Longshaw Limber celebrates the Centenary of the National Trust. It takes in some
of the best that the Peak District has to offer and yet it starts within 15
minutes of England
’s fifth largest city, Sheffield.
There's plenty on offer – splendid scenery, haunting moorland, old halls, gritstone edges, a famous
village and 4,200ft of ascent.
The walk starts at Longshaw with a panorama of the country park before climbing
up on to White Edge and gritstone Froggatt Edge where huge half worked
millstones lie redundant from a bygone age. At Froggatt the 17th-century bridge
which spans the wide Derwent has curiously two arches odd in size and odd in
shape, and the country which rises to the heights of Eyam is steeped in
tragedy. On the slopes are Riley Graves (National Trust) where seven of one
family in the plague stricken village were buried in eight days. The climb out
of Eyam to Sir William Hill is rewarded by some outstanding views before a
descent to the sheltered valley of Abney Clough and babbling Highlow Brook.
Beyond Offerton the broad river Derwent keeps company until Shatton bridge.
There's a steady ascent to Win Hill with views of Ladybower Reservoir and the
Derwent Valley, then Kinder Scout plateau on the descent to Hope Cross and
Haggwater Bridge.
Walking the hilltop beside dark forestry plantations to Crookhill Farm soon
Ashopton Viaduct becomes a feature of the landscape set against glittering
expanses of water. And having crossed the reservoir a dramatic moorland
sometimes associated with Jane Eyre is traversed near Moscar.
The last leg of the Limber is not without drama too. A magnificent panorama from
the gritstone Stanage Edge, Higger Tor and Carl Wark, a dark age hill fort that
overlooks the Burbage valley before returning to Longshaw Estate and perhaps a
well-earned drink at nearby historic Fox House Inn.
