A Walk Up Win Hill

I have quite a lot to do at the moment, hence no post last week, but I have put aside this time to at least publish some sort of post! I intend to make it very light on words, and give you plenty of pictures to make up for it as that will at least save me a bit of time... So here we go... I'll start with this photo to hopefully lure you in to the rest of the post...

View along over Lose Hill and Mam Tor from Win Hill.

We got the train from Sheffield to Hope (which only costs £4 return - amazing!) where we walked north out of the village and up this very popular track towards the moorland. I say popular, because even with the significant lack of people in the photo below, there was actually a constant stream of cyclists - going little more than walking pace... meaning we had to basically walk single file even though it was such a nice, wide track.

We soon made it to the top of the hill... with the always spectacular views over the Hope Valley and surrounding hills. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the air wasn't all that clear so you can expect a certain amount of haze in the following shots...

View into a very perfect looking forest.

We timed our walk perfectly with purple heather season.

Sheep trying the block the view of the ever-horrible Hope quarry... amazing how this is still allowed in a national park.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? 

The view back over Ladybower Resevoir.

Probably one of my favourites for the day, who could argue with the colours, sky and that view?..

Finally, we see the small peak on the top of the moors that is Win Hill...

Getting closer...

And closer...

And we made it!

Upon reaching the top of the rocky little peak, we sat to eat our lunch (along with tens of others) as some heavy showers approached. This gave spectacular views to the west as the Mam Tor ridge suddenly became very dark whilst the valley below remained lit up in the bright sunlight... turns out we timed this part of the walk very well as we entered a forest on the way back down just as the shower hit us, and waited it out with some other walkers under the thick trees.

Not a bad spot for dinner!

Mid-walk break as the rain passed. Just about see some others doing the same on the right.

A somewhat HDR-y tree on the way down.

Upon arriving back in Hope, we had plenty of time to stop in at the Blue Apple Gallery and Tea Rooms. Easily one of my favourite cafes, at least in terms of atmosphere and the spectacular photos plastering the wall (to the left of the next picture). I can advise you all to check out Stephen Elliot Photography... you won't be disappointed.

And that was it, hop back on the train and back to Sheffield. Another walk well done.