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For this walk, we’re in the White Peak area of the Peak District for a ramble through
Coombs Dale. We start in the village of Stoney Middleton,
head through Coombs Dale, past a quarry, over the main road, walk along a cliff edge,
avoid Lover’s Leap and back to the start. It’s about 4 miles and should take about
And today, I’m not alone, as I’m joined by two giants of the outdoors online world…
…in the red jacket is Gareth Jones from the online retailer Webtogs,
and in the black, Dave Mycroft, from the UKs leading outdoors website My Outdoors.
Parking is quite limited in Stoney Middleton. We’ve parked in the Moon Inn’s car park
– and we’re making sure we have meal there
later. From The Moon Inn, we walk along the busy
A623 – but not for too long, before we cross and
start our journey into Coombs Dale. Despite being perhaps one of the Peak District’s
least known dales, Coombs Dale it is situated only a few hundred
yards from the Calver crossroads, and is accessed by this path and a well-concealed
tree-lined entrance. The Dale is part of a Special Area of Conservation
totalling over 230 acres which is home to a
wide range of nationally important wildlife habitats,
most of which are there because of the carboniferous limestone Coombs Dale is formed upon.
It’s an amazingly secluded dale which is a
refuge for many of Britain’s most threatened species,
and it pays to keep your eyes open as you never know what you’ll see next.
The Coombes Dale and Stoney Middleton area is
one of the Peak District’s most haunted places
and we’re going to discover several gruesome stories along this walk.
Now, I met Gareth and Dave over the social media website
Twitter, which is a great way of finding people with similar interests and hobbies.
The beauty of social media over the internet is you already know people you talk – or
tweet – with quite well – and it didn’t take long
for the social side of walking to come out. Just ahead is an example of one of the many
mines in the White Peak – Sallet Hole Mine originally opened in the
1870s. The name is a corruption of the original Sallad
Hole – so called because the area grew “lush
and lime-fed salad” in the natural ravine. The Mine is host to a ghostly figure wearing
a long coat and cap has been spotted in the workings before vanishing into thin air.
Soon we’re at Black Harry Gate - named after Black Harry,
a notorious early 18th century highwayman who robbed the pack-house trains crossing
the moors around Longstone and Wardlow.
He had a very busy career until he was eventually arrested
and hung, drawn and quartered on the Gallows Tree at Wardlow Mires.
Here, we encounter the first major climb of the walk – up this stoney path.
High Fields in the distance is the highest point for some distance this side of the A623.
If you want a longer walk to see Wardlow Mires, you can take this public footpath on the left…
..but our trek continues to find out more about the area’s bloody past.
Although the White and Dark Peaks are both areas of the Peak District,
there are big differences between them – not just in the shape of the land, but
in the geology. The White Peak is littered with these saucer
shaped shallow artificial ponds – called Dew Ponds –
where rainfall – and not actually dew – sinks through the permeable limestone,
carving out caves and potholes. They are not seen Dark Peak, as the area’s
impermeable gritstone prevents rainfall from sinking.
We’re dropping down now to cross over Middleton Lane here at Lane Head...
before continuing our descent. In February, the nakedness of these trees
shows much more of the White Peak landscape.
People have quarried in the Peak District since Roman times for Limestone to use as
building stone and mortar. In the 19th century, there were numerous
small quarries extracting limestone – but by the 1920s there were about a dozen
quarries. This is one of the few quarries left, Darlton
Quarry. The public footpath crosses the access road
to the quarry, and with the amount of vehicles passing in
and out, take care crossing this road…
but if nothing’s coming, the sheer size of the quarry is impressive –
even if it’s very existence has been a hotly debated topic for many years.
Dropping down even further and we meet Dale Brook,
before crossing the busy A623 and head a little up the B6521,
before turning right next to an electricity sub-station.
Now here’s where Gareth and I had a surprise… This is Shining Cliff which marks the start
of a quite dramatic and interesting cliff-ridge walking
section along part of Middleton Dale – which is designated a Site of Special Scientific
Interest. The area contains ancient woodland,
as well as types of a scrub community of dogwood now uncommon in Derbyshire.
The walk here provides some exhilarating views. As I’m trekking at the back,
Dave and Gareth are already investigating one
of the 3 entrances to Carlswark Cavern – a cave system with over 3 km of passages.
A popular trip for novices starts at this entrance
and exits on the far side of Eyam Dale Road near where we turned off the road earlier.
And here’s a little bit of potholing footwear advice…
…so with that little bit of insight, we back off walking
Now, we’re heading towards another place which seals
Stoney Middleton’s gruesome past. In 1791, a local girl called Hannah Baddaley
fell in love with William Barnsley, and the couple courted for almost a year.
However, William lost interest in Hannah and broke off their courtship.
Hannah was devastated and ran to the top of the
80ft cliff above these buildings, where she threw herself off.
Fortunately, Hannah was saved from death by her petticoats acting as a parachute.
Thereafter this cliff was known as 'Lovers' Leap'
and it is said that her ghost still re-enacts her jump from the cliff.
Within minutes, we’re back at The Moon Inn – and ready for that meal.
Subtitles copyright 2011 Nova Subtitling