The B walks followed the same circular route, one group at a more leisurely pace than the other. They walked east along the north slopes of the Dane valley crossing the Dane near Gradbach, then climbed across the south side of Gradbach Hill on to Goldstitch Moss. From here the route turned back to head west on the other side of the Black Brook and Dane valleys, passing think the famous Lud's church chasm on the way, re-crossing the Dane at Danebridge and returning northwards to Allgreave.
Descending into Lud's Church..
..a natural cleft in the rock on the hillside above Gradbach. The feature has been formed by a landslip which has detached a large section of rock from the hillside, thus forming a cleft which is over 15 metres high in places and over 100 metres long, though usually only a couple of metres wide.
Over the ages this place has offered shelter to all sorts of renegades and there is a tradition that Robin Hood used it. However, it is fairly certain that the Lollards (followers of John Wycliffe, an early church reformer, who were condemned as heretics) used it as a place of worship in the early 15th century, giving the place its current name. The church also acted as the model for the 'Green Chapel' in the classic mediaeval poem 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', and the aura of mediaeval romance still seems to stick to it.
Adapted from www.peakdistrictinformation.com/visits/ludschurch.php
The 'C' group did a linear walk this month ,starting from Golden Slack on the A54. They walked along Minn-End-Ln , part of the Gritstone Trail , to Hawkslee and then Barleigh Ford.There crossing the River Ford en route to Heaton Hall / Hollin Hall and back to the river at Dane Bridge. A brief stop in Wincle to sample the local fare enabled the warm looking 'B' group to 'pass through' , before we also continued our walk to Allgreave.
Photos by Phil Cunningham, Diana Young, Derek Hesketh, John Hodgson and David Whitehurst