Bamford · 2 checked & stamped
Boots on. These are the Bamford walks worth the drive, with lead rules and livestock warnings marked.
Four and a quarter miles and about two and a half hours for the best view-to-effort ratio in the Peak, looking straight down on Ladybower from a gritstone rim 260 metres above the valley. Start from the free roadside lay-bys on New Road above Bamford, which hold perhaps twenty cars in total and are full by nine on any fine day; parking on the verges beyond them causes real problems for residents. The edge is unfenced with a sheer drop in places and the moor behind is open access land where a fixed two-metre lead is required from 1 March to 31 July for the ground-nesting birds and at all times near the sheep, and there is no water on the top at all.
Ten miles and five hours on forest tracks and reservoir roads up the length of Derwent and Howden to the packhorse bridge at Slippery Stones, with barely 260 metres of climbing spread over the lot. Start at Fairholmes visitor centre, where the pay car park fills by mid-morning and the valley road above closes to cars at weekends and bank holidays, with a shuttle bus running instead. Severn Trent asks for dogs to be on a lead at all times here because of the wildlife, the shallow river above Slippery Stones is the one safe place for a swim as the reservoirs themselves are steep-sided and dangerous, and the cafe kiosk at Fairholmes has water and trail maps.
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