A Walk Around Winster

Karen was still recovering from her cold and we both slept in very late until 10:00 in the morning. There was still plenty of snow around but the roads seemed OK, and although the sky was overcast, the weather forecast was for light snow showers but with strong winds.
I planned on walking from near the top of Winnats Pass down into Castleton and then back up Cave Dale but changed my plans when arriving at my planned starting point. Due to the wind, snow was drifting in places across roads and I had found a few tricky bits on the way when driving along the A623 near Tideswell with drifted snow on the road. Luckily it was shallow and not too bad. I turned off by the Wanted Inn at Sparrowpit leading towards Winnats Pass and passing the P8 lay-by I saw it was covered in deep snow as was the farm track leading to Peakshill Farm which is the usual parking place for Giants Hole.

A523 at Sparrowpit

Near Oxlow Farm there was quite a bit of drifted snow, luckily stall passable with care (I was driving a 4x4 so not too bad) and arriving at the junction with Winnats Pass, I saw some people parked making adjustments to their snowboards.

Mam Tor from the road near Oxlow Farm

 I dropped down the Pass as far as Winnats Head Farms and saw the road ahead was very slushy. The problem would be that the road narrows here and gets steeper and if I was t meet someone else coming up, I may not be able to stop in time. Plus if there were any more snow showers, I may have difficulty getting home again.
So, I turned around and retraced my route back to the A6 at Sparrowpit and then turned towards Buxton hoping the A515 was clearer than the A623. No problems at all getting to Buxton nor through Buxton but there were snowdrifts again across the road on reaching Brierlow Bar. Not far past this there were “Road Closed” signs but plenty of vehicle tracks passing by so I chanced going onwards rather than return all the way back the way I had come.
Again there snowdrifts across the road, again not deep, but now lasting several hundred yards at a time. The worst section was near the Bull I' Th' Thorn pub which was quite long and also the deepest snowdrift yet.

A515 near Parsey Hay

Past this section there were more long sections of the A515 with snowdrifts bur luckily no deeper. The track leading to the Orpheus Caving Club was covered in deep snow with evidence of a vehicle having driven along it some time before as the tracks weren't very fresh.
There was a corresponding “Road Closed” sign pointing in the opposite direction near the Newhaven junction and I passed this and the headed back towards Winster. The road linking the A5012 with the B5056 was covered in snow but not too bad.
I parked at home and had a quick lunch. After this I decided I may as well just walk locally around the village. So I followed along Main Street, turned up East Bank by the Market Hall then along the Public Footpath which leads between a couple of houses into the fields at the rear. Here there quite a few adults as well as children taking advantage of the long sloping field and were out sledging.
I followed onwards along the footpath then after passing through a stile, turned up-slope to the track which forms part of the Limestone Way.
I followed this track to the road by Mosey Mere and crossed the road by the Winster Ore House to the minor road I had driven along earlier. Turning off the minor road I followed the continuation of the Limestone Way along the Portway, crossing the Elton Road and down Dudwood Lane. Part way along the Lane, I followed a Public Footpath sign leading across a few fields to arrive at the B5056 at a stile. Following the B5056 for a short distance to the crossroads leading to Elton and Winster, I turned left heading back towards Winster then through the churchyard onto the bottom of West Bank, then into Main Street and home.