I was beginning to think that the summer had been and gone, and to be fair it’s been decent, but that was through the full lockdown. I’m not always a believer in the weather apps and their accuracy but they got it bang on this weekend. Mixture of sun and rain but thankfully much more sun than rain, in fact I’ve burnt the top of my head. I’m thinking that is my own fault, I have lots of hats to wear in the good weather. 

Chrome and Parkhouse Hills

I decided that I wanted to continue my exploration of the Peak District this week, and as always one of my research tools is Youtube. I use it for all sorts of things and it came up trumps this weekend, with a few suggestions for Chrome Hill. I’m not the most avid really high hill walker but I don’t mind a few hills here and there, but the views of this hill were enough to get me to head out on Saturday morning.

The maps said it was near Buxton but not far away from Leek, but to park in a small village Earl Sterndale, so that’s where I headed. Sat Navs are great inventions, and I use mine alot, but it can take you on some wacky routes, trying to find you the shortest route. I was on the “Cat and Fiddle” road and was surrounded by fog, but so much of it that no picture opportunities where possible, and I was headed for some quirky looking hills.

Earl Sterndale was a lovely quaint village and I found the path behind the Quiet Woman pub, and set off looking for Chrome Hill, well it didn’t take me long before I was gazing out onto what is a marvellous sight, the hills of Chrome and Parkhouse. Starting off up the hill gave me a great vantage point to take an image of the both of them one behind the other. I’m really pleased with how these have turned out, I hope you like them to. 

I was soon overtaken by some young hikers who headed for the top of the hill, but I decided enough hills already and headed off around the side of Parkhouse Hill. As you approach even relatively small hills, they can look high when up close and both Parkhouse and Chrome Hill are no exceptions. You get a sense of scale from the hiker on the top of Parkhouse Hill, rather him than me in that heat, with my big heavy bag.

I spent a leisurely few hours walking along the paths that are very well signposted and took me to all the best low level vantage points. I really like the dry stone walls, they provide some fabulous leading lines on my images (a recurring theme). I decided to follow the country lanes back to the car and was thrilled as I came across a farm flying a Manchester City flag, a man after my own heart lives there. It was lunchtime and my pack lunch called my name, so off I went back to the car to tuck in.

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Rudyard Reservoir

It was far too early to head home, so I drove in no particular direction not having a clue where I was going. The only thing that focused my mind was the light on the dashboard telling me diesel was required. That focused my mind and I found a garage in Leek, thanks to my trusty Sat Nav. It really was early in the day but I thought I’d head home and maybe go out in the evening, but as I drove the Sat Nav  displayed a huge body of water with the title of Rudyard Reservoir. One of the acess roads was just up a head, so I took the opportunity and pulled in. It was quite busy, but everyone observed social distancing and I soon found the trail that would lead me alongside the water. With most “man made’ bodies of water there aren’t really many beaches and down the side I walked there were very little to choose from. 

Undeterred I walked on and soon realised that some competitive sport was taking place right in front of my eyes. No, it wasn’t jet skiing or sailing, there was an angling tournament going on. It was very easy to find spots where I was all by myself and I spent a good couple of hours taking images of the waters edge and whatever else was near the shoreline. 

There are some private facilities along the banks but these were all closed off and one such facility was the sea cadets training facility, so I decided to take a few images from behind the padlocked gate. Without the sign I had worked out that it was some form of launch area as there was a jetty, and there is an image of said jetty. 

Eventually I found a small scraggy beach and took up a spot on the edge of this and proceeded to take a few images of the small rocks in the shallow water close to the shore. I spun round and realised that I was not alone on the beach, with a couple of anglers there to keep me company. The image is one of a few that I took trying to smooth out the water using a ND filter, I’m still a novice at that but I do like the effect. I must remember to clean the filters regularly though, as stray bits of debris on them show up and can spoil some images.

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Langsett and Midhope Reservoirs

For those who have read my other blogs you will know that I have the OS book of circular walks in the Peak District, and todays walk was number 20. My friend Steve asked if I fancied a walk and we agreed that it would be a good walk not too hilly. On my hikes I carry my Sony RX100 camera and that fits easily in my pocket but is a more than capable camera that allows me to capture some great images. This means that I can walk further and be a little bit more adventurous with the hills I climb, not having to carry my camera gear. 

A short drive down the Woodhead Pass and not far from Sheffield, there is a great car park with all the facilities that Steve and I met up in at 9am. Its my experience that getting to these places early means you beat the masses and get the best car park spots.

The mileage in the book said 6.5 miles but my Viewranger app tracked our walked at just around 7.5 miles, maybe we weren’t quite on the right paths, but who cares. There are some great forests that the paths pass through and I’ve selected two images here of the Larch Trees (the book says they are) and they make great images I hope you agree. I’ve also got a soft spot for the dry stone walls and they are all over england and this walk was no exception. 

Once we got up on the hills above Langsett Reservoir there are some magnificent views looking down over some of the old stone walls, and ruins of some old American plantation buildings. All making great foreground interest in the images.

Great fun and we got back to the car just before the heavens opened and thye rain lashed down. Another good weekend.

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