Derwent Edge

It was supposed to be a misty start and cold with the mist clearing later as we left Fairholmes car park in the Upper Derwent Valley and after passing the impressive Derwent Dam, we followed the track along the shore of the Upper Derwent Reservoir.

Leaving the reservoir track, we followed a path leading up the valley carrying the Abbey Brook until there was a junction of footpaths where one headed to the south-west towards the small summit known as Lost Lad.

We could see that higher up the features were all enveloped in mist. As we followed a section of path on boggy ground which was paved with large limestone flags until we arrived at the cairn and topograph on Lost Lad.

After a pause to examine the topograph which displays all the hills and surrounding features from that point, which of course were invisible due to the mist, we continued on the paved path until the nearby rocky tor of Back Tor loomed out of the mist.

There was a bit of a cold wind so we sat in the lee of the tor to have lunch and a few walkers passed by appearing out of the mist and again disappearing.

After lunch we continued onwards along the path which follows Derwent Edge passing other rock formations on the way, some of which we couldn't see because of the mist. Eventually we arrived at another large rocky tor called Wheel Stones where again we had a short break out of the cold wind.

A few hundred metres beyond Wheel Stones we met a crossroads of footpaths by a line of shooting butts and we followed the right-hand turning on a path which led down out of the mist to intersect a bridle way where we met a few mountain bikers laboriously making their way up towards the Edge,

The bridleway route took us down passing some stone-built barns and a nice old barn converted to a walkers shelter and then onto a minor road which services some house located along the reservoir.

We followed the minor road for about a mile back to the dam and then the car park.