15 Trigs
I’ve had a few forumites asking about the 15 Trigs so I’ve put together a little info.
Following the 1984 KIMM which was held in the Dark Peak a few DP’ers decided to link together all the trig points on the Harvey’s race map.
The 15 trigs points of the Dark Peak are (with their 6 figure grid references all on ordnance survey sheet SK):-
The start and finish is the Sportsman Pub at Lodge Moor, Sheffield. Gd.ref. 282862
ROD MOOR : 263884
EMLIN: 240934
BACK TOR : 198910
MARGERY HILL : 189957
OUTER EDGE: 177970
ALPORT: 129933
SHELF MOOR: 089948
COCK HILL: 059962
HARRY HUT: 045908
KINDER WEST: 077894
KINDER LOW: 079871
BROWN KNOLL: 084851
BLACKDEN: 129878
WIN HILL: 187851
HIGH NEB: 228853
The distance is approx 55 miles depending on route choice and you are allowed 15 hours to cover the route. The current record is I’m told held by one Andy Harmer of Dark Peak in 10.05. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)
The Route
This is a point to point challenge; For the most part the route is obvious.
From the Sportsman take the track through the woods and head towards Wyming Brook until you can Cross the Snake Pass. Take track up pass Crawshaw Lodge to Rod Moor Trig. Get on to the track that leads to Platts farm, turn left at road and follow until a short trespass over Gibraltar rocks, across road to Blindside Lane and straight through the woods to the reservoir, go round this and up to Mortimer Road and then to Emlin (Stick to the Grouse Butts). Best route to Cartledge, leave pack behind for quick detour to Back Tor and return. Follow trod just North of Cartledge Brook to MH then OE, if short of water drop to Lord Edward Howard’s spring. Best route to Alport trig is via Ditch Clough. Up to Shelf Moor and onto Cock Hill, Drop down and traverse Shire Hill Anti-Clockwise to old Glossop and fill up with food or a beer in the pub! You are now on your way home.
Head up the road past the golf course then pick your route, either quickly up Worm Stones path or cut up earlier via the spring at the Shooting Cabin to Harry Hut. Continue up to Kinder West and on to Kinder Low, Next route choice is at Brown Knoll, if you are Lloyd then go direct to Edale and up RR or more correctly follow the Skyline route until the detour to Blackden, If the weather is clear look north to the mornings journey, you should be able to pick out everything from Back Tor to Shelf Stones, Continue to Crookstone where there is another spring and on to Winn Hill. Only one to go, You could be a purist and go direct but most head up New Road until the cattle grid and then head direct to High Neb. From here return to the Sportsman via Stanage Pole going south around the Redmires Res’s and back for a well deserved pint.
Our 15 Trigs
It started as it always seems to with a beer in the pub; I was asking questions about this long dark Peak route…
With a 5.00am start from the Sportsman we set off in the dark using head torches, it was cool and clear with heavy dew but not cold. We’d had plenty of advice on where we could pick up time and soon arrived at Emlin following a glorious sunrise. I was dreading the next bit 2 miles of heather bashing, Some how we picked a good line to Cartledge Stones where we dumped our packs as we looked towards Back Tor where hundreds of new paving stones had been flown in, A quick trip to BT and were back at our packs for a quick breakfast, It was 7.30 and I was already down to a vest as we set off for Margery Hill where we met up with a few other Club runners. A brief stop and a drink and we were on our way. At Outer edge having been spared by the Bogmonster we were 20 minutes up on Schedule.
We dropped down Broad Head Clough just missing the Icelandic Airways Wreck to Slippery Stones and had a quick cool down in the stream before pushing on along the track to West End, Running along the edge of the remote Alport Dale was a delight, We hadn't see any one until the Swamp just before Shelf Stones At this point we were on new ground and it was easy to see how you could miss Cock Hill in the mist by which time the sun was well and truly out and we had lost the 20 minute advantage. The heat was oppressive as we crossed the Snake in Old Glossop and the turn around mark, The pub seemed to be mocking us as we reluctantly set off up the hot road, We knew we were going to need lots of water so we headed for the Harry Hut Spring, It was good to know we were on our way back at last. By the time we hit the first of the Kinder Trigs we had been going around 9.00 hours and had dropped 30 minutes behind our planned schedule. One of our party was going strong and was dragging us along otherwise we would have dropped much more, approaching Brown Knoll such a contrast from the Skyline(was it really only four weeks earlier) it was dry and dusty. Kinder was dryer than I can ever remember at this time of year with no water at all at the Down fall. We’d never seen so many people on Kinder in their Sunday best; it must have added a couple of miles on the route just to go round them all. We seen so many secluded beautiful spots it was nice to know Edale had managed to herd all the tourists together at this one spot.
All the Skyline recceing helped keep us going but by Blackden we were starting to run out of water and all we could do was to drink in the view to the North and the mornings Trigs. To the east we could see Winn Hill and our last trig High Neb which seemed an impossible distance away. By Crookstone I had run out of water and was really struggling with the heat, we couldn't find the spring and had no time to waste looking so we had to continue to Win hill. It didn't look like we were going to make it but one of our party who was still going strong set off to try and get inside the 15 hours. We'd left 5 Litres of water at a cache by Yorkshire bridge which was heaven, We drank it all ate some food and set off for High Neb with renewed vigour. When we topped out on the last trig the sun was sinking in a stunning pink hazy sky.
We left HN needing to be back in less than an hour so we part walked/ran to Stanage pole where we thought we could just do it. Don't ask me how but we ran virtually all the way back, as we crossed the fields by the Sportsman Allan(one of the original instigators) was there to see us in in 15 hours. His son had come in just 15 minutes a head of us. Thanks to Al for the inspiration and the pint he bought us it was much needed.