Fellwanderers roam Peak District

5.30pm on Friday evening. The first fellwanderers made their way to the Union, eager to leave London after a hard week of work. We quickly gathered together, packing out two buses, and excitedly awaited our trip.

Leaving London proved rather challenging as cars seemed to be invading the roads, leading our driver, Sarah, to despair. However, the rest of the journey to Derbyshire went without a hitch and, after an epic race in the countryside, both teams (miraculously) reached our destination – the village of Edale – safe and sound. With everyone giving a hand to unload the minibuses, settling in the hut only took a few minutes. Following our captain Heather’s orders, we all curled up in our sleeping bags, looking forward to our first day walking in the Peak District.

Awakening to the lovely sound of a familiar Disney song on Saturday morning all the fell wanderers started to bustle about, some having breakfast and others making sandwiches for lunch. At 8.30am we are all set to start hiking. The fresh air helped to rouse the last sleepy hikers of the group. Whilst the first part of the walk was largely uneventful, some of us soon got caught by the High Peak District wet and muddy areas; very happy memories indeed for two (unnamed) hikers who got bogged down in the marsh! Half a dozen fellow team members were needed to rescue them - no photos are available of this unfortunate experience though.

A subsequent lunch break enabled us to recover from our fight with the mud. We then set off up Rushup Edge and were amazed at the number of paragliders flying up there. Looking at them was always an astonishing sight; paragliding is something probably everyone would like to experience, if vertigo was not a worry. We stopped for a few minutes, staring at these ‘flocks’ invading the skies, before moving on to Mam Tor. We are lucky to have a sunny afternoon to admire the stunning views over Edale. The last part of the walk involved cutting across the fields, and we soon reached the pub to have one or two longed-for drinks. Back in the hut, we found James and his team of cooking volunteers preparing dinner. Today’s menu consisted of pasta, the traditional meal for hungry fellwanderers. The evening was highly enjoyable as we got to know each other better. The vast majority of the group then opted for a few drinks at the pub to conclude the day.

It was not even that hard to wake up on Sunday morning! After a quick breakfast, we started packing our rucksacks and loaded them in the buses before setting off to the Ladybower Reservoir. There we began our hike, slightly disappointed to see dark clouds looming in the skies. After a short walk in the forest, we soon started scrambling on the path leading to White Tor, which has some very impressive grit stone formations. From there we might have witnessed the breathtaking views of the Derwent Valley Reservoirs, however fate (or more precisely weather) decided otherwise. After a few hundred yards from the Wheel Stones we followed the path heading back down to the Derwent Reservoir where we stopped to have lunch. Everyone then agreed to have a look at Howden Dam before setting off again.

The afternoon walk along the Reservoir was enthralling. We stopped to see the ruins of Derwent village on our way back to Ashopton. Our hiking adventure in the Peak District came to an end on a pub’s terrace, with everyone enjoying a well-earned drink as well as the beautiful Derbyshire landscapes, before heading back to London.