I had one last opportunity for a day-trip with my family before heading back to Canada, and I chose for us to drive up through Derbyshire to the Peak District. We drove to the north, into the Edale Valley, near Hathersage.
Edale is the start of the Pennine Way footpath, which climbs and meanders 256 miles (412 km) to the border of Scotland. The time was too short for us to take this hike today.
Derbyshire farmers, since medieval times, have mainly used the rolling hills for sheep farming, but by the 16th century the mineral wealth of the district became the most important source of employment and income. A pioneering woman traveler, Celia Fiennes, wrote about the area as early as 1697:
" . . . those craggy hills whose bowells are full of mines of all kinds of black and white and veined marbles, and some have mines of copper, others tinn and leaden, in wich is a greate deal of silver."
I believe this view, from near Edale at Hope Valley Saddlery, is of Lose Hill.
Edale Valley past Barber Booth.
Standing overlooking Edale Valley.
Blue John Caverns, at Mam Tor. Blue John was the local name for fluorite or fluorspar. The name may come from the French bleu et jaune. Very little is found today and most of the caverns and old mines are used only for show for tourists.
Looking into Hope Valley, from the base of Mam Tor.
Castleton is in the foreground of this telephoto image, with the Hope Cement Works at the base of Pindale, in the village of Hope. The far end of the valley represents the start of the White Peak (district) whereas we are on the edge of the Dark Peak.
Mam Tor is known as The Shivering Mountain. Wikipedia says that the name means Heights of the Mother, but this is dubious and unproven. It is 517 metres (1696 feet) in height. We could see dozens of hikers on the top and trekking up the southwest pathway. It is described as a popular site for launching hang gliders, one of which we saw from the other side. To the right there is a path down to Hollins Cross and up to Lose Hill, not visible from this angle. I thought of how much my hiking son and friends would love this area.
If one climbs to the top, the remains of an Iron Age fortification are still visible. Apparently, the views are spectacular. The east face is of crumbling rock--mostly shale, and the area beneath is constantly moving or sliding, especially after heavy rains.
In 1974 the A625 road to Sheffield was finally closed when it was decided no further efforts at maintenance could save it. In places the asphalt is several feet thick as a result of adding new surfaces regularly. One can also see places where the road has dropped two or three feet.
Not to mention rather deep crevices in the roadway.
At the top of Winnats Pass. The pass is what is known as a classic "collapsed gorge" full of exposed crags of limestone.
Coming down Winatts Pass. We saw--literally--hundreds of walkers and hikers today, it being a sunny day, even if a bit cool.
Winatts Pass opens into Hope Valley, through Castleton. One of the highlights in Castleton is the Norman Peveril Castle, built first of wood in 1080 and later in stone in 1175. (I love being able to write such dates, coming as I do from a country where everything is quite new. For example, in Quebec, the nomadic aboriginal peoples didn't build permanent structures. Only founded in 1608, the oldest building is from about 1637. In my province of Nova Scotia, there is a building in Annapolis Royal that may date to 1693.)
In the pass and in the village of Castleton are the area's many caverns: The Blue John Cavern, Treak Cliff Cavern, Speedwell Carvern, and the great Peak Cavern. The Peak Cavern is known by the locals as The Devil's Arse. They call the stream issuing from it The Styx.
The Castle is featured in the title of Sir Walter Scott's English novel, Peveril of the Peak. A few lines put the castle and the village into perspective:
William, Conqueror of England, was, or supposed himself to be, the father of a certain William Peveril, who attended him to the Battle of Hastings and there distinguished himself. The liberal-minded monarch, who assumed in his charters the veritable title of Guliemus Bastardus, was not likely to let his son's illegitimacy be any bar to the course of his royal favour, when the laws of England were issued from the mouth of the Norman victor, and the lands of the Saxons were at his unlimited disposal. William Peveril obtained a liberal grant of property and lordships in Derbyshire, and became the erector of that Gothic fortress, which, hanging over the mouth of the Devil's Cavern, so well known to tourists, gives the name Castleton to the nearby village.
From the feudal baron, who chose his nest upon the principles on which an eagle selects her eyry, and built it in such a fashion as if he had intended it, as an Irishman said of the Martello Towers, for the sole purpose of puzzling posterity, there was, or conceived themselves to be, descended (for their pedigree was rather hypothetical) an opulent family of knightly rank, in the same county of Derby. (Sir Walter Scott, 1823)
The Moors along the Sheffield Road between Hathersage and Grindleford. The moors above Hathersage are believed to be "Morton" in Brontë's Jane Eyre. Hathersage is also recognized as the final resting place of Little John, lieutenant of Sherlock Holmes of nearby Sherwood Forest. The grave is clearly marked and well tended.
In the White Peak, the hills are quite different and less dramatic; there are also more trees in this part of the Derbyshire Dales.
The Eyre Arms, near Calver on the road to Bakewell.
In Bakewell we ate at the local Farmers' Market in the Bakewell Agricultural Centre, which serves locally raised meats and vegetables. Bakewell is the only town within the Peak District National Park. Its name comes from Beadeca's Well, and is famous for the Bakewell Pudding--called by some the Bakewell Tart--but they are quite different desserts!
Today's special attraction was the annual dog shows. These grounds are also used for the Bakewell Agricultural Show (the Little Royal) which attracts 50,000 visitors. Annually there is also the Bakewell Arts Festival.
In the village of Crich (on the A6) is the Crich Tramway Museum. We stopped here in this replica village, to ride the century-old electric tram. This particular tram is called The Johannesburg 60, built in 1905. It has been used in several films and television productions.
Everything in the village has been salvaged from elsewhere and brought here to be restored and incorporated into the main street.
The museum has dozens of trams. This one was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1900, roofless. Ten years later--perhaps as a bow to the usual weather in Scotland--a roof was added. The tram route takes us down the cobblestoned street and then up to the top of the mountain for views of the Derwent River Valley.
The pub was dismantled in Stoke-on-Trent and re-assembled here brick by brick.
The Tramway Museum has been here for nearly 50 years and is run by volunteers as a charitable organization. My grandson enjoyed riding on the tram; we have previously taken train rides on similarly restored trains elsewhere, but never trams before. I remember trams in my province, in Halifax in Canada, until the mid-1960s.
There are beautiful views between Matlock, Cromford and Ashbourne.
Derbyshire is famous for its rock quarries, especially limestone and gritstone digs, some quite visible.
We have enjoyed our drive up to The Peak District, even if there was little extra time to take any hikes, or to visit any of the famous caverns--not that any of us might have ventured underground anyway!
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