Baslow to Strines Inn

14 September 2010 - Baslow to Strines Inn

Distance - 15.6 miles

Weather - Overcast & windy

We stayed at - Strines Inn,  Bradfield, Sheffield, S6 6JE Cost - £80.00

The first challenge we undertook after leaving Baslow was a steep climb up a rough lane
to Baslow Edge. The first in a series of gritstone edges forming the longest line in Britain, which we followed for ten miles from Baslow to Moscar. In fact my quote of the day was "The only Edge we didn't meet today plays for U2"! The walking along the top of these edges is usually easy, but in a gale force wind they become a bit more challenging and a bit more tiring. As you can see by the tree in the picture it was a little bit breezy as we neared the top of Baslow Edge and turned to take our last view of Chatsworth.

On the top of Baslow Edge we came across a large stone called the Eagle stone, apparently this has nothing to do with the bird, but is meant to derive from the Saxon word "Aigle" or anvil. After Baslow Edge came Curbar Edge with fine views over the Derwent. After Froggatt Edge the path descended to the A625, where we stopped at the Grouse Inn. It was a bit early for lunch, but they kindly sold us some sandwiches to take away with us. We stayed inside the pub until a shower had passed, then set off once again on an old estate road through the Longshaw Estate. There were a couple of interesting sculptures made out of the gritstone along the way.

We crossed the A6187 by Burbage Bridge at Toad Mouth, then made our way up onto Hathersage Moor, where the path was non-existent and we had to guide ourselves by GPS across the moorland to reach a path taking us up to the hill fort. We sheltered among the stones to eat our sandwiches out of the gusting wind. It was no better on the top of Higger Tor - a look at my hair on the picture will give you some idea how windy it was!

After Higger Tor, we made our way to probably the most famous of the gritstone edges and the longest, Stanage Edge. Here we encountered an interesting phenomenon, which was rainwater trying to drip down off the edge being blown back up by the wind in a constant stream. It was like walking through a shower. The good thing about the wind though was its direction, which was blowing us away from the edge of the edge. It was here we climbed to our highest point of the day (458m) near High Neb. It was quite a desolate spot and difficult to imagine that the centre of Sheffield was less than fifteen miles away!

There were lots of abandoned millstones on Stanage Edge, some complete, others which were work in progress. Apparently it was cheaper to transport the millstones after they had been fashioned and so they were made out on the moor. Finally we came down off the moor and crossed the A57 to see the sign pointing to Strines Inn, our accommodation for the night. It was only two miles to the pub, but it seemed to take forever, not helped by the fact it was road walking on a road between two sections of moorland. I was expecting the accommodation to be very basic, as the only competition is the Ladybower Inn. I was very pleasantly surprised. The place is a real inn dating back to Elizabethan times and our room came complete with a proper four poster bed that I needed to use the steps to get into, along with a rolltop bath with a Chinese screen around it. The food was real hearty pub grub, just what you need after a hard day's walk - although we were the only couple not to possess a dog. Most of the other people in the bar had at least one and some two! Breakfast next day was served in our room.