Walking - Win Hill Loop

Monday, 17 April 2017

My first outdoor activity in almost four months. This was due to two things: my knee injury and my partner's health problems which led us to spending time in hospitals rather than outdoors.

I have been to Win Hill summit number of times before but I always started from Hope. On this occasion, we parked the car in the lay-by next to The Yorkshire Bridge Inn i.e. other side o the hill. From there we walked towards Win Hill, crossed the bridge and then followed steep steps leading through the woods towards the summit.

Ascent is fairly steep and getting to the top will make you sweat but it's worth the effort.

First glimpses of Ladybower Reservoir after getting out of the forest

Despite chilly and overcast conditions, there were quite a few people at the summit but this should not be surprising keeping in mind this was a Bank Holiday Monday.

View towards Lose Hill and Kinder Scout

From the top, we followed a broad path (just visible on the above picture) along the summit ridge for about 2km and then we turned sharp left. The wide path took us down the hillside first towards Twitchill Farm and then Alston. On our way, we passed some abandoned farm buildings and clear signs of springs.

After passing Alston we chose to walk diagonally across the fields through a series of gates and stiles back towards the bridge where we started. The path became very muddy and staying on the road might have been a better choice.

We finally made it back to the bridge and after a short uphill walk back to the car. To me, this short trip felt like a relief after a few depressing months. I was wearing DonJoy FullForce brace on my right leg hoping it would prevent my knee giving way as it happened in Wales a few months earlier. I was ok but I don't think it had anything to do with the brace as such. Probably more down to me being more careful in general. At this point in time, I was still waiting for my MRI scan and did not know how poor state my knees were in.