Peak District Holiday with the Stapletons

This report is out of sequence as I needed a bit of time to write about it!
Friday 21^st to Friday 28^th June 2019

Our annual holiday with the Stapleton family was a Hot Rod holiday to The Peak District, taking in The Steel City Cruisers weekend event at Hooton Farm, Kilnhurst near Rotherham.

Ashbourne High St

Friday, Dave and I left home in the Phaeton at 9.30 am and, as always, chose a route that would keep us off the motorways, so inevitably the 3 hour journey turned into 7 hours (including an hour and a half stop in Ashbourne, which is a gateway town to the Peak District). We left the A14 at junction 2, followed a pretty, if bumpy, parallel road to Lutterworth, then a nice section of the A5, turned right and headed north on roads that were new to us. Our journey took us through Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire until we finished up on the edge of South Yorkshire- 160 miles later. Once we left the A5, our route changed from pretty to beautiful and when we reached the Peak District, spectacular. Burton -on- Trent is a town of numerous breweries, because of the right type of water for good beer from the Trent River. We crossed the river on a lovely Victorian bridge, where we could still see evidence of the previous week’s flooding.  The sun had resurfaced by the time we stopped for lunch at a café/bakery in Ashbourne High St. The bunting lining the street (a common sight in the region) was ready for the town’s festival. It is a pretty little market town with some seriously old buildings. That didn’t stop numerous lorries trundling through the town on their way to and from local quarries.  The route also took us through the National Forest and we managed to avoid all the large towns and cities that populate this area. Once in the Pennines, the countryside opened out in to rolling hills, dales, drystone walls and lots of sheep and cows. We took a quick detour to Arbour Low Stone Circle, a Neolithic henge and soon found out we took one for the team. It was just a load of old limestone boulders in a ring and we certainly didn’t feel the magic, even though it was summer solstice that day. Moving on, it took us nearly 2 hours to do the last 45 miles but it was worth it- weaving our way up and down the hills on a narrow but smooth surfaced road, giving us lots of beautiful vistas, including several reservoirs. Once again Vicky pulled a blinder with her choice of house in Millhouse Green, near Penistone. The house was beautiful and spacious, with a lovely garden space and enormous kitchen, as well as three living rooms, five bedrooms and a hot tub, all done to a high specification.

Hooton Farm

Saturday, we set off at leisure to the showground. Dave nearly ran up the back of Russ after some indecision about directions but after that it was plain sailing cross country for 30 minutes to Hooton Farm and registration. There were quite a lot of people camping and the grass was nicely cut but there wasn’t much going on so we just sat, enjoying the morning sunshine with Nipper, Maria, Andy and Michelle at the NSRA stand.  Then it was off for the cruise. A good turnout of assorted cars was the cruise highlight. It started well enough, in open countryside at the edge of the Peak District but bizarrely we soon turned left and just drove 10 tedious miles through the boring suburbs of Doncaster until we reached our destination- Lakeside retail park and there wasn’t even a lake!  We soon left and retraced our steps to the campsite and then finished up in a pub, overlooking  Langsett Dam and reservoir, before moving on to the Olde Mustard Pot and had a very nice meal.

Sunday Show n Shine Steel City Cruisers

Best classic 

Sunday, we returned at 10 am, by which time the show field was almost full with assorted cars- American, Hot Rods, Classics and only a few that shouldn’t have been there. My favourite was a red and white early Corvette which was immaculate and won best classic. Andy Sawyer’s car also won a top ten prize. It was a nice show and we just sat around for most of the day. I was tempted by a really nice woody Morris Minor for sale at £14000 but we don’t need any more vehicles. We were lucky with the weather, quite a rainstorm passed nearby. The Stapletons went driving after lunch but we stayed put and watched prize giving. It was a shame so many prizes were won by cars that were either trailered or they’d already gone home but most of them were very nice cars. We headed back by a slightly different route and came across Elsecar Ironworks and what an amazing place that was.

Newcomen Engine at New Colliery

There was loads of parking and the place was fabulous. An old 19^th century ironworks had been converted to a small shopping area. There was a craft market, children’s play area, a railway station and old steam train, a Newcomen pump- the oldest one still in use at its original location. It dates back to 1795 and pumped water from New Colliery and was in service until the 1980’s. Owned by Earl Fitzwilliam who lived in Wentworth Estate, he built Elsecar for his workers. We bought a load of fruit and veg and admired this delightful restoration.

