Winter Wander February 2018

Wayne’s Wanderers at the Wellington Monument

With the January Wander taking up a seemingly permanent residence in early February and with January 2018 now thankfully out of the way, it was time for Wayne’s Wanderers to dust off their walking boots and get out for a spot of wandering.

It’s what we do…

At the appointed hour we all assembled at the main car park in Baslow, with the intended route being a long loop up to the Wellington Monument, along Baslow Edge, then Curbar Edge before dropping down into Froggat and finally along the river back to Baslow.

After the obligatory milling around, trips to the shop, toilet and other local amenities, we finally set off with good visibility but with the prospect of fog and snow looming in the hills. At some point in the woods above Baslow, we decided to go slightly off piste, but soon found ourselves up the garden path so to speak and had to scramble across walls and barbed wire to reach our destination, with Xanthe getting a fireman’s lift across a wall at one point.

At the top, we encountered snow, fog and lots of mud – not the muddiest walk we’ve ever done, but it was enough. While the fog prevented us from seeing much in terms of a view, the snow made for quite a surreal trip across the moors and edges.

After traversing more mud on the way down (which saw Alan taking the easier route down the road), we eventually reached Froggat and the River Derwent. Easier going from this point onwards, we thought, but that turned out to be wishful thinking as we soon found ourselves navigating more mud and wading though streams – you reach a certain point and just give up on your boots…

You can view the route for the walk here and also a video playback here.

After getting back to Baslow, we headed over to Tom’s place for the now legendary Dean Chilli, Spag. Bol. and a fish pie. All in all, another successful and enjoyable days’ wandering.

See you in Wales and Wander on!