Sheffield and Manchester sit thirty five miles apart with the Pennine hills between them. Transport connections between the two cities are woeful. Living in south west Sheffield, the best road link for us is the two lane Snake Pass that weaves over the hills through The Peak District before descending to the town of Glossop with its inevitable hold-ups.
The bleakest part of The Snake Pass is a wild moorland area known as Snake Summit. It feels as if you are on the roof of England when you are up there. A long distance footpath bisects the road. It is The Pennine Way that runs from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm just over the Scottish border. 268 miles in total.
Yesterday, I commanded Clint to take me to Snake Summit. "Certainly my lord," he snivelled. I sat on the back seat reading a book as my South Korean servant transported me to my desired location.
Kinder seen from Mill Hill
There I sat down on a small guidestone to eat my apple and observe the moorland landscape. There's little life up there. A few meadow pipits and red grouse and where the bog relents a handful of hardy sheep. I could see "The Edge" of the Kinder Plateau and recalled the day I walked along it observing its outdoor gallery of weathered outcrops that seemed like abstract sculptures.
A woman from Glossop in a magenta anorak and an amber bobble hat reached Mill Hill soon after me and we chatted for a while. She was a Londoner who had moved up to Glossop ten years ago to build a totally new life there. Fortunately, the plan had worked. She walks the nearby hills very regularly, breathing in the fresh northern air while maintaining her fitness.
I returned to Clint along the same three mile path, treading on the same paving stones and when I reached him he said, rather obsequiously, "Your carriage awaits sir."
Looking towards Manchester from Black Moor
I'm not sure what you have done to get Clint to this point, but it must have been awful. This will require some serious couples counselling to work through.
ReplyDeleteJust like the cowboys of The Wild West, you need to show a frisky horse who's boss. Also, his annual service and MOT test is coming up - this always affects his mood.
DeleteThat path - I want to walk it, and I want to walk it NOW!
ReplyDeleteAs far as I remember, I have only ever crossed the distance between Sheffield and Manchester by train, never in a car.
Two cities - each with half a million souls - linked by a winding lane. Scenic but not economic.
DeleteI suppose the paving stones are necessary to minimise the damage to the peat moor. I haven't been since they laid it, but it used to be great fun before it was there, especially in wet weather.
ReplyDelete"Fun"? Knee deep in black porridge? Whatever turns you on TD!
DeleteThose pavement laying sheep are very hard working and talented YP.
ReplyDeleteIt was all going well until Baa Baa Black Sheep unionised the workforce.
DeleteHmmm.. good job you were not stopped by the traffic police whilst travelling in the back seat with an invisible driver.
ReplyDeleteOh, is that not allowed yet? I didn't know.
DeleteOne of my ambitions in life - to visit Snake Pass.
ReplyDeleteYou won't see any snakes there. The name "snake" was taken from the coat of arms of the then Duke of Devonshire who funded much of the road's construction. He had pots of money so he didn't mind.
DeleteLooks like an excellent place for a walk, except the bog part. I'm not fond of bogs, they seem creepy. When we were in Newfounland, in Gros Morne Park, we walked through a bog to get to Western Brook Pond. The trail was elevated and covered in gravel but if you ventured off the trail you sank. Gave me the willies.
ReplyDeleteYou may realise that in England a "bog" is also a slang name for a lavatory or rest room. Perhaps your English mother taught you that though I believe she was from "Down South" so maybe not.
DeleteRather desolate. In my present state of mind I most likely would have thrown myself off the path into the bog and let nature take course.
ReplyDeleteThe Peak Park Authority would have fined you for illegal dumping.
DeleteGreat shot of the Kinder plateau and sky.
ReplyDeleteYou have excellent taste sir.
DeleteMy goodness, what has happened to Clint - he's not normally so subservient!
ReplyDeleteExcellent photos again, YP, but I'm not sure I would want to walk in such a bleak landscape alone. You, and the lady in the bobble hat, were very brave to tackle such desolate scenery.
I seem to remember that the Snake Pass was (and probably still is) always impassable to traffic at the first snow fall? Having only driven over it in summer, it's still easy to see how desolate it must be in winter.
You are right CG. It often gets blocked. Clint was being subservient because he has his MOT test next week and he is fretting about it.
DeleteI walked the pennine way in my late teens and returned to walk sections of it again a few years ago. The pathways have made what was a bog more possible and pleasurable actually. I know your area well - more than once I ran from the north end of Stanage to the Robin Hood Inn - about 17 miles I think. Lovely area - so many memories. There are pieces on the Bikeshed and in my books of times spent there. The blogger Heronthehill is near you - well, other side of the pass near Glossop - a very good writer and blogger.
ReplyDeleteThanks The bike shed. You must have been as fit as a butcher's dog when you were younger. I will be coming over to your blog real soon. Put the kettle on!
DeleteThe blog I mentioned is actually https://viewfromthehighpeak.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteOkay. Thanks for the link. I had never stumbled across that blog before. Looks like one I will enjoy.
DeleteKinder seen from Mill Hill ... Manchester from Black Moor.
ReplyDeleteThis is like Jane Eyre's long trek back to Mr Rochester: it is what John Fowles (rereading Charlotte Bronte) called *deep England*.
In Room at the Top, Simone Signoret told her faithless husband that she was planning to take the car and drive over the Pennines to Manchester, to see the ballet.
As a boy I remember how vividly that moment in the film stayed in my mind.
The roof of England still has the power to excite the imagination.
Did you ever read Millstone Grit by Glyn Hughes?
Haggerty
Thanks Mr Haggerty. Now I want to see "Room At the Top" too. That era of northern films - "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", "Kes", "A Kind of Loving" etc. - it was so gritty and emotionally authentic. "Millstone Grit" sounds like my kind of book as I once described as "the king of Stanage Edge".
DeleteI have never seen a moor, and I am always struck by your pictures of that landscape. I was just looking at a map of that area recently, thinking about trips!
ReplyDelete