Monday morning and the weather gods were against us. We drove 8 miles to Holmfirth (place of last of the Summer Wine). It soon started to rain and having completed our walk around the town, we stopped off for a cup of tea at Sid’s Café. By now it was lashing down, so we waited for it to pass and then returned home for lunch. Dave spent the afternoon asleep on the sofa and I went for a walk up to Royd Moor View. I couldn’t see much as it was misty but it did clear as I came down. I saw two hares boxing. It suddenly became very humid and I felt like I was in a sauna. I popped into the local shop and it was like stepping back in time to a retro corner shop. It even had a bell on the door. Ricky had spent the day driving around on his own and soon lost the bad weather. We ummed and aahed about joining him in Brough for the car show as the weather radar suddenly looked awful and then we heard thunder, got a bit of rain that soon went through so we decided to risk it and were glad we did. Somehow we lost the Stapletons on route (my fault) and carried on. We met up with Rick at the show. It was weird. It turned out you had to pre enter so we had to drive through the show field and out into the public car park. Then when we were all together, they wouldn’t let us walk through to the pub unless we paid £5 each! If we couldn’t show our own cars we certainly weren’t going to pay to look at other people’s cars, so we left and Ricky led us on a fabulous cruise on a circular route via Mam Tor. We stopped off along the way for photo ops and a drink in Castleton and another at the Stride Inn. This had a lovely view over a reservoir and some annoying peacocks.

Touring Man Tor

Lansett Reservoir

On Tuesday, I awoke to the sound of pouring rain so there was no rush to get going. After sitting around a few hours and no sign of the rain letting up, we decided to go out in Abi’s Peugeot and Russ’s car to Blue John Cavern, about an hour’s drive away near Castleton. We crossed the famous (infamous) Woodhead Pass in the thick fog so couldn’t see any of the view. The cavern tour was a bit overpriced at £14 but it was a good hour spent, descending 340 feet and 250 steps into the cavern, the deepest self-propelled tour cavern in the country. Blue John (bleu de jeune) is a semi-precious stone. It doesn’t look too spectacular in the limestone rock unless you shine a light on it but it does make a very pretty stone once polished. This area is the only place in the world where Blue John is mined. There were also traces of iron, copper, manganese and calcium. The caverns were very steep and were formed over 300 000 years ago at the end of the ice age, created by powerful water carving its way into the rock. Waterfall cavern is 150 feet high and 30 feet wide. Afterwards we went for lunch at the Bull’s Head in Castleton, followed by a short walk around the village, which is overlooked by Peveril Castle, dating back to 1176.  There were at least 7 pubs and one (closed) ice cream parlour. It had at last stopped raining so we continued our journey to Buxton, a spa town in Derbyshire. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England, at 1000 feet. There are some beautiful Georgian buildings but unfortunately the main one, Buxton Crescent (1779) was all boarded up and is currently undergoing lottery funded renovations. The Pavilion, Opera House and Pavilion Gardens are all excellent examples of Victorian Architecture and vision. We walked past a little fountain, not realising that it was St Ann’s Well - where you can still get fresh Buxton spring water for free. Driving back over the Woodhead Pass, the fog descended again so there was nothing to see.

Blue John

Wednesday and the weather was supposed to be better but it was foggy again. We set out anyway, having only a limited view of the surrounding countryside. We drove to Bakewell (including a stop for petrol when Ricky’s car wouldn’t restart, so some quick repairs were needed). It was another pretty town in the Derbyshire Dales, on the River Wye. We felt obliged to sample the local delicacy, Bakewell Pudding but I had the iced version and it was too sweet for me. I didn’t eat again for 8 hours! We saw two swans swimming with their babies on their backs and some more following behind. Then we headed up the Cat and Fiddle Pass (A537) into Cheshire. It was cold and foggy at the summit but five minutes later the sun came out as we were driving down the other side of the pass into Macclesfield – the first time for three days. After a quick beer stop it was back into the Staffordshire Moorlands through Flash, the highest recognised village in the UK at 1518 feet. That was the last of the sun for the day but we didn’t need it at our next stop- Thornbridge Brewery, a craft brewery originally founded in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall, but now housed in a larger, modern, purpose built, state of the art brewery. It has been producing beer since 2005 and won many awards. We paid £10 to listen to the history of the company, explaining how the beer is brewed and had a tour around the brewery. The price included 3 ½ pints of any of their ales and a commemorative glass. I had the lager first followed by a surprisingly nice IPA called Jaipur.

