Peak District National Park –England

Peak district is quite close from where I live in Birmingham. You can get into Buxton in around 2 hours by train. I arrived there in a miserable evening, English weather. I started walking West, crossing the Errwood Reservoir and after the moors. At this point I discovered what was all about the moors. I did not know what it was a moor.  It’s a place where it is impossible to camp, full of wet, mud and long herb.  I reach the Cat & Fiddle, a very hiker’s friendly pub with nice views of the area.  It was the perfect place to study the map and try to find a camping area. I headed to Panniers Pool and Bingo! Perfect spot with a waterfall! Trail dinner and set up a new tent – 1 person tent Ferrino, £80.00, you cannot ask for much at this price, it makes the job, 1,5 kg.

Pannier Pool

The Moors

Next morning, pack and full English breakfast in the Gradbach Hostel. I found the roaches area too tourist, full of climbing people and bus tours with stop in this iconic place, it deserves and more when you see the Doxey pool. In this day I pushed long to have dinner at Mermaid Pub. But crap, it is not open any more, please take this place from the maps.....Keep walking south until Onecote. I just found a farm that let you pitch you tent for just £5.00. Perfect, set up and go to the village for dinner. Nice pub brewing their own Ale plus steak. This is hiker’s heaven.

Day number three pass throw a village call Buttertton, beautiful, it is a mix of Lord of the Ring and Games of Thrones. I suggest this location to anyone that passes by. You can imagine how the old times here were with the knight and all that.  

Buttertton

From here the trail reach the Manifold Trail by the river. This area is nice for the proximity of the river but I got annoying for the number of bicycles that are there. You cannot relax in any moment if you don’t want to be run over. At this point I started to look for a place to camp, it is quite difficult as there are many farms or small villages and I don’t want to be woken up by the police. My only solution it was to go to the top of the tallest mountain and camp there. Child night with great views.

The highlight of the four day was the Monsal Dale. The old train rail had been transform in a walking path, creating a very special area.  Very tourist area but it’s been preserving adequately.  In the fourth day of hiking you don’t look any more like a 1 hour walk tourist; you start to look dirty dirty. It was my last night in the park and had a booking in the Ravenston Hostel. This was a large family house in the middle of the park that was donated to promote the area. Now, it is a very comfortable with great food , drinks, staff and fantastic views. 

This was the end of the trip, next day just walk to Buxton and take the train back. The Peak District is not a Park where to get lost in the wildness; you are always close to civilization. It’s a good place in the middle of England to disconnect. Just two complains:

      Fences – I know , there are there for the animals, but you cannot imagine how feed up I finish after 5 days

      Aggressive cows – I did not have any problem traversing areas with cows or bull during the first three days until I step into a parcel with maybe 50 Cows.  They start to surround me and follow me, I try to keep calm and keep walking, moving the poles to keep the distance, when I jump the fence I could breathe. I did not do anything different than before, no weird movement. After I search in Google and show up that several people dies a year in the UK by cows attack, normally accompanied by a dog. Farmers if a public path crosses your lands please don’t put aggressive cows.