I decided to give them a miss. The route got somewhat flatter and easier as I made my way over Bridge-end Pasture. As I walked along the top of the ridge of Hagg Side I got a lovely view along the Snake Valley and across to Kinder Scout. I met a man walking the other way, whom I’d met earlier in the morning near Cartledge Brook. I thought about asking him if he’d seen a 1.5 litre Sigg bottle on his travels, but thought better of it. I’d decided to use 0.5 litre for my journey from Cartledge Brook to Bleaklow Stones, with another 0.5 litre for when I reached camp. That would leave me with 1.5 litres for breakfast and tomorrow’s walk. 0.5 litre wasn’t much for such a long walk and I started feeling dehydrated with only allowing myself a sip from my bottle every hour or so. At least the walking got easier as I reached the slabs leading up to Alport Castles. It had turned into a hazy afternoon, but the spectacular crags, formed by a landslip, were still impressive. I could also see the outline of the Bleaklow plateau on the horizon. At least my destination was in sight. It was 15:30. It looked very much like I’d be scrabbling around for a pitch on Bleaklow’s plateau in the dark. 

Alport Moor

I followed the edge of the Alport Valley. The last walker I saw for the day was at Alport Castles. The terrain started getting more remote now. I was encouraged when I heard water trickling down from the moor into one of the cloughs into the Alport Valley. I scratched around in the heather to find the water, but found it to look pretty murky. It was something I’d not risk filtering no matter how thirsty I was.    

The path headed away from the edge of the valley and onto the broad ridge of Alport Moor. I was back to trackless, boggy terrain again. I reached the trig point on Alport Moor and stopped for another sip of my water. The Bleaklow Plateau didn’t seem any closer. The sun on my left was descending and it felt chillier. The next section of the moors was a bit of a nightmare. The area was covered in caterpillar tracks that had churned up the ground and made it horrendous for walking. It became a logical puzzle to negotiate all the bog and pools as well as a tough trudge. At one point I nearly lost a boot, and then the other as I levered my way out. They were constructing small dams across the moor to retain the water, although there seemed plenty enough of it already. I was relieved when I got to the other side of the works. 

Bleaklow Stones

There was another small hill to traverse before I could make my final ascent to the Bleaklow plateau. It was only a 35m ascent vertically, but I found it exhausting. I dropped down the other side. At this point I did think about doing an out-and-back to the upper reaches of the River Alport over to the east. I wasn’t 100% sure what the water quality was like there and how easy it would be to get down to the water. It would also definitely mean negotiating Bleaklow in the dark. After debating a few moments, I gave up on the idea and  started making my final ascent of the day along The Ridge up to the plateau. The sun was getting very close to the top of the hillside on my west. I wanted to make the ascent before dark, since I knew the area at the foot of Bleaklow plateau was quite boggy and the track to Bleaklow Stones vague. I reached the wire fence that traverses the bottom of the plateau and crossed the stile. There was a track heading towards Bleaklow Stones, but this soon disappeared. I just formed my own route by heading in their general direction. It was tough going across heather, clumpy grass and a steep hill too. At last it started to level out and I was grateful when I found a track that was heading across the plateau in the direction of the stones. After one long day, I reached my destination. The sun was now dipping below the horizon and they illuminated the wonderful rock formations in a red glow. I couldn’t help but take a tour of them, before pitching my tent and sorting out my gear. I didn’t have enough water to prepare a Firepot and so my evening meal was a cheese sandwich I’d brought with me. My mouth was so dry that I had trouble swallowing it. I was knackered and went to sleep almost straight away. I was out for 10 hours solid. 

It had been an exhausting day. It was a long walk over difficult terrain. Losing my water bottle was a bit of a disaster, not just physically, but sentimentally too. It had been a cracking walk though with some of the best views that the Dark Peak can offer.