Dark Peak Walks

Map keys

Overview map

Introduction

Geology

Plants and wildlife

History

The future

Local services and transport

The walks

Responsible walking

Maps and navigation

Using this guide

Eastern Dark Peak

Walk 1 Chatsworth to Birchen Edge

Walk 2 Longshaw Estate and the gritstone edges

Walk 3 Fox House to Big Moor

Walk 4 Fox House to Stanedge Pole

Walk 5 Grindleford to Higger Tor

Central Dark Peak

Walk 6 Hathersage to Stanage Edge

Walk 7 Wyming Brook to Stanage Edge

Walk 8 Bamford Moor

Walk 9 Win Hill to Hope Cross

Walk 10 Kings Tree to Shepherds Meeting Stones

Walk 11 Westend and Bleaklow Stones

Walk 12 Derwent Edge

Walk 13 Alport Castles and the Woodlands Valley

Walk 14 Margery Hill to Back Tor

Walk 15 Low Bradfield and Dale Dyke

Walk 16 Langsett to Howden Edge

Walk 17 Langsett to Pike Lowe

Walk 18 Torside to Bleaklow Head

Walk 19 Wildboar Clough to Lawrence Edge

Walk 20 Old Glossop to Bleaklow Head

Walk 21 Kinder Scout Northern Edge

Walk 22 Kinder Scout Western Edge

Walk 23 Kinder Scout

Walk 24 Kinder Scout Southern Edge

Walk 25 The Great Ridge

Northern Dark Peak

Walk 26 Dunford Bridge to Ramsden Clough

Walk 27 Crowden Horseshoe

Walk 28 Crowden to Chew Valley

Walk 29 Marsden to Black Hill

Walk 30 Alphin Pike to Birchen Clough

Walk 31 Binn Green to Great Dove Stone Rock

Walk 32 Cotton Famine Road

Western Dark Peak

Walk 33 Goyt Valley to Shining Tor

Walk 34 Derbyshire Bridge to Shutlingsloe

Walk 35 The Roaches

Long day walks

Walk 36 Marsden to Edale

Walk 37 Langsett to Edale

Walk 38 Gritstone edges

Walk 39 Edale Horseshoe

Walk 40 Kinder Scout skyline

Appendix A Route summary table

Appendix B Useful information

Appendix C Aircraft crash site locations

All walks have been plotted using Ordnance Survey online mapping tools. The main paper maps for the area are the OS Explorer Dark Peak OL1 and White Peak OL24. Harvey and the BMC Dark Peak maps are also useful. Always take a map and compass, even if you are using a GPS device.

A word of caution: do not underestimate the area. Walking on the high moors – Bleaklow, Kinder Scout, Derwent and Howden – requires excellent navigation skills, especially in winter. It also requires good equipment and a knowledge of how to use it, and clothing that is appropriate to the time of year. The use of walking poles when crossing moorland can be helpful for maintaining balance and forward motion. They can also be useful when descending some of the steeper sections of the walks.

Smartphones can prove invaluable, especially when combined with a mapping app. However, these do drain the batteries, so be careful. One advantage of having a smartphone should you get into difficulty and need assistance from Mountain Rescue is its ability to let the teams know where you are, making rescue a much easier and quicker process. It is therefore advantageous to carry one of these devices for emergency purposes.

Big skies in the Dark Peak (Walk 7)

December 2021

2021 reprint route updates

September 2019

Route update

"If you register your purchase, Cicerone will update you from time to time with corrections to the book. It is good to see a publisher committed to walk accuracy!"

