ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

We set off on a bright wintry Sunday morning from Sheffield's Travel interchange on a TM bus heading for Glossop.

The bus full of Ramblers wound through Sheffield via Crosspool and out into the Peak District where everyone disembarked at Cutthroat Bridge.

Stanage Edge, Derbyshire

After heading up a small embankment, down a path past bushes and the brambles, we crossed through a small gate.

Les gave a briefing of our situation: β€œWe've just arrived at Jarvis Clough, after leaving the Cutthroat Bridge on the A57, just over the border from Sheffield into Derbyshire. It's about a mile down the road and at the top of Ladybower Reservoir.”

From there it was a walk uphill with spectacular views all around. "We are now heading up Jarvis Clough up a track supplying a route to the shooting cabins on Bamford Moor - a grouse shooting moor," said Les.

Rocks in the Peak District

"To our left is Hordron Edge and above on the flat is a stone circle. Unfortunately we aren't going to see this particular one today but it is one of the best examples of the many stone circles in Derbyshire.

"When we reach the grouse shooting cabins, we're going up towards Stanage Edge - one of the best climbing facilities in the North Dark Peak," continued Les. "There are hundreds of climbs which vary from being easy to severe and are very popular with the local climbers."

At this point Les turned my attention to a spectacular scene - stunning on a brisk but dry winter morning.

"Ladybower Reservoir is on our right. It is named after the valley here, called Lady Bower. The hill over there is Win Hill - one of the most prominent peaks in this area."

After taking in this amazing view the walk continued over a stream on to a rocky mound and up on to Bamford Moor. This is when we began looking for a stone circle and The Old Woman.

Ramblers on Bamford Moor

But who is this Old Woman? Les explained the mystery: "It's a standing stone, now no longer standing. Winter is the best time of year to find it because usually the bracken is high, but we may be able to find her as it is relatively low right now.

"There are photographs of the stone standing in the 1930s but it was deliberately knocked down by the landowner around that time to stop people like us going to look at it, and using it as a marker."

So would we find The Old Woman?...

The walk continued across Bamford Moor and past the grouse shooting cabins. We travelled down and across some flat and slightly muddy land, until Terry Howard stopped us all on a small weathered mound.

Grouse shooting hide

"I came out here last week and found the Old Woman and put a marker down to help find her. Unfortunately it’s now gone, but hopefully we'll have a chance to find her still," said Terry.

"And by the way, you are currently standing on an old burial mound, which dates back to the Bronze Age."

Which is always nice to know.

From here we found the Bamford Moor South stone circle. It's embanked and many are unsure of its purpose. Some believe they were used to help determine the sun’s position and the calendar in the late Stone Age and early Bronze Age but the debate is wide open.

The circle is made up of six small stones less than a metre in height. They're now mainly covered by bracken and were only just visible.

Around 200 metres away from this point should be the Old Woman who once proudly stood 2.4 metres high, but she was felled in the 1930s. Apparently the stone is so named because of its hunched over shape, reminding people of an old woman’s posture.

Sheffield Ramblers

After 15 minutes of looking for her, she eluded our search unfortunately - so we stopped for a short break.

From here the route of the walk takes us via the North Lees estate and hall (famous for making an appearance in the Bronte novels) over to Stanage and past Stanage Pole, around Redmires Reservoir and on to Lodge Moor.

It was an unsuccessful but picturesque walk and although we couldn't find the Old Woman, we were successful in our search for the Lodge Moor bus stop!