FD Meet, the Roaches and Lud Church, North Staffordshire, Saturday 28th September 2013 Must say this is a region I rarely visit on my walking sorties, this walk was first muted by Lady P who suggested a trek out to Lud Church, fortunately Ikes was familiar with this location and also suggested the Roaches. Plans were made and I awaited this interesting hike, only the three of us on this meet, which was fine as we still managed to have a lovely day out and a few laughs along the way. At the risk is people talking, I guess me and Mr. Ikes are probably getting a bit of a reputation on here for taking single young ladies over desolated moorlands and into dense woodlands, I would however point out that our intentions are honorable(ish), and we usually return our ladies in one piece to the place in which we met them, albeit in a slightly worn out condition. After our last hike with the lovely Ellie, this hike was the turn of Lady P, another young lady who claimed not to be very fit, until we took her into the foothills and she proved to be just the opposite. Although this hike was only 5 miles in length, what it lost in distance, it certainly made up for in terrain. It offered a bit of everything, steep ascents, steep descents, a bit of rock climbing, bracken kicking, swamp walking and barbed wire fence climbing, with a very difficult bit of terrace walking along a very steep valley side with no definite path to follow. Yes you`ve guessed it, we took a wrong turn, but in fairness it was a very difficult route to follow. Our original intention being to visit Lud Church in the first instance and then continue in a circuatist, (is that a word?), route and return via the opposite side of the river valley, which apart from an hour’s bracken kicking on a valley terrace, we did manage to find our suggested return route and simply followed it in reverse, which in retrospect may have been the better option anyway, saving the jewel in the crown, Lud Church, until last. My Saturday morning started off with an early rise as per usual and found me leaving the house at around 8.00am; Living Colour was blasting out on the iPod as I traversed the mighty M60 ring road and headed down the A6. Our intention wasn’t to meet up until 10.00am, but I wanted to make a slight de-tour on the way down and check out the stone terminal at Peak Forrest, being a bit of a saddo, I have a fetish about trains and wanted to see if any of the old English Electric Class 60 locomotives where operating through the yard, fortunately I managed to photograph two of them and in the new DB Schenker red livery along with an EWS Class 66, apologies for the esotericism. The train spotting bit i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0661_zps73864572.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0669_zps52a5982b.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0672_zps67ef97cd.jpg Back to the story, picking up the A53 from Buxton and climbing into the hills again the morning mists formed an envelope around the car and visibility was poor, but despite this I still managed to find the turning for Gradbach Mill, our suggested meeting point was at the Youth Hostel, so after a few narrow and winding roads I arrived in good time. Unfortunately the Youth Hostel had been booked out by a party and the car park was full for I headed back to the National Trust car park and waited here for Ikes and Lady P who arrived on time. The carp park here is actually free, which is unusual for a National Trust car park, the area is isolated though and we were unable to get mobile coverage here. The weather was fantastic, like a summers day, so we were very lucky in this respect, the valley and surrounds offer some interesting geological edges, with protruding rock escarpments and what looks like glacial depositional bouldering in places, some quite unusual in shape, an areas of extensive faulting and wind weathered grit stone outcrops. From the National Trust car park we heading for the Youth Hostel, a converted mill, from here the path takes you towards the wooded valley that sits below the Roaches Edge and is occupied on its west slopes by Lud Church. The path was poorly marked here though and we climbed the east valley wall of Black Brook, on the way out, a really tough gallery walk with barely any visible path in places and large coverings of bracken, often hiding drops down into the steep valley below, so we had to be very sure footed here. Eventually we found the main path and decided to do our original planned route in reverse. Walking through low lying alluvium plain we were soon crossing Black Brook and heading up towards Roach End, the foot of the Roaches proper. My first view of the outcrops in the mist i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0673_zps52499c3d.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0674_zps7982cd4b.jpg Ikes and Lady P meet me at the car park Gradbach i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0675_zps154a2c28.jpg Gradbach Mill YHA i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0676_zpsb93337ce.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0677_zps886e5189.jpg The walk begins i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0678_zps977f0a33.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0679_zpsbdf8a16c.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0681_zpsd490c513.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0686_zps1d6ae013.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0687_zps0b493c32.jpg The route out i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0693_zps99cabcbe.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0695_zps58d08887.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0696_zps32510e49.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0698_zps9d592360.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0702_zps67c620b4.