High Stones – 548m / 1798 ft – 13/10/2020
An unexpected window arose to pick up the County Tops project so I planned a day and a half to pick off the remaining Peak District tops and those nearby. I headed off early on a clear morning expecting a bit of rain and found my way to the busy car park between Ladybower and Derwent Reservoirs. Now in trail running and Spine Training mode I set off a a light jog on the track towards the dam at the bottom of Derwent Reservoir – a nice little picnic spot and quite popular with walkers and cyclists.
My route took me up some steps at the side of the dam and then skirted the eastern edge of the reservoir for about 2km on a fairly flat wide gravel track with some nice views across the water and a hint of rain in the air.
I found my turn off at Hey bank up a fairly steep path heading north east through woods before opening out onto pasture and moorland. The track was easy to follow and when it branched I chose the higher western path going north then east across the shoulder of Nether Hey before descending and climbing again at Row Top up a winding stony track which turned north and up onto the open moor of Howden Edge. After about 1km the route flattened out and I continued northwards looking for 2 foot high cairn / pile of stones which marked the summit. I reached the correct GPS bearing and checked on my OS App on my phone – I was there but the pile of stones wasn’t. After a bit of head scratching I located the point where the cairn had obviously been before somebody had kindly removed it – leaving just a bare patch of earth and rubble – maybe they should rename this summit as High Stones seems a bit inappropriate now!!
I filmed my obligatory video and stopped for a few moments to take in the views to the south and west in the direction I had approached.
The route back was almost the same – a slight detour at the bottom of Row Top, taking the south easterly path to miss out the traverse of Nether Hey. I was able to make good speed jogging and picking my way on the generally firm and not too difficult surface. After following the path back along the reservoir I thought there may be an off road track through the woods back to the car park however it was just a circular nature trail and added and extra bit onto my journey which totalled just under 14km.
I got back to my car and the car park seemed even busier than usual with people eating lunch. I decided to buy a snack and a coffee from the shop to supplement the lunch I had taken with me and fuelled up for the next adventure later in the afternoon after my short drive to Edale and the start/end of the Pennine Way, another Spine Race dress rehearsal.