'Thunderbolts and lightning, but edges are exciting'
Date: 25 August 2012 Start time: 12:43
Start point: Longshaw National Trust car park, Peak District - SK255777
Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever
Distance: 8.73miles Time: 3:34:33
Route: Leave car park back up track to road. Turn L towards and past Grouse Inn. After bend, cross road R and head through gate to walk E uphill to White Edge Lodge up ahead on moor. Walk around R of house and keep E to gate with wall L. Turn L then immediately R to follow track across moor to gate by road. Turn around and take path W-SW away from road. Following obvious track, continue until you reach stone outcrop at wall junction, named on OS map as 'Hurkling Stone'. Follow wall W with wall L to gap in with wooden signpost. Take path to L marked 'Curbar Gap' that follows White Edge. Follow path, with moor to your L and edge drop to your R. Cut L after a little over 1 mile or so up to trig point then head back to edge path continuing S past field system below R. Path drops a little and splits - take R turn heading SW to Curbar Gap car park. Take steps in NW corner of car park. Turn L at top of steps then R up to kissing gate. Through gate, follow obvious path N with edge L along Curbar Edge and Froggatt Edge. Keep on obvious path through gate into wood and emerge at road. Walking E a few yards, cross road and take gate. Footpath drops to stream then rises to wood at foot of car park.
Weather: Remarkable. Filthy dark clouds surrounded us, rain could be seen in valleys all around us, thunder rumbled, Emma saw a flash of lightning, but we only got a little rain - five minutes of light shower at most. I still can't believe we didn't get soaked. It was pretty warm, some blue sky, even a little humid in amongst the bracken ferns and trees. Visibility was patchy in the distance because of all the rain around.
Notes: I've always said Country Walking Magazine route guides should start with an animal warning section, just so you know what to expect. We weren't expecting cows straight away, and with our fear of cows we crossed the wild uneven heather and grass covered off-piste route for the first section of the walk. The hills were liberally covered and coloured by vibrant purple heather - I didn't feel so bad walking over a small part of this, but it did work the legs more.
Then came the almost pointless trudge over White Edge Moor. Sometimes religiously following someone else's route without any re-con can lead to this. We did see a county boundary stone to add some interest, and found a nice place to eat lunch - until Emma realised there were some ants hard at work along the stones we were sat on. It was a nice place to sit and spot blue sky above whilst watching dark clouds dip into every valley around.
Next came White Edge, a Peak District edge I'd never heard of before, but maybe because its not really an edge as such - its set in the middle of the moor. Still, some splendid rocky gritstone outcrops and lovely smelling forna around, with a shiny white trig point to boot.
Curbar Edge is where it really starts to feel like a Peak District edge, with a steep sharp drop to a green valley complete with river and road and lots of trees hugging around the smattering of buildings. There were plenty of rocky outcrops and overhangs to pause on for photo-ops - the 'Bolt' and 'Mo-Bot' were pulled in honour of the Olympics. I'm not sure where Curbar Edge becomes Froggatt Edge, as you follow one continuous tourist and family friendly path combing the two edges. If I could make any distinction, maybe Froggatt had more boulderous outcrops and was more wooded at the base. Either way, it was a delightful trek which featured a few interesting additions - most notably and intriguingly, a small herd of mountain heffers all hairy and nonchalant as they blocked the path, with one renegade member of the group hanging out by the edge.
Below, just over the river from Froggatt we could hear the music of a brass band and saw a makeshift car park in a field close to a large stately home type building. Co-incidentally, whilst I was initially writing this up, Emma was watching Caroline Quentin's BBC2 show 'Restoration Home' which featured what we believe to be this building we saw - Stoke Hall, which was lovingly and painstakingly restored by an artisan craftsman, as much as labourers and tradesmen. The event that drew the bands and crowds this day was the Froggatt Show. This was not Caroline Quentin related.
As well as the crowds in the village, it was also crowded on the edge in some areas. A 'Hollywood' name, comfortable tourist path and close proximity car parking at either end usually means something we dread on a walk - FAMILIES, WITH CHILDREN, AND DOGS! Altogether, an unruly group of outdoor 'enthusiasts'. The most unruly dog we met this day went by the name of Biscuits. It seemed more interested in chasing us off White Edge than obeying its owner.
There was a Leeds fan who must have seen the '3-in-a-row' Wembley loss coming because he was far from a TV at about the same time 'Abide with me' would be ringing around Wembley Stadium.
There was also a hairy caterpillar I would like to look into further - and I feel my flora and forna identification skills really need improvement too.
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