8 Hikes in the Peak District

We’re doing a three part series covering the Peak District as we spend so much time here. This post is about all the hikes we have done within the Peak District.

Three Shires Head

We really enjoyed visiting here, it’s a 4 mile circular trip. You go through woodlands, fields and even a sheep pasture. You can always pop in for a swim too!

We used directions from Peak District Walks to make sure we knew where we were going. There are other paths to it but this was the best route we found when needing to park your car.

Bamford Edge

Bamford Edge provides a beautiful view over Ladybower Reservoir and the surrounding area. Its a short walk up and the view is so worth it.

The easiest method is to drive as close to Bamford Edge as you can. This means turning off Ashopton Road (the A6013) to follow the narrow lane up New Road. Before long, you will stumble across a pullover area you can park up at. Parking is limited to around a dozen cars and there are no car parks nearby, so it’s simply a case of first come, first served! Once you are here, hop out of your car and jump over the stile to follow the well-worn footpath up to Bamford Edge.

Lady Bower Reservoir

Ladybower reservoir in the stunning Derbyshire countryside has plenty of hikes that can be done from the car park, but the most popular is the Ladybower reservoir walk. This 5 mile/8 km route is great for beginners, as it’s fairly flat and has no gates. We’ve walked here a few times but have yet to make it all the way round.

Derwent Edge

We messed up when we came here, we’d just walked Bamford Edge and it was tough doing them one after the other. We also stopped following directions which didn’t help us and we ended up no where near our car. Idiots! From the top you are rewarded with views all the way along Ladybower Reservoir, with its iconic viaduct, and onwards to Crook Hill, Win Hill and over to the slopes of Kinder Scout.

This is a circular walk of 2.5 miles. The trails are clearly marked and easy to follow. It is ideal for energetic dogs as there are no stiles and you are unlikely to encounter cows, although there are often sheep on the moors as we found out when one jumped at Chris and Barney. Keep your dog under close control at all times. Parking is free. We used directions from let’s go Peak District.

Mam Tor

The stone surfaced footpath from the car park to the top of Mam Tor will reward you with one of the most dramatic viewpoints in the Peak District. It’s a constant incline from the Mam Nick car park but it’s not very far to the top. You can continue along the top to other peaks, we however went straight back down.

Winnets Pass

Winnats Pass is a winding hill pass and limestone gorge that offers stunning scenery. The name Winnats means ‘windy gates’ in reference to the winds that swirl through the Pass. Furthermore, Winnats Pass runs East to West and is therefore a great place for amazing sunrise photos. It might mean an early start but being there at the break of dawn is well worth the effort! We’ve still not managed to walk this but plan on it soon.

The Roaches

We parked the car in one of the laybys on Roach Road and began walking through the gate, past the information board up and towards one of the ridges. The first climb took us up to where we could see a beautiful view over the reservoir and to the roaches.

We carried on back down, to cross over to the actual roaches. We wandered along the winding path and up some more rocky stairs that took us back up to the Roaches ridge. Along the way we found the Doxey Pool, Phoebe wanted to see this because of the stories behind the Doxey Pool, which is said to be haunted by a mermaid.

Luds Church

Lud’s Church is a deep, moss-covered chasm full of history, myths and dark green wherever you look; and to walk down its stone steps deep into the cleft is to escape into another world…

We parked on a farmers land just up from Gradbach mill, he was a lovely man that explained routes to you with maps and directions to take photos of. We followed his directions up to luds church and were met with beautiful sights. We need to return when it’s not as wet as a lot of it was flooded and slippery so we couldn’t explore properly. I think it took around 2 hours round trip to walk.