Feeling Peaky

A journey through the Peak District's Hope Valley leads Susan Taylor through caves and caverns, Pride and Prejudice, and an attempted push up Mam Tor

- Susan Taylor

AS ANYONE WHO knows me will tell you, I am far from being a foodie, but I am prone to indecision and when faced with a Pick'n'Mix Sausage dinner recently, my indecisiveness went into overdrive. Four types of sausage, four flavoured mash choices, four sauce toppings to lavish over them... how is a girl to decide? Especially when sitting down rather tired, damp and muddy after an aborted walk up Mam Tor in the Peak District.

Mam Tor literally translates as Mother Hill, but it is also known by the less romantic moniker of Shivering Mountain owing to landslips on its lower slopes, some of which caused small hills to appear. Being near the starting point for both The Great Ridge Walk and the Pennine Way, this is a popular spot for walkers, and has been on my bucket list for a while.

Base camp

With this in mind, Newfold Farm, a campsite in the village of Edale, sitting in the Hope Valley, was the ideal base for a few days away earlier this year - it has the start of the Pennine Way and a walk to Mam Tor on its doorstep. There is a lovely café - The Fold - and a general store/farm shop at the entrance to the site, both of which we made good use of. For travelling further afield without a car, the local train station is just a few minutes' walk away.

Also walkable, albeit for the fit and able, is Kinder Scout. The highest point in the Peak District, Kinder Scout was famously the site of the mass trespass of 1932, when people from nearby cities peacefully protested their right to walking access on what was then private land. If it weren't for those folks, we might not enjoy the freedom of the countryside that we do today. I for one am very grateful, although I wouldn't be following their footsteps climbing the peak. Instead, I would be content with that walk up Mam Tor.