Footpath hopping... a couple of snippets on the Inn Way... to the Peak District and the Derbyshire Portway (Footpaths 8 & 9)

“The Inn Way... to the Peak Disrict” is a long distance (84 miles/135 km), 6-day circular walk through the Peak District via 53 traditional country pubs. It’s not waymarked and coincides with several other established paths. Big Dave will only be walking along this route for a short distance before it joins up with the Derbyshire Portway.

According to J. Butler (another End 2 End walker), the path leading out of Edale towards Hollins Cross is beautiful, despite being a slow and steep climb.

Hollins Cross itself is part of the Great Ridge - a ridge separating the vales of Edale and Castleton in Derbyshire. It extends for approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Mam Tor at the western end of the ridge to Lose Hill at the eastern end, the lowest point being Hollins Cross... which is why Big Dave will be getting on there!

A path runs along the length of the ridge, and is roughly paved to prevent erosion caused by the large number of visitors. The route will take him along the Great Ridge only so far as Mam Tor, a 517 m (1,696 ft) hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, where the view is purported to rank as one of the best in the Peak District (provided it’s not characteristically blowing everyone clean off the hill!).

It’s at the summit of Mam Tor, that the Inn Way... to the Peak District gets subsumed by the Derbyshire Portway, an ancient prehistoric trackway which can be traced from the north of Derbyshire to the edge of Nottingham at Stapleford. Big Dave will only follow it for a very short distance down from Mam Tor and then due south until it reaches the Limestone Way just southwest of the Titan Shaft and west of Peveril Castle.

 

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