Walk Diary   Wednesday 22 February 2012                Weather, 9⁰ C  Foul

Middleton Top CP               Depart 10 am       7 ½ miles       Leader: Gerry White

Wet and windy the forecast, wet and windy it was, right from the off we had to cover up and make the most of a bad job. More surprisingly there were twenty-two in our party today. Why do we do it? In an effort to appease the masses, our leader tried to make the walk shorter, he did manage to do this from the time element, but from the distance angle he failed miserably, in fact instead of the usual seven, we did 7.7 miles. We left the car park, having paid our dues, and headed off west along the HIgh Peak trail dropping down, eventually, to find Carsington Pastures via Stone Dene. The pastures, I am told, were once one of the largest unfenced pastures in the county. In fact, it is about 365 acres of open grazing land rising to 1,000 feet above sea level; the land is pock marked with the remains of old lead mines which were the main source of wealth for the village for several hundred years after the Romans first worked it. Once we had struggled our way to the top, the wind and rain still driving into our faces, we were faced with the prospect of a very, very steep and slippery descent into what is left of Carsington Village, the rest lying beneath the surface of Carsington Reservoir. From the top of the pastures, we were glad to see the water levels of the reservoir getting back to something nearer normal, as we hear that many parts of the south are still suffering near drought conditions.

We made for Brassington and the quarry car park for lunch sitting around the edges, trying to find as much shelter as possible in which to eat a quick lunch, cocooned inside our waterproof suits. Soon we were on our way again, but not without incident, as one of our number chose to make a spectacle of themselves; fortunately, the problem was quickly resolved and we soon gained the High Peak trail once more. On another day, we would not have chosen to take the trail all the way back to the car park, it is quite straight and a little monotonous, but given the conditions, perhaps, for the best. We had just managed to get out of our walking clobber and into the cars, when another heavy downpour began, one of those days that fortunately we don’t encounter too often. Quite nice to get home into the warm and dry.