Captain's Log

Early Start

The early morning light woke me up. Not only the light, but the slight patter of rain on my tent too. It was 5 a.m. and I'd had an excellent night's sleep. I was fully awake and so decided to start today's manoeuvres. It took me a total of 2 hours to get a coffee, eat my breakfast and pack everything up. Hopefully, I'd reduce that time with a little practice. The rain had momentarily stopped while I packed the tent away. I'd lost a couple of pegs, which wasn't that surprising given the long grass. The super lightweight pegs for my new tent were indeed superlight, but were very easy to lose in this sort of train. I did a final scout of the area. 'Leave no trace' is the wild campers motto and I left nothing but my tent's imprint in the grass and possibly a couple of small pegs.

It started raining again as soon I as set off walking. I'd noticed a track heading over to the northeast from the Horse Stone and so I decided to investigate where it went. Initially it went through some rocky outcrops. One was particularly spectacular with a massive slab suspended above support boulders, like the roof of a shelter. It was quite spacious inside; a bet a few people have sheltered in there over the years. My track became rather vague and because it descended I thought i might head down into the Derwent Valley. Thankfully it levelled out and contoured along the hill. It seemed to be heading to the Crow Stones, and they are always worth seeing.

Crow Stones And Consul TF-RPM

At one point the track crossed a beck that had some large boulder outcrops. These rocks were covered in dozens, possibly hundreds of centipedes (or millipedes...I didn't count their legs). On closer inspection they didn't seem to have any legs at all. Maybe they were leeches. Yikes! It made me shiver and I was soon on my way.

The Crow Stones are debatably, the most spectacular rocky outcrop in the Dark Peak. The Rocking Stone is at the western end of the formation and seems like a large boulder head balanced on a very thin neck. The backdrop for this is a huge, long formation, that reminded me of pancakes stacked on a  few plate. There was a great view from the rocks down into the Derwent Valley. I could also see the lonely Horse Stone too, over to the west on the ridge of the hill.

I followed the contour of the hill southwards on a track that was initially clear, but became less so. I'd walked this path many times though and I knew that I was looking for a line of grouse butts that crossed the path. Eventually these appeared. They were situated in a clough. I headed down the clough and came across the aircraft wreckage of Consul TF-RPM. I was surprised I'd not ticked this one off before on my Dark Peak Aircraft Crash Sites Venture, since I've visited it many times over the years. There is still a significant amount of wreckage in the clough, as well as some crosses and plaques to those that had died. the aircraft was on its way to Iceland from Croydon in 1951. They crashed when the crew became disorientated in low cloud. It was a bad day for aircraft crashes in the Peak District; the RAF lost two Meteors on Sliddens Moss on the same day. All three crew members in the Consul died.

Outer Side Rain

I climbed back up the clough and onwards to the trig on Outer Edge. I've probably visited this trig more than any other. I could see waves of rain drifting across the Upper Derwent valley. My hopes of outrunning it failed and it hit my on the boggy stretch to the Cut Gate path. The path was boggy enough without the need for more rain. I welcomed the drier Cut Gate path and started heading along it northwards. The rain accompanied me as I left it to pick up the boggy track to Sugden Top. It was only when I started descending down Sugden Clough track that the rain eased and finally stopped. I'd get brief outbreaks of rain on the rest of the walk, but nothing as intense as I'd had in that last hour.

The Sugden Clough path took me through the area that was used for target practice during the Second World War. Ordnance still keeps appearing now and again, so don't get too curious about any objects you find. There were patches of blue sky appearing as I walked around Langsett Reservoir. They were soon covered up by cloud though.

Return To Penistone

I headed through fields towards Midhopestones. One of the farms had a couple of Rheas strutting their stuff in a field. They are curious looking birds. Beyond Midhopestone I faced a 140 metre ascent through woodland and fields. I've walked this footpath many times and I knew it would be a struggle with a heavy pack. I wasn't wrong; it was hard work. I plodded upwards and reached its crest. It was all downhill now, back into Penistone. After all the tough moorland walking from this morning, the field and lane walking now seemed easy and it wasn't long before I finished my first Mini Venture.

Despite the poor weather, I really enjoyed this two day Mini Venture. It had taken me from the centre of civilisation to a wild camp in one of the most remote areas of the Dark Peak. I'd seen seen some incredible rock formations and had the unexpected surprise of a tick on my Dark Peak Aircraft Crash Site Venture.