Peak District Camping and the World Snooker Championship (part 1)

I've been looking forward to May for ages. This was the first of my two camping expeditions of the month. The second will be my cycle trip to the Lakes and the Yorkshire Dales. I haven't mentioned this much on this blog but I am a huge snooker fan. The pinnacle of the sport is the World Championships played over the course of two weeks from late April into early May, always finishing on the bank holiday Monday. The world's best players descend onto the city of Sheffield for a tournament held in the sport's spiritual home, the Crucible Theatre. With Sheffield being situated close to the Peak District, I thought this would be a great opportunity to combine my two passions and tick off some fells prior to going to the snooker. 

I booked onto North Lees camp site, just over a mile from Hathersage. Prior to this trip, I'd only visited the Peak District the once. This was in 2020, the summer of Covid. I stayed in the quant old town of Bakewell. I didn't get much walking in on this trip. The only walk of note was up to the most well-known hill in the Peak District, Kinder Scout. 

Just as the Lakes hosts the Wainwrights, the Peak District has its own classification, named after someone who had a massive impact on the landscape. The Ethels are 95 hills (could they not have found another five?) for the most part over 400m above sea level, with a few other notable lower hills thrown in there. They are named after Ethel Haythornthwaite. She played a key role in preserving the countryside around the city of Sheffield and in what is now the Peak District National Park. She was an advisor on the government's National Parks Committee. This committee was formed by the postwar Labour government under Clement Attlee at a time when there was greater clamour for more public access to the countryside following over half a decade of war with Nazi Germany. There was a sea of change in the air. The mass suffering of the population led to a greater perception that the public deserved better. Since the industrial revolution there had been mass migration from the rural areas to towns and cities, but with much of Britain's countryside being privately owned, many people had little access to quality outdoor spaces.  

Although this government's most notable achievement was the creation of the National Health Service, the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which enshrined in law the concept of the National Park, was monumental. The idea had been floating around for years. Over a century before Wordsworth had suggested the Lake District should be seen as a kind of national property, worthy of protection for all, including future generations, to enjoy. But it was this government, prompted by the tireless work of campaigners like Ethel Haythornthwaite, that turned this worthy notion into a reality. In 1951, the Peak District became the first official National Park in the UK.

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It is the lead up to the big trip. Time for one of the most enjoyable aspects of the whole affair, the plotting. I downloaded an app called Ethel Ready, which lists and maps all the Ethels in the Peak District. I was travelling to the campsite on the saturday, via Snakes Pass road which cuts through the Peak District via Glossop and then winds its way into Sheffield. I planned on ticking off some hills on route to the campsite on the saturday then getting up early to do some more on the sunday before setting off to Sheffield. I marked out 9 potential hills but ended up completing 8 of them due to time constraints. 

I set off fairly early on the Saturday. Not long after passing through Glossop, I parked up on the summit of Snakes Pass where it is bisected by the Pennine Way. It is definitely the most isolated place I have ever seen a bus bay. There is a long layby with plenty of road side parking available. But despite this, and the poor visability, I still only just managed to find a spot. I was feeling slightly deflated due to the lack of visibility but reminded myself that I am finally out among the hills and that's all that matters. I was here for three hills: Higher Shelf Stones and Bleaklow Head to the north and Featherbed Top to the south. 

I started with the northern hills, following the Pennine Way for a short while, before veering off in search of Higher Shelf. Although the visibility was poor, it was an interesting route which would be worth revisiting in better conditions. The walk at times skirted the high ground above becks and at others, required navigating peat bogs and hags. The summit is marked by a trig point sitting atop the grit stone formation which covers much of the summit area. The rock formations in the Peak District really are impressive. I saw this with Kinder Scout's limestone outcrops. If there is one respect in which the Peak District can claim superiority to the Lakes, it is in its rock formations. 

Higher Shelf is notable for another reason. Just a short walk from the summit, you will find the remains of an American B29 Aircraft strewn across the moor. It's name was over exposed, and it has remained as such since it fell during a routine flight back in 1948. All 11 crew and 2 military passengers died. In a way, the misty conditions transformed the scenery, giving it a ghostly feel and reminded me of the videos of the wreckage of the titanic.

The eerie wreckage of the B29 aircraft

After Higher Shelf I rejoined the Pennine Way footpath. Part of it was paved but then gave way to a naked path through the boggy peatlands. The visibility made it difficult to follow the path and at times I had to go off route. I managed to find my way to the large cairn marking the summit of Bleaklow Head. 

By the time I returned the the car park on Snakes Pass, the fog was lifting. I turned back toward the direction I had just come from, now revealing an impressive view across Bleaklow Moor. The next hill was Featherbed Top. A short walk less than a mile from the car park in the other direction. There isn't much I can say about this hill really. It is a short, round, grassy hill with no distinguishing features, although the views aren't bad. I was hoping there'd be a place to sit on the summit, but the surface was too wet, so I promptly made my way back. 

With these three hills summitted, I got back in the car and headed further down snakes pass, eventually running alongside the river Ashop. I took a left off snakes pass just before the river meets ladybower reservoir and followed the road for a short while before finding some off road parking. By this point I was interested in events going on in the Crucible theatre as they had a bearing on whom I would be watching playing in the final the following evening. 

To those with no interest in snooker, the following will be of little interest, but I'm going to write it anyway. To cut a long story short, the two favourites for the tournament, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump, were expected to face one another in the semi-final. But in a most unlikely turn of events, both were knocked out by Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones respectively. When I arrived in the Peak District, the semi-finals were well underway, with what most would regard as an unlikely line up given the main contenders had all fallen. Jak Jones