Dark Peak Walks describes 35 circular walks (4-14) miles and 5 longer walks (15-28 miles). I am reviewing this book having completed 37 of the 40 walks described. There are 3 long linear walks which are difficult for me to do as a mostly solo walker. Each route has a description and a 1:50,000 map. GPX files for all the walks can be downloaded from the Cicerone website. The routes are fabulous and I have been taken to many new corners of the Dark Peak. For me the GPX files have been a game changer and have given me the confidence to complete routes where paths are indistinct or non-existent. Walk 16 Langsett to Howden Edge involves walking along Outer Edge – a slimy path on a misty January day where it is easy to go off course dodging the marshy bits. Later, the marker for turning right is the second of two wooden posts with stones at the base. Good luck with spotting that! The GPX route showed me I had gone too far and I was able to adjust and get back on track. On a foggy February day, coming down from Black Hill, the GPX route saved me again. There is one walk (22) which traverses the centre of the Kinder Plateau. Instructions read: from the trig pillar: 254° for 250m; 295° for 300m; 257° for 400m etc. Without my GPS and the relevant route, I wouldn’t have had a chance on this walk. I completed it 2 weeks ago and if I had to do it again, I would still need my GPS. The maps are 1:50,000 and some of the features mentioned in the walk description are not on the book maps. As advised in the introduction, you do need the 1:25,000 maps. The photography is excellent although it is interesting to note how few photos feature snow. This is perhaps a reflection of the milder winters we have had recently and the lack of snow. If you register your purchase, Cicerone will update you from time to time with corrections to the book. It is good to see a publisher committed to walk accuracy!
- Peter Barnett, reviewer

Paul Besley clearly knows this area of the Peak District well.

Paul Besley clearly knows this area of the Peak District well. He is a volunteer Ranger for the Peak District National Park and a member of Woodhead Mountain Rescue. I have always found Cicerone guidebooks to be well produced with excellent introductions to the area in question and containing detailed descriptions of well-chosen walks. This new guide is no exception.

I did the walk from Old Glossop to Bleaklow Head with a couple of friends to test out the guide, as this was a new route to me. It was an interesting walk taking in Cock Hill, Clough Edge, Torside Clough, Bleaklow Head, Wain Stones, Hern Stones, the B29 aircraft wreck, Higher Shelf Stones, and James’s Thorn. The route information was clear, with helpful compass directions where necessary. As the author says, it is always useful to carry the OS Explorer Dark Peak Map OS1 with you when walking in this part of the world. If you have a GPS enabled device to navigate, GPX files are available for free download via a link in the book.

My previous Cicerone guide to this area was ‘High Peak Walks’ by Mark Richards, first published in 1982. This was a Wainwright-style book, with hand-drawn maps and illustrations and thus had lots of detail that the new book lacks. However, the new guide has almost twice as many walks in about the same number of pages and, as I’ve indicated, contains sufficient detail to find one’s way – the key requirement of any guidebook. The new book also has the advantage of being completely up-to-date in terms of route finding and promises to provide many more pleasurable days if the Bleaklow walk is anything to go by. I look forward to taking it with me on future excursions in the Dark Peak.

This review is from Signpost 54, Summer 2017

Paul Besley clearly knows this area of the Peak District well.

I have always found Cicerone guidebooks to be well produced with excellent introductions to the area in question and containing detailed descriptions of well-chosen walks. This new guide is no exception.

The new guide has almost twice as many walks in about the same number of pages [as the previous edition] and, as I’ve indicated, contains sufficient detail to find one’s way – the key requirement of any guidebook. The new book also has the advantage of being completely up to date in terms of route finding and it promises to provide for many more pleasurable days. I look forward to taking it with me on future excursions in the Dark Peak.

Ian Salvage, Peak District National Park magazine

An excellent guide

The beauty of the gritstone Dark Peak is a distinct magnet to walkers...

As you would expect from Cicerone, each walk is clearly detailed including distance, terrain and local points of interest. Some walks are easy, some more challenging, providing a range of difficulties for all.

Treading these you will be able to feast on the areas dramatic scenery varying as it does with the seasons, catch a glimpse of man's footprint from archaeological sites to sadly derelict industrial remains from not so long ago and discover some fascinating local stories. This is an excellent guide, illustrated in colour with OS extract maps of the walks it contains.

The Bradway Bugle