For a long time now I've been wanting to make a video featuring one of my favourite Peak District Edges. I'd had an idea a while ago about doing a time lapse from different angles, today was the day I finally got to do it. I firstly started by updating the firmware on my Canon 550D DSLR last night, I then applied the fantastic Magic Lantern upgrade. Magic Lantern is an enhancement atop of Canon's firmware that frees your Canon DSLR, allowing you to use many useful features. It is an open (GPL) framework for developing extensions to the official software.
First thing this morning the weather was looking rather dreary, I decided to hold off for a few hours and eventually headed out to Birchen Edge at 11am. The wind was blowing, there was an icy cold snap in the air but thankfully the rain had passed. I parked at the car park next to the Robin Hood Inn and made my way up to Nelson's Monument.
I spent around 2 hours up on the edge, I filmed different angles of the Monument, The Three Ship Stones and also the Trig Point. It was nice to have a few moments of peace and quite while the camera was doing its thing. Thankfully I had my new Berghaus Down Jacket with me as the temperature must have been below zero due to the wind chill. I made my way home after a nice practice with the new Magic Lantern features, I have stitched aspects of today's footage together and i've embedded the results for you to view at the top of the post or on YouTube. I also recorded an AudioBoo while I was there which is also embedded above.
I've been making videos while walking for some time now, They have been rather sporadically appearing and I realised that it was high time I made some more. This is an introduction to future videos i'm hoping to make in the Peak District. They will feature walking routes, places of interest and also the odd interview thrown in for good measure. I have gone for a very "Over The Top Epic" feel for this one but the future instalments will be of a more laid back nature :-)
A video i've stitched together from my wild camp in the western Peak District. I set off from Flash then went via Three Shire Heads, the Cat & Fiddle, Shining Tor, Cats Tor, Errwood Reservoir in the Goyt Valley, Berry Clough and then camped on Axe Edge Moor. I enjoyed a stunning sunset, then great views of fireworks and beacons as the world celebrates the Queens Diamond Jubilee.
Once again I camped in my Terra Nova Wild Country Zephyros 1, You can read a review of this great tent here on Peak Routes - Wild Country – Zephyros 1 – Review
Another week and another brand new route. I decided once again to head for the Birchin Clough car park on the Snake Road, this place has fast become a firm favourite for me. The area is just simply stunning. The beautiful pine forests with Kinder Scout lurking to the south makes for great viewing. Today however, the aim wasn't Kinder, it was another peat covered favourite by the name of Bleaklow.
I set off from the Birchin Clough car park at around 10am and headed over the road down into the forest. I headed north following the river that winds under pines up Lady Clough. Today was to be the day that I would make the very first PeakRoutes.com podcast. I begun recording an introduction as I meandered alongside the tranquil flowing river. It had been an idea spawned by my frequent AudioBoo entries with which I had been summarising my walks in audio form. I decided it would be a great addition to my websites to have a larger audio accompaniment, even if no one was to listen it would be a great historical record to have an audible account as well as images.
The going was good today and I made swift progress through the forest as the track climbed up and away from the river. It rose towards the edge of the road and then dropped back down again as I prepared to leave the edge of the forest. Lady Clough opened out in front of me and I could then see the cloud hugging the surrounding hills. After crossing a stream that flows into Lady Clough river I climbed upwards to walk along side the Snake Road.
I crossed over the road at OS Grid Reference SK 0962 9287 and headed for Doctor's Gate. I recorded another part for the podcast and then joined the Roman Road that rises to meet the Pennine Way. By this point I was rising into the cloud base and the mist was surrounding me. I proceeded upwards along the ancient route and listened to the sound of the grouse as I let my mind wander. It was at this point as I marched on through the mist along the cobbled path that I wondered what if must have been like here in Roman times. I could picture in my imagination the sight of a group armoured Roman soldier marching out of the mist towards me. How fantastic would it be to be able to wind back the clock to witness such a sight.
Anyway... Back to the work. I met the Pennine Way at SK 0900 9332 and turned north towards Bleaklow. The mist was thick and visibility was down to around 20 metres maximum at this point. I proceeded along Devil's Dike which rises gently, the path then winds through Groughs and around Cloughs as it makes its way up to Bleaklow Head.
In no time at all I was standing at the very top of Bleaklow. I had not seen another soul or soul less person all morning :-) the place felt very bleak indeed as the cloud silently brushed across the top of this vast expanse of peat. I recorded another section of audio and then found the path over towards Bleaklow Stones.. I say the word "path" very loosely as there isn't really a path of sorts. There Is a faint track that weaves across while you follow the Stake marked grass covered Groughs.
