"B" Walk Sun 17th  May 2009
(On The Dark Peak Map.)

Leader John Jervis.

     We parked in Castleton Village, the weather was bright and breezy but cold with rain forecast for later in the day not the weather for shorts only Gary and Ray were brave enough!.  Eighteen members attended Joan, Kath, Lorraine and Linda fourteen men.
     We found out that John thought this was an A walk until today so we set off from the Visitors Centre CP with some trepidation.  Going south out of the village we entered Cave Dale for a steep climb up to a track at the top and followed it west taking the second footpath on the right and going to the the next wall where we had morning break with glorious views of Mam Tor while we ate Stan's pineapple.
    We continued north to ascend to Mam Tor Gap and down to Harden Clough where we turned west towards Barber Booth.  As we left Barber Booth it started to rain and we all togged up which was a good job as the rain became torrential, we arrived at Upper Booth where we turned east to join the Pennine Way which would take us into Edale village where we had lunch outside The Nags Head Pub.(7.5 miles).
      We soon moved into the pub where we all had a pint of Nags Black Mild commissioned to celebrate 450 years of the pubs existence and it was well worth the wait.  The conversation soon turned to the MP's expenses scandal and we sorted that out.
     When we left the pub the rain had stopped for now and we set off to climb to Hollins Cross in the south taking the direct route which ended with a steep climb up to the Mam Tor Ridge.  At Hollins Cross we regrouped before descending to a sheltered spot where we took afternoon break.  As we moved off it started to rain again but it was not far down into the meadows and on into Castleton and the cars, ending a very enjoyable days walking and our thanks go to John and Joan for devising such a good walk.
(12 miles).  

                                                      Norman.           

Start.

Castleton main street.

John our leader.