Paul Lydon: Lose Hill from Castleton

After parking in the centre of Castleton, we followed Hollowford Road as far as the Hollowford Outdoor Centre and then along a track which is a Public Right of Way which passed behind Losehill Hall which recently became the location of Castleton Youth Hostel which used to be in a smaller building on the Market Square.

The track continued as far as Spring House Farm from where a concreted farm track followed uphill towards the top of Lose Hill.

The Right of Way on the track left the track at a stile into a very muddy corner of a field and then continued uphill to meet another footpath near Losehill Farm which we then followed to a piece of land called Wards Piece after crossing two more stiles.

A section of path with rocky steps then brought us to the summit of Lose Hill where we found a spot sheltered from the cold wind on the Edale side of the hill just below the summit. We sat here for a short break and a coffee from our flasks.

We then followed the path along the Great Ridge heading towards Mam Tor. Luckily it was clear, if a bit hazy unlike Kinder Scout and Bleaklow which largely were covered with cloud.

We dropped down Back Tor and arrived at Hollins Cross. Again, we dropped downhill s short distance to find shelter from the wind and ate our lunch.

From Hollins Cross we dropped down from the ridge on a gradually dropping path leading to Mam Farm after the path joined a farm track for a short distance. The path was very muddy in parts and a bit slippery.

There was a small gate by the farm which led to another Public Footpath which we could see on the map headed back towards Castleton. We started following a path formed by shortened grass heading towards a farm in the distance. Soon we realised we had gone wrong as we appeared to be on a sheep track and arrived at a fence, although one corner was collapsed on the ground. After studying the map for moment, we realised we had veered off the route of the path which should be more over towards the old road from Mam Tor near to Odins Mine.

So we retraced our route for a short distance and soon found a small gate and well used and muddy path which confirmed we were back on our intended path.

Near to here we were passing what looked like an old gritstone gate post which I noticed had an odd pattern of lines on its face. After having a closer look I saw it was a shallow carving of a hand holding a small hammer. On the opposite face, there was another shallow carving with a hand with an extended index finger pointing upwards and the words “Odin Mine” above it. So obviously this was and old Guide Stoop indicating the route to nearby Odin Mine. The Public Right of Way we were following was probably the old route miners would have taken from the village of Castleton to and from the mine in years gone by.

We followed the path across several fields along side a small brook called Odin Sitch. Soon we walked between two high stone garden walls passing between a couple of houses opposite Peak Cavern or “The Devils Arse” and we joined the footpath alongside the road from Winnats Pass into Castleton village.