WALKS IN THE PEAK DISTRICT

The Peak District National Park was the first to be established (in 1951) and covers a large area of high hills and fells to the southern end of the Pennines. The geology of the area is complex, leading to some serious variations in walking conditions. The southern region, known as the White Peak, is mainly limestone hills up to around 500m, with well drained surfaces and rounded hills. The limestone dry stone wall field boundaries reflect the name of this area. The northern area, the Dark Peak, is formed from gritstone, an angular grained sandstone. It has been used throughout history for mill-stones. The hill tops of the Dark Peak rise to 650m often with long rocky outcrops and ridges. The land on top of the hills is covered mainly by heather moorland or blanket bog. Land use mainly consists of grazing sheep, grouse shooting and forestry.

Most of the walks described in the links to this page are in the Dark Peak area, around the Edale Valley. A railway line between Manchester and Sheffield runs along this valley and the stations provide great centres for accessing these Dark Peak walks by train. Although the service is only every two hours (in each direction) it is reliable, allowing linear or circular walks to be planned.

You can find many other walks which make use of public transport to get to and from start and end points at Car Free Walks Of course there are many other websites about walking.