Mam Tor and other lumps and bumps

The forecast for the Lakes, our usual playground was forecast to be particularly nasty this weekend so South we went and headed for a lovely route that would take us up and over Mam Tor and the surrounding lumps ending on Lose Hill.

The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was how cold it was.  I was layered up but jings there was a nippy bite in the air and it took me a few mins to get going and get some warmth into my body.

Luckily as the walk progressed out from the village of Castleton the air temperature grew and soon a layer was shed as we walked up past the Blue John caves and up past Windy Knoll over to the right to the path that would take us backwards up onto onto Mam Tor.

As we approached the little steep short path that goes from the road up onto Mam Tor it was like several coaches had turned up and suddenly there was hoards of people milling about. Families, people with dogs, runners, dawdlers, all sorts of folks, out for the day, enjoying the countryside.

From the road its a pretty short walk up to the Trig Point of Mam Tor and the views are pretty stunning.  To the left over to the Kinder Range and to the left sights of the little villages and industries dot the landscape.

Surprisingly most of the hoards that had accompanied us up to the trig point seemed to disappear as we ventured forward along the path towards the other lumps.   The mist that had dogged us at the beginning of the day was lifting and the sun was trying to make an appearance.  The temperature was continuing to rise and there was a lovely little breeze billowing up from Hope Valley below.

The scenery around here really is quite stunning and the light was just perfect to capture the rolls and waves of the landscape.  The path lead us up and over a couple of bumps before leading us on to the round cylindrical marker of the trig point on Lose Hill.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to continue our walk down and over to Win Hill but we'll save that for another day.  Following the path down into Castleton we had the pleasure of seeing a Harrier hunting on the edge of the woods.  Unfortunately I didn't have my telephoto lens with me that day and as we got a bit close to her we could see she was spooked.  I'm calling her she but I have no idea if she was female but my instincts were that she was.

A lovely walk and a great day out and about 12 miles covered over these lovely bumps.  A quick pop into the Cheshire Cheese Pub for a well deserved drink and then we made our escape as Castleton was absolutely jam packed with folks out for the day.  Beautiful little village which I'm sure we'll be back to at some point.