Chinley Head

Today's walk took myself and Sybil to Chinley to follow a walk detailed in my More Peak District Walks book (pages 28 to 30). This one was five and a half miles long with 1,250 feet of ascent.

We set off from a very sunny Rotherham with blue skies and little in the way of clouds. Leaving the train at Chinley station we looked up to see low cloud rolling in off the edge of the moorland. Hmm, being a bit of a fair weather walker this unnerved me a little. Ah well I had step-by-step directions so I couldn't possibly get lost. Right?

Heading up towards Cracken Edge, we got lucky in that either sheep don't roam round here or they had all been moved down towards greener pastures. Either way Sybil really appreciated the off-lead time and certainly made the most of it, running a little too close to the cliff edge at times for my liking, but never mind. The views across the Chinley valley were fantastic, and I'm sure some photos would have been fantastic too if not for two things: One - my general lack of ability to capture landscape with low cloud partly obscuring the view, and Two - the fact that some numbskull had forgotten to check how much battery life was left. Never mind, here's one I managed to get of Sybil near the start:

Sitting above Chinley

Walking on past Chinley Churn I promptly became confused as my book instructed me to 'zigzag down beyond the corner of the wall', as I zigzagged down to find a sheer drop in front of me with the path 10 feet or so below. Sliding down to meet it we turned the corner to find my worst fear: a herd of cows. With Sybil on the lead we tiptoed past the hugely uninterested beasts and descended past a couple of farms, one of them named Peep-O-Day Farm.

Lone sheep

Crossing the road, we skirted round Mount Famine and headed down through the fields where we encountered a dead sheep; nothing left but fleece and bones, which had been picked clean. We then walked down a track where Sybil enjoyed some more freedom, under the railway and down into the village.