Piotr's Blog: Walking - Alport Castles from Ladybower

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Walking - Alport Castles from Ladybower

Sunday, 23 April 2017

Alport Castles in Peak District at last. I saw the area before but only from a distance, Grindslow Knoll or eastern flanks of Kinder Scout to be more precise. A few months earlier I would be there for a scramble but given my knee problem, I had to resist the temptation.

We started the walk from the lay-by located a couple of hundred meters south of Fairholmes car park so not from usual Snake Pass side.

From there we walked past Fairholmes and turned west towards Lockerbrook Farm.

View towards Ladybower Reservoir

Before the main path started dropping down to Snake Road we turned right and started crossing Rowlee Pasture.

We picked this day for a walk because of good weather and we were rewarded with great views towards Kinder Scout plateau but also south (Win Hill) and north (Bleaklow).

View towards Kinder Scout Plateau from Rowlee Pastures

Once we got to the Castles, we spent a good amount of time wandering around and sitting on the edge of the cliff. There is a small bird hide overlooking the cliff. We did see some birds of prey but I wasn't able to recognise them so I couldn't make a note in the book.

The scrambling route goes across the Tower that sits below the Castles. The Tower might seem small from above but it looks like a good challenge from below.

Not being allowed to climb it we...walked around it.

And found a potentially good wild camping spot. It's probably too close to the farm though.

Climbing back to the top of the cliff along the old disintegrated stone wall was a good exercise, made more demanding because of the already strong spring sun.

Come on! Just a few more meters left to the top

I wanted to make a loop out of this walk so we headed east towards Hawden Reservoir rather than south i.e. where we came from.

I must say that long return route wore me off. Especially the tarmacked section on the side of Hawden and Derwent reservoirs. This was partly due to the fact that I was wearing my DonJoy brace again and straps on the back of my leg were causing chafing.