21/04/2012 - Training Walk #15 - Conquering The Matterhorn (of The Peak)

Shutlingsloe Hill - The Matterhorn of The Peak

With Gurkha Training cancelled, we had hastily arranged a training walk which we felt would be an adequately punishing replacement. On previous training walks to Croker Hill, we had noted an oddly shaped peak further out into the Peak District. Lee had referred to this as 'Table Top' but reviewing the OS did not provide any hills by that name.

After a careful bit of comparing contours we reckoned this hill must be Shutlingsloe Hill and further Googling led us to find this was the third highest hill in The Peak District and nicknamed 'The Matterhorn of The Peak' because of its steep sides resembling the orignal.

Perfect we thought - throw in another hill and another and another and suddenly we were looking at 21km and over 700m of climbing - the most climb we have done to date and about 30% of Trailwalker.

Meeting up in a car park near Allgreave at 9am, Mark, Martin and Lee were suitably psyched up for what was coming, especially given that Mark had been at a charity auction for his children's Primary School until the early hours and was fully refreshed after 5 1/2 hours of sleep.

The Roaches and Lud's Church

The first hill was Tagsclough Hill, a reasonably gentle 140m climb skirting the edge of the hill which we took in our stride apart from the heavily waterloogged paths which resembled streams. 

As we came over the top we we were greeted with a view across towards Gun Hill and The Roaches where we have a future walk planned and watched as a buzzard flew low across the nearby field chasing a terrified rabbit (we didn't see if he suceeded).

Shutlingsloe seen from Birchenough Hil

Descending down towards Gradbach we crossed the River Dane and walked past the nearby Youth Hostel which was busy as we passed a few groups of walkers headed in the opposite direction probably towards Lud's Church. 

Following the Dane Valley Way, we crossed back over the river and started our climb to Birchenough Hill which for ease we have renamed Brian Clough Hill for ease of pronunciation (now then young man).


This was to be about 190m of climb and this is a hill where a B17 Flying Fortress crashed in the WWII due to poor visibility. As we reached the peak there was no obvious sign of the memorial to the aircrew so a little more research required to find it next time. We had estimated 1hr 44mins to the top and were a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. As we came over the top, the daunting shape of Shutlingsloe came into view, partially shrouded in mist, daunting because we knew this was to come next - but only after we had descended all the way back down.

Previous conquests - Mow Cop, The Cloud and Croker Hill

As we started the 240m climb to the top of 'The Matterhorn', we were passed by numerous walkers coming down and felt a little envious as they were heading downhill and we seemed to be the only ones going up. The thing with Shutlingsloe isn't so much the total climb, it's the way it manifests itself. It's almost parabolic in shape, getting steeper the further you climb. The last 300m to the summit rises 100m - a 1 in 3 gradient which took its toll on the legs but reaching the trig point felt such an achievement and the views were quite something. 

Mark recovers at the top with a snack

We had reached the top in 2hrs 25minutes, a good 10 minutes ahead of schedule and we agreed we'd have a rest and a snack at this point, which isn't something we've tended to do but as the walks get longer we need to get into the habit of refuelling and having short breaks, it also gave us time to enjoy the spectacular views while perching precariously to shelter from the wind.

After the brief pit-stop we felt reinvigorated and descended the hill on the other side towards Macc Forest. As we walked along, Martin threw in a question - if you could have any celebrity in your Support Team, who would it be? Immediately John Bishop was unamimously declared in charge of 'Motivation' and a debate ensued as to who would be team chef. Gordon Ramsay was decided to be perhaps a little too aggresive and Greg Wallace while not a chef was suggested for his sweet tooth and this might be a boost for the team. On team massage, Mel Sykes was put forward but the team struggled on who to put on logistics as the discussion then expanded to the ten people living or dead you'd like to invite to a dinner party. This whiled away the time as we entered and passed through Macclesfield Forest descending to the reservoirs as Tegg's Nose came into view (which is another possible extension to this walk at some point).

Tegg's Nose overlooking the reservoir

As we reached the dam of the reservoir, it was time to head upwards again to climb our fourth and final hill and a 170m climb which just as we thought was over, went up again and again sapping the already tired legs - this is the most we had climbed to date and it was becoming evident.

The sight of the cars in the car park was welcome after 4hrs and 57minutes, 5 minutes longer than  we were looking for but that didn't allow for a break in the middle, so we were nevertheless pleased with our performance and celebrated this at The Hanging Gate, a pub we had walked past on the way.

The stats for this training walk are here.

31/03/2012 - Training Walk #11 - Croker Strikes Back

The weather had certainly broken as we drove to Rushton Spencer this morning. A misty gloom with slight drizzle had descended and had us wondering what conditions may be like at the top of Croker Hill. Martin met us at the car park at the back of the Knot Inn which given he would be driving to Cambridge after our walk to pick his son up from University certainly showed commitment.

Approaching Golden Hill

We were heading up a route Lee and Mark had walked previously to the top of Croker Hill and then descending it and coming back a different way. On our previous outing, it had taken us 1hour and 50minutes to the top of Croker Hill so with that in mind we set off at a brisk pace. We found it a lot easier this time as the mist wasn't as bad as before, it had begun to clear and the route was familiar from a month ago.

The Cloud in er....cloud.

As we climbed steadily from the Dane Valley we could see other local hilltop landmarks coming into view. One of our regular favourites, The Cloud was shrouded with mist and as we looked around we could see The Roaches and Hen Cloud, somewhere we have yet to experience and agreed that it would have to be part of a future training walk at some point. As we cleared the top of Golden Hill heading for Croker Hill, we identified Tegg's Nose and Macclesfield Forest in the distance and thought that would be another good walk extension to have at some point.

The Roaches and Hen Cloud imposing in the distance

 We ascended Croker Hill and touched the gates to the BT tower after 1hour and 35minutes - a good 15minutes quicker than our previous attempt. At an average 5.0km/h we were pleased with this, so we broke out the energy bars and started our descent back and into unfamiliar territory.

As we descended through a field we came upon our first group of Scouts heading towards us, the first of many groups we would see as they navigated with map and compass. 

Croker Hill - we can see it this time!

 It was heartwarming to see so many kids doing this. Realising that Trailwalker has a minimum age of 18 we decided we couldn't recruit any of them for our 4th member and besides, they would probably only show us up.

The only slight confusion on the walk back was where a footpath ran through a farmyard and the farmer appeared to have done as much as possible to remove markers and make the route as uncomfortable as possible. Once off the Gritstone Trail,we ran out of the steady stream of Scouts and the path became very scenic, taking us up and downhill, through fields and woodland back towards Rushton Spencer.

We arrived back at the cars in 3hours and 50minutes, a good 30minutes faster than we had expected overall. A celebratory pint was called for in the Knot Inn, though Martin with the drive to Cambridge to follow restricted himself to a quick Coke. Salivating at the pies being served up, a plan was hatched for future, longer training walks where a small break might be in order - sorted.

Lee and Martin contemplate carrying on to Tegg's Nose

The total climb today was 497m which was less than was expected with a total distance of 17.88m at an average speed of 4.7km/h but at 27.8m/km this was one of our toughest yet. The stats for this walk are here.

Total team distance walked so far in training (not including some individual stuff by Lee and Martin) is 471km with 9521m of climb (Everest weighs in at 8850m) and we've been walking for 7 days 3hours and 28minutes.....and counting! There's still a long way to go - but we're happy with the way the training is going so far. Now, about that 4th member......