The route can become rather confusing at this point if you don't keep your wits and your compass about you. I have learned from previous experiences that the thing to do is walk on a bearing and ignore what is happening under foot. The paths that do appear along this stretch are rather misleading. You begin to follow what looks like a path for it to fizzle out to nothing or spin around in totally the wrong direction. As I just said, the key to success in cloudy condition along this section is to walk on a bearing.
After an exhilarating 30 minutes of navigational skill refreshing I arrived at Bleaklow Stones, I was very surprised to have 3G signal so I placed my backpack down and begun broadcasting some live video to Bambuser. Not that you could see a great deal but you do get a good idea of what it was like for me up there today.
After a short break and an AudioBoo submission I decided to keep moving. Last time I was here I walked up from Howden Reservoir and the weather was stunning, I sat and admired the view for what must have been half an hour. The low cloud today however meant that the view was rather less spectacular. Not to worry, I soon began dropping down towards "The Ridge" and I was amazed to see a handful of mountain hares out in front of me. They looked spectacular with their brilliant white coats against the dark greens and browns of Alport Moor.
I decided to have a slight change of route at this point. I had originally planned to head across the top of Alport towards Alport Castles, drop down to the mouth of the valley and then pick up the roman road back to the car park. I have done this sections before in the past so I decided to go a little off piste and explore some areas where I have never set foot before. I chose to head down into Alport Dale from SK 1148 9461, I headed down towards the river and followed its course for a few minutes. I decided to head back up out the other side of the valley and climb up to the top near SK 1154 9353. The view from here was magnificent.. If the climb alone wasn't enough to take my breath away then the view certainly was. The view down Alport from this angle is stunning.
I carried on along the moor and crossed the top of Nether Reddale Clough, there are no paths here but I was below the cloud base so made a beeline for the head of Birchin Clough. I was once again met by another glorious view. An angle over towards Kinder that I had never witnessed before. The northern edge of Kinder was framed perfectly by the falling hillsides at Birchin Clough and the spruce lined banks of Lady Clough. I was glad that I had diverted from my original plan as I saw a new side to Alport Moor.
In no time at all I had begun the steep decent down the path from SK 1095 9163 to the car park. I had managed to record a good half an hours worth of audio for the podcast, I'm sure I'll probably thin this down to around 20 minutes during the editing process though. Another great new route, some old favourites revisited and some new places discovered.
Keep an eye or ear out for the forthcoming podcast. I'm a newcomer to podcasting so will have a look into the logistics and get a link posted here for you to be able to grab it from iTunes. Thanks for reading and your continued support. Join me again next week when I will hopefully be heading further north towards Black Hill. Images, words, video and audio will follow swiftly afterwards.
Welcome to the new Peak District Routes blog, the home of the forthcoming Peak Routes Podcast. Over the coming weeks I will be adding new content to the site and also some great routes that I have already documented on my personal website. I plan to record podcasts for each route that I do and make GPX files available which can be loaded into GPS devices.
The reason I decided to create this site is because I would like to promote the wonders of the Peak District. I have explored many corners of the Peak and would like to share my experiences with you. If you like what you see, read or hear then you can download the route file and have a go yourself.
The idea came to me while I sat having lunch on the Eastern edge of Kinder Scout. I was surveying the surrounding area and it suddenly dawned on me... In the last 8 months I had climbed to the top of every Hill, walked along every edge and meandered through every valley that I could see. Towards the north I had walked on Bleaklow, then looking clockwise I had stood atop Margery Hill and walked the entire length of the Derwent Edge. I had walked along Stanage and Bamford Edges. I remembered the day I walked the Edale Skyline route and finished upon Win Hill after starting at Loose Hill. I had left no feature unchecked from my list of Peak District achievements. It was at that moment that moment the idea of http://www.PeakRoutes.com took shape. I knew it was high time that I set up a website where I could share all my Peak District routes and experiences... Yes... I already do that on http://www.DeanRead.net but I wanted to create a site that was 100% dedicated to my love of the Peak, it would be my launch pad to promote the joys I have had from walking here. Peak Routes was born :-)
Thanks for stopping bye and please come back soon.
Here is a video I recorded while on my walk today in the Peak District. It is just a quick sequence of shots I did using my old Canon A640, so it's not HD but you can get a feel of what it was like up there today on a cold wintery day. I set off from Howden Reservoir, Followed the River Derwent to its source, Headed up and over the moors to Bleaklow Stones, Down to Alport Castles and then back across Birchinlee Pasture to Howden.
I hope you enjoy it and the wind noise isn't too annoying :-)