Thornbridge Brewery

Thursday 27^th June

OMG what an amazing day. We awoke to the usual misty morning (probably a daily occurrence with the high hills, warm earth and cool sky). The idea was to cover roads we haven’t been on before and finally we had a good weather forecast. It was still a bit overcast when we hit Holmfirth but we soon ended up with blue sky and sunshine. We were leading today as Ricky had gone home. We were supposed to be on the A635 Saddleworth Moor (I had no idea this infamous moor was here!) but when we hit the A628 we realised we’d taken the wrong turning and driven the A6024. No matter, it was a beautiful drive and we even got to see how wonderful the Woodhead Pass is, at the third time of asking! So we looped back to Holmfirth and this time we found the right road across Saddleworth Moor, seeing spectacular views of reservoirs and close cropped hills. Once in Greenfield we had to ask for the nearest petrol station which was in Stalybridge (the first one for umpteen miles), after which we saw at least 4 in the next 5 miles! We drove through busy Glossop and to the A57 Snake Pass which was a fabulous drive, moving from moorland and reservoirs to forest land. Then we turned left to the Derwent Valley where there are three reservoirs- Ladybower, Derwent and Howden, and two wonderful dams providing most of Derbyshire’s water supply.  The drive along here felt and smelt like our drives in Colorado – forest, winding roads, water and not knowing exactly where we were going. We parked up at the visitor centre, and had a drink, then Dave and I went for a 2k walk through woodland to the Derwent Dam. Building started in 1902 and it was made from huge stones from local quarries, near Grindleford. It was built by 1000 navvies who lived in “Tin Town”. The reservoir began filling in 1914 and overflowed in January 1916. It is a stunning creation and definitely built to last. The surrounding woodland is largely pine and spruce with some sycamore, beech and oak. During the Second World War, the reservoir was used by 617 squadron to practise low level (60 foot) flights – The Dambusters- in preparation for bombing the dams on the Ruhr. We saw the memorial to this squadron at the west tower of the dam. We all continued for a further four miles or so to the end of the road, where we could look back on Howden Dam and even get to the “beach.”  The three reservoirs together were 83% full at the time. This section was the highlight of our trip- sunshine, scenery and hot rods- what more could you want? Oh and there were so many smiling faces as we went past people! Just up the road, we found a nice pub for a drink – the Ladybower Inn, before doing some random driving to cover roads we had so far missed. It seemed strange that one minute we were on the edge of Sheffield and half a mile later we were back in remote countryside. By chance, we stumbled on a pub Russ wanted to visit, The Old Horns, and had a nice drink overlooking a beautiful valley. More driving through remote country lanes until we reached Penistone for a drink at Cubley Hall and food at the White Heart. Back home, Dave and I went up for a walk up Royd Moor to see what I missed in the mist the other day, followed by a couple of drinks at the Blacksmiths Arms with friendly locals before falling into bed at 11pm.

Near Saddleworth Moor

Howden Reservoir

The Old Horns

Friday 28^th June

Leaving the Stapletons finishing their packing, we set off early and retraced our steps to Bakewell, doing a slight detour past the magnificent Chatsworth House before arriving in Matlock Bath. We spent a pleasant couple of hours, taking the cable car up to the Heights of Abraham, where we took a tour of the Masson Cavern, an old lead mine. From there we had an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. Moving on, we drove the short distance to Crich and the National Tramway Museum, which is a purpose built museum, created at an old limestone quarry, where tram lines were already in existence. The sun was shining and we enjoyed a pleasant ride on a fully restored Edwardian tram, looked around the buildings and saw numerous trams of all ages and countries, including the last one to be removed from Hungary, just before the unsuccessful 1957 uprising. After a drink outside the Red Lion, a traditional pub which had been transferred brick by brick from Stoke, we were on our way. Unfortunately, it was now past three o’clock and we got caught in traffic, especially around Derby. We couldn’t join the M1 which was at a standstill so had to go down the A6 through Loughborough and Leicester during rush hour, only getting going after Corby. 3 ½ hours to do just over 100 miles but never mind it was once again a fantastic road trip and a wonderful week’s holiday.

National Tramway Museum