Peak District – Bleaklow Stones Walk & Wild Camp

In this video my friend Rich and I meet up at Bamford for a walk and a wild camp to see if we can spot the Perseids Meteor Shower. We had a very rough plan, meet up at Bamford at around lunch time and then head somewhere to camp away from the summer crowds. The only way to do this is to put some miles under your feet in order to stay away from the hot spots like Kinder and the famous edges. We decided that Bleaklow Stones, Grinah Stones or possibly Barrow Stones would be the best idea as these are about as far away from roads as you can get in the Derbyshire Peaks. Besides… I love it up there anyway and I’d wanted to head back there for a camp for some time.

After leaving Bamford we headed for Crook hill via Ladybower and the Ashopton Viaduct. The weather was warm, windy, partially cloudy and very busy as it’s the school holidays here in the UK during August.

Route Map – http://www.shareyouradventure.com/map/perma/74019/iframe

The climb up on to Bridge-End Pasture is enjoyable and the views to the surrounding hills are spectacular, in particular the view down the Vale of Edale. We then headed for Rowlee Pasture and onwards towards Alport Dale. The wind was very strong at this point, we took shelter in the bird hide overlooking Alport Castles and had lunch.

The going gets a little tougher once you leave the path near the castles and pass the trig point on Aport Moor. The path vanishes and you have to pick your way around the bogs or climb in and out of the peat groughs. It was an enjoyable experience and we had the moors to ourselves.

We had arranged to meet up with two fellow campers Dan Clout and Dan Hensby, the location wasn’t 100% decided but when we arrived at Bleaklow Stones they were there on a nice and flat piece of ground…. Perfect. I must admit that after tramping across the moors for 6 hours my energy levels were running a little low so I was more than happy to camp there instead of moving on to Grinah Stones.

I pitched my Luxe HexPeak on the best piece of ground that I could find just as the cloud was beginning to thin. The wind was still very strong but I didn’t really mind that, the wind can be heard a little on the video but I’d rather that than get eaten alive by midges with no breeze 🙂

I’ve still not fully mastered pitching the HexPeak, I’ve only used it 5 or 6 times since buying it towards the end of 2016 but I’m very happy with it. I used it the last time Rich and I camped together which was back in November last year on Kinder Scout. I also used it in Tasmania and very recently when my daughter Amy and I camped on the White to Dark Peak Route.

As the sun began to set the light was absolutely spectacular, one of my favourite views in the Peak District has to be looking south from Bleaklow Stones. The mass of Kinder Scout in the distance and the views of moors falling away in front of you looks stunning. I used to visit regularly when I first began exploring the Peaks in my early 20’s, I love the solitude up there and the fact you can feel like you are a million miles away from everywhere… even if you aren’t technically :-

After time lapsing the sunset I set both my Canon DSLRs up ready to capture some Meteors…. I’m sorry to say that even though we did see 4 or 5 I didn’t manage to capture any at all during the 2 hours I had the cameras going 🙂 typical isn’t it. Not to worry though as we had a great night chatting while sheltering from the wind in Dan Clout’s GoLite shelter.

After a very short sleep I awoke when my alarm went off 15 minutes before the sun was due to rise. Dan Clout’s dog Audrey was up and about ready for the sunrise too and I must admit it was one of the best I’ve seen for a while once the cloud cleared. The low cloud was obscuring the main event but the orange glow through them looked very nice indeed

After a leisurely coffee and breakfast and began packing away at around 08:00, leaving no trace of our presence there what so ever as you can imagine… The only signs that we had been there was the flat patches of grass which is the way it should be. Rich and I then said goodbye to Dan, Dan and Audrey and made our way south towards Alport once again. We retraced our steps all the way back to the car and even bumped in to some gentleman who watch my videos near the bird hide at the castles.

During the opening sequence in the video you may spot the Lancaster bomber we saw on the first day before arriving at Rowlee Pasture… On our way back to the car we stopped to talk to a Park Ranger on the Ashopton Viaduct and he mentioned that it was due back again at around 13:00. I always have my camera ready for such an eventuality but it wasn’t my day today… As we arrived back at the car at 14:15 I assumed that my chance of seeing the Lancaster again had passed so I put my DSLR in the boot of the car…. no sooner had I done that the iconic bomber flew down the Derwent Valley to Hathersage 🙂 haha.

As always, thank you for reading and watching the video if you did. I have embedded the song I used in for you to have a listen too. The image above was taken on Beeley Moor on my way home from Bamford, I drive that way many times a week so I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the purple heather… with my new car in shot too 🙂

Rich’s Blog Post from the trip – http://www.ukwildcamping.com/bleaklow-stones/

Subscribe to my channel – http://bit.ly/YouTubeDeanRead

All music by Dean Read. Footage shot with a Canon 7D with a 17-40mm lens, a Canon 550d, an iPhone 6 Plus and it was edited in iMovie.