Camping in the Peak District - Part 1

So this past weekend was spent in the Peak District, specifically around Edale, with Mr. Will Thompson and Sir. Timothy McCormick. We found a nice little campsite tucked away in the middle of nowhere, which took some fun rally driving around roads that weren't even coloured in on our road atlas.

We got set up and went out for a stroll on the Friday before discovering our local, The Nags Head, famed for its own brand of beer, which was surprisingly nice. I also thoroughly enjoyed the local cider, Gray's - highly recommended if you find it anywhere.


_{Will didn't take a picture of those lovely drinks, so here's a bridge we saw on the Friday instead}

Saturday was the beginning of some real walking, with...ready for it? With The Hardest Walk in '28 Walks in the Peak District'. Impressive stuff or what? It was only rated 'orange' in the scheme of assigning colours to difficulties, so we decided to do it backwards, which probably wasn't the most sensible of ideas. We started with a long, long hard climb up Jacob's Ladder - which was rather prosaically named after the following passage from the Bible:

And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed....

-- Genesis 28: 12-13 (KJV)


_{Tim and I stand heroically on a hill after the long climb}

Up amongst the clouds, we found a couple of sheep standing up near the very practically named 'Noe Stool' (and, with the high winds, I didn't feel like trying to disprove the namer's claim). They were very friendly, though one has to wonder why they bothered to climb all the way up here, instead of staying down in the relative warmth with their bretheren.


_{Tim, Will and Ina stand near Noe Stool}

We had to leave the sheep eventually, and trek on past many other interesting rocks along the top of the hill. Things got a bit hairy in the reduced visibility, but fortunately we were 'experienced walkers' and so felt confident to continue our walk. Seriously, I do wonder who writes these guidebooks - and I further wonder who doesn't consider themself experienced at walking. Other than possibly some Americans...


_{Need proof it was windy?}

We found a lovely iron covered stream at the top of our final hill, which Will bizzarely decided to descend. Fortunately, little death ensued and so after getting slightly lost, and briefly finding religion in order to obtain some signs as to the right direction, we managed to get back to the campsite. It did occur to me that God, whichever God, must get really pissed off at people misinterpreting signs. I believe what I actually remarked, and you have to imagine that I'm vocally impersonating a deity here, so it lacks somewhat when written, was: "NO! NO! I said feed the orphan, not destroy the infidels. Damnit." Probably funnier at the time...


_{Tim and I sensibly stay towards the top of the stream}