Redmire reservoirs & Stanage pole

This week, we had a late start - mainly because of how it looked outside! It was dull, drizzling and not that great. We held back, but I pushed us, and we finally left just before midday. I must admit, I didn't hold much hope out for the day, I even left my SLR at home (not at ALL like me), but Sue has a new compact camera, and we took that to see what it performed like.

We drove to Burbage bridge, near Fox Houses, and parked up. We set off, deciding to don the full wet gear, fully expecting to get very wet. I mean, just look at what Burbage moor looked like as we set off, an ignominious start indeed!

Not good! Looking ahead along the Houndkirk Road didn't look much better.
They were doing a lot of work on this track, repairing the ruts left by motor cyclists and four wheel drives.

There's this very old milestone on the road. At one point it has snapped (or BEEN snapped) off in the middle, but it too has been repaired, probably by the insertion of metal rods.

As we progressed, things still weren't looking much better.
Over there is where we're headed for this afternoon.

We came down off the moors, and into the village of Ringinglow.
Nice name, and some nice houses. This one in particular caught our eye.

Nice pub too, the 'Norfolk Arms' (in DERBYSHIRE????)

We saw some more Alpaca (we saw some a couple of weeks ago) and then saw a sign that told us it was a STUD FARM for them (I didn't know they were that popular???).

There must be a good market for the wool. We also spotted this - A churn ledge. it's where the farmer used to leave the milk churns for collection in the 'old days'.
(Yes - I remember them!)

We saw a patch of teasles, waving in the wind.

These used to be used for teasing wool up.

The far point of this walk was the redmires reservoirs. I've been here before, but only once, and that was a few years ago. This one (the lower one of three) looked quite full.

Then we reached the middle one, and saw it was quite empty.

Why, we wondered?

Our question was soon answered, they were doing work on the upper dam, so the middle and upper ones had been drained. You can see the work in progress on the dam.

At the top of the dams, we turned up a very old road to head for Stanage pole, an old boundary marker and meeting place for traders. On this side, it has a single track paved packhorse trail, but beyond the pole, it has a very unusual double paved trail, the only one I can think of I've seen.

We turned right, and prgressed along Stanage edge towards Burbage rocks.

Although murky, it was better than earlier, and the walking was enjoyable along the top.

Despite the murk, Sue was still smiling and glad to be out.

This is when things started to improve. It was still very dull and overcast, BUT the light above the clouds was fighting to get through, and we were treated to the most spectacular light show this side of the Northern lights! We watched for AGES as the shafts played like fingers over the countryside. Castleton was the focus at first, then it moved to Hope. I was CURSING myself for not bringing my SLR, but I'm sure NO camera could capture the scene properly.
It really was stunning. These are my best efforts.

A well-earned rest for yours truly at Burbage rocks. We earmarked this seat as a good place to be at sunset, so next year we'll come and get the pictures for the blog.

Then, as we made our way along Burbage rocks, it started to close in again. We were glad we changed our minds about walking back over Higger Tor and Carl wark, because, as you can see, they were cloaked in mist.

We arrived back at the car, surprisingly dry.

It had been a good, but not great, day, but we still enjoyed it immensely.