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0704_zps12b20753.jpg Prior to crossing Black Brook we noticed a field with some very strange looking animals, I must say I`ve never seen anything like them before, they looked like have cow and have sheep, possibly a specie brought in from somewhere, larger than a sheep with large back legs but smaller than a cow but yet with a cows face, anyone know what they are? Cow sheep, what in heavens name are these? i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0688_zps8d074185.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0690_zpse9142ac2.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0689_zps0b8dce42.jpg On arrival at the top of the hill, Clough Head, we decided not to climb the Roaches on this trip and instead spent a little while admiring the views from this high section of land, looking south we have a distant view of the extensive Tittesworth Reservoir and views across the Roaches, while also conveniently placed was an ice cream van, this being a popular tourist location, so we all have a well deserved ice cream. I`m not sure what flavor Lady P had but I had a vanilla and Ikes had a blue one to match his hat. Ikes poses on a style i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0705_zps387c4e89.jpg A good sign i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0709_zps06857cf0.jpg First View of the Roaches i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0711_zps53d42e2c.jpg Ikes buys an ice cream to match his hat i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0712_zpsf62054dd.jpg Clough Head i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0713_zpsea0417f1.jpg The descent towards Lud Church, through High and Back Forest, was a tricky one, very wet in places and involved negotiating some steep stone paths, so not too easy under foot. Our first entrance sighting of Luds Church proved difficult to ascent, although Ikes did give it a shot. Walking further down the valley side we did eventually arrive at the eastern entrance, which involved a climb down some narrow rock encased caverns in order to reach the uneven bottom of the gorge, we then walked along the bottom with a few rock climbs which eventually lead to a western exit up some very precarious stone steps, although passages went off in all directions, the hillside appeared to be riddled with them, so great hiding places for those that didn’t want to be found. Lud Church was very busy by this time with a number of walkers passing through as we climbed down into it, it’s a very unusual geological fault and reminded me in some respects of Gordale Scar in the Mid Craven fault, Yorkshire, this fault however offers a damper niche environment for many rarer species of flora and insect fauna, a naturalist and botanist paradise. Lady P and Ikes walk through the High Forest i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0714_zps801fe012.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0715_zps6ac3bbeb.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0716_zpsb0ff5c09.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0717_zps68a984ec.jpg Luds Church, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lud%27s_Church Luds Church, I`ve taken a selection of photographs here to try to give the reader some prospective of this fault. Ikes exploring the first way in we found i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0720_zpsd7ea8db3.jpg Ikes and Lady P at the bottom entrance of Luds Church i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0723_zps0918e3cb.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0724_zps8e3d9109.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0725_zps4b4b0231.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0726_zps14acb420.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0727_zps35b4e894.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0728_zpse5ac628e.jpg The money tree in Luds Church i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0729_zpsaaaca608.jpg Ikes in Luds Church i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0730_zpsb3b92d30.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0731_zpsc1368d53.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0732_zps846e86e7.jpg Me in Luds Church i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0733_zpsa40ca9a8.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0734_zpsd20d7d58.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0735_zps544db530.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0736_zpsc2c3ec14.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0737_zps0b97c2b1.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0740_zps61c224d4.jpg Ikes mountain climbing i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0743_zps6e550692.jpg Ikes and me posing i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0746_zpsecd0d0bf.jpg The walk back down the valley i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0748_zps79d21240.jpg Making our way eventually back down into the valley bottom, back over Black Brook again and onto the Youth Hostel returning to the National Trust car park by late afternoon, Mr. Ikes had found a lovely pub about 4 miles away, so we drove on down to a place called Upper Hulme in the shadow of Hen Cloud, the southern end of the Roaches, called the Old Rock Inn, which was rocking, so we all had a well deserved lunch, steak being the order of the day. So endeth another exciting FD hiking meet. A special thanks to Mr. Ikes my hiking mate and the very resilient Lady P, it was a privilege to walk with you guys, thank you for a great day out. Time for the pub. i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0750_zpsd41b96cf.jpg i4.photobucket/albums/y137/austerity/NIK_0752_zps437fe6a0.jpg
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 23:55:54 +0000
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