Chrome Hill and beyond

Our walk this week saw us scaling new heights. Chris, our leader for the day, had set us a challenging route from Longnor, up Chrome Hill (pronounced "Croom" by the cognescenti),  then to the well-known Dowall Hall, Earl Sterndale and the final challenge of High Wheeldon.

It was a challenge but the views were worth it.

On route to Base Camp

This was our first target - Chrome Hill - 430m/1,411ft. It is a limestone reef knoll on the Derbyshire side of the upper Dove valley.

To get there we went past Park House Hill - another reef knoll. Both hills are believed to have existed during the Carboniferous period when what is now the Peak District was covered by a tropical sea.

Yes, it really was this steep!

This week we welcomed Andy to our team - not sure that he knew what he had let himself in for!

As Chris told us, Chrome Hill contains good exposures of Gigantoproductus fossils and is thought to have taken its unusual name from the Old English crumb meaning curved or sickle-shaped.

However what he did not tell us was that Chrome Hill has had songs written in its honour by the Norwegian musicians Sigurd Hole (“Chrome Hill”) and Jonas Howden Sjøvaag (“Up on Chrome Hill”). In 2008 the Norwegian jazz quartet Damp changed its name to Chrome Hill.

The views from the top were spectacular

Me and my shadow!

Chris decided that we should make a brief detour to Dowall Hall. The Hall is a 17th Century farmhouse and is opposite the Dowel Cave (note the different spelling). The cave contains evidence of Old Stone Age occupation perhaps 20,000 years ago, when it was used by hunting parties seeking out game in the surrounding hills. So it was worth the slight detour!

Our next port of call would be Earl Sterndale - we decided to give the Buxton Raceway a miss

The local pub, had an unusual name “The Quiet Woman” and the pub sign depicts a headless woman, with the words 'Soft words turneth away wrath'. It is thought to depict one nagging wife known as chattering Charteris. The story goes that her husband lost control one day and cut off her head, to the approval of the villagers.

Earl Sterndale is a village in the Upper Dove Valley 1100 feet above sea level. The farms surrounding the village were medieval monastic granges in the care of the monks of Basingwerk Abbey. The village church, dedicated to St Michael, was built in 1828 on the site of an ancient chapel. It was substantially destroyed in 1941, when it was mistakenly bombed by the enemy, the only church in Derbyshire to be hit by a German bomb. It was restored in 1952 and still contains a Saxon font.

A touch of Spring in the village

High Wheeldon was our next challenge

The a pyramidal hill (422m/1,383ft) was presented to the National Trust in 1947 by Mr F.A. Holmes of Buxton as a war memorial to county regiments.

At the summit we took in the views, and Andy decided to pay homage to the Trig Point!

Chris had marched us up to the top of the hill and now he marched us down again

One last look at Chrome Hill from afar - you can see the "sickle" shape clearly from this angle

On the final stages now back to Longnor

If you see a walker with only one boot, this could be the missing one!

Notice to potential customers seen on an anvil outside a shop in Longnor

Back to base and a job well done.

By the time we arrived back, it was after 3pm and the pubs in Longnor were closed. However we discovered The Royal Oak in Hurdlow (on the way back to Monyash). This gem of a pub - described on the net as a having “a relaxed country atmosphere in an open-plan beamed pub, with a wide choice of fairly priced local food all day, friendly helpful service” - served an excellent pint of Whim Ales from Hartington –we will return.