We’ve just arrived home from a wet and windy weekend in the Peak District – that’s two birthdays there in the torrential rain, so maybe next year we’ll go somewhere else! After a quick walk yesterday morning before the rain came down, we had a cosy afternoon in our B&B, before packing up first thing this morning for the drive home. It was blowing an absolute hooley but there were clear blue skies, so we stopped off for a quick walk on our way home, deciding on a short out-and-back walk up to Stanage Edge.
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Every Peak District walking guide will include a route up Stanage Edge – our Cicerone guide even has two! We just wanted a quick walk today so we wouldn’t be arriving home too late, so we settled on the linear route detailed in our Countryside Dog Walks guide for the northern Peak District.
Starting from the free car park at Burbage Bridge, the walk is a quick there and back again route. From the car park, cross the road and turn left to pick up the path running alongside the road, following this path across the moor and over rocky ground to reach the trig on Stanage Edge. From here, you can walk further along the ridge, or retrace your steps back to the car park.
When you reach the trig, a view across the valley opens up and is really quite impressive. I thought there would be more people hanging around the trig (the car park was fairly busy and we could see people on the ridge as we approached), but actually we had it all to ourselves. We didn’t stop for long to enjoy it though as it rapidly became apparent that the reason there were no people at the trig was because the wind there was absolutely brutal! I had no idea if you could even see the trig in the photos I’d taken until we got back to the car, as the wind was making my eyes water so much I couldn’t see through the view finder at all. With a two hour drive home ahead of us we beat a hasty retreat back to the warmth of the car.
Considering the amount of rain we’d had the day before, we were pleasantly surprised by the condition of the path. Yes, it was squelchy in places with a few puddles here and there, but nowhere near as wet underfoot as we were expecting. That being said it’s only the first weekend of October, so I’m not sure what it’ll be like once winter truly sets in! There is a short section where you’ll need to clamber over some rocks to get to the top, but this is very short and should be manageable for most people. There are of course the longer rocky ascents used by climbers, but we were quite happy with the normal path!
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Due to ground nesting birds on the moor, you should keep your dogs on a lead on this walk. Despite this, it’s not a bad dog walk: as well as enjoying the lovely views you can also enjoy the absence of stiles and not having to walk on the road (as there is a path which runs alongside). There is a big puddle off the side of the path where your dog can cool down if it’s hot, although this may dry up in summer during prolonged dry spells. Both of ours love the opportunity to have a snuffle in the bracken and heather and certainly managed to do plenty of it on this walk – lots of decompression and mental stimulation.
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