Hartington

It’s almost been four weeks since the end of my Scotland adventure and my feet are getting restless. I’ve been busy planning my next long distance walk, where currently the East Highland Way is starting to call me; my dad is also up for this, the WHW and the GGW didn’t put him off!

I mentioned in a previous blog that we would carry individual smaller tents next time. After some research I’ve settled for the Paria Zion 2P, my dad has chosen Aluxe Pyramid; two completely different tents.

The Luxe is a basic design where the support consists of your trekking pole. It offers plenty of vestibule space for your equipment and room for sheltered cooking, however the sleeping compartment hasn’t the room to swing a cat; you can see Ginge attests to this!

The Paria is very spacious but you sacrifice the vestibule area. Mine weighs in at 2.4kg including the footprint and my dad’s at 1.6kg without a footprint. Over the weekend we slept in our respective tents to test them out. We both remained dry through the rain, although it was a little cold; especially since it frosted over Saturday night.

Luckily I had planned for this eventuality, bringing a warm blanket that did the trick. My dad did question whether his Snugpack was a four season as he felt the cold. It didn’t help that his inflatable mat got a puncture, thus he kept having to blow it up to stop the chill seeping in from the ground. It only just lasted our Scottish adventure! One night away from disaster!

On the Sunday I arranged to go on a walk with an old friend around Hartington in the Peak District. He brought his son along for this sunny 8 mile circular trek from Hartington village, passing Pilsbury Castle ruins to Crowdicote and back.

Hartington is a very popular destination for day visitors, even this late in the year. We arrived at 1030hrs and all the available parking was taken. I managed to find a spot on the road outside the youth hostel.

The route begins from the village centre passing St. Giles church ascending up a country road out of the village. About 600m along the road as you pass a small farm, you follow a signposted public footpath across the fields with views of the valley below.

The path is well defined and you eventually follow a dry stone wall as you skirt past ‘Carder Low’ giving views up and down this little valley. The weather was certainly on our side, hard to believe it had rained constantly all this week.

After about 3 miles you reach the earthworks of Pilsbury Castle. It consists of three mounds where the motte and two baileys once stood. It incorporated a rocky geographical feature for it’s defences. It was midday at this point, so we stopped for a bite to eat while my mates son took full advantage of climbing the earthworks finding every patch of mud in the area.

After fueling up we continued on towards Crowdicote where we encountered a group on their Duke of Edinburgh course; you couldn’t miss their matching yellow backpack covers! The halfway point is marked by crossing the River Dove at ‘Bridge End Farm’. From here it was very boggy as we cut across fields towards Longnor Road, which you follow in the Harrington direction until you reach Harris Close Farm.

You leave the road and cross farmland again passing grazing cattle; you practically walk down the farm’s driveway; thankfully they have clearly highlighted where you need to go!

You soon catch sight of Harrington in the distance as you descend through a small copse of pine trees, joining a farm track towards Bridge-end Farm. You come across a signpost for Hartington directing you across a field and back over the River Dove, arriving back into Hartington.

Once we got into the the village, I recounted my recent trip to Scotland to mate’s son, I asked “Do you fancy pitching up a tent and doing it all again tomorrow?” He gave an astounding ‘no‘ for his answer! After a pasty from the village shop, we said our farewells and headed back. Nice easy strole in the Peaks with probably the last of the Sun for this year; a brilliant day.

I also took this walk as a chance to test out my new cushioned insoles. I went for the ‘Scholl GelActiv Work’. They worked well around the heel however not so well around the balls of my feet. I had a suspicion this would be the case as the padding in that area is very thin. They were a little sore, especially on my right foot.

My mate does a lot of running and he recommended Sorbothane, so that is my next bit of kit research. This is something I definately need to nail before the Camino next year.