Chabux two

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Exploring the stunning views along Black Edge Access Land. This route passes Chapel-en-le-Frith rail station but has no other services. Possibility of sheep and a steady long climb. The access land has good access i.e. at entrance and exit, not always the case.

I walked from Chapel and was soon passing through a pleasant park before another area of housing then the climb to the inconveniently location station which claims to serve the town. The climb had quickly started and beyond the railway level crossing it steepens along the drive to Bank Hall. This good surface allowed my eyes to wander and take in the view over Combs Reservoir.

No close encounter with the Hall but if the gate lodges passed on route are a guide it must be impressive. Crossing the minor road we enter Access Land and the climb gets steeper. It’s not surprising the top is marked as an Iron Age Hill Fort site with a double rampart to the south protecting the only flat approach. The views to west, north and east are fantastic and the morning mist has now cleared, replaced by low winter sunshine.

We start along Short Edge which just falls inside the Peak District National Park. The path is well defined as it gently turns from eastwards to south to pass Hob Tor. Bleak heather clad moorland to the right while the action of humans is clear to the left with a network of walled fields, a railway and traffic on the A6 all very tiny in the distance below me. A wall also keeps company with the path and this marks the access land boundary. The sentinel trig pillar is acknowledged with a short pause while we watch a helicopter drop a builders bag at an unseen location. A web search offers, “….moorland restoration plan for Combs Moss with the capital works starting in Autumn 2023 and being largely completed by 31st March 2024. Additional Sphagnum planting in HLS heather cuts will happen in the following four years.” I saw in two streams newly placed stone which I guess had been delivered by the helicopter.

There is a choice of paths down this route takes, what looks on the map, the less steep path so is a little longer than alternatives. Signs here indicate ‘Lightwood’ managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust so it’s perhaps that organisation or the Peak Park authority we should thank for the substantial footbridge, without which our path would be obstructed by a fast flowing water course. Another picture my phone appears to take but failed to record, I wonder why?

From here it’s a popular and easy walk which soon enters the housing of Buxton. I was attracted by the Arts and Crafts houses at 197 and 199 designed in 1903 by Parker and Unwin, names unknown to me but with an impressive CV. as I discovered with a Google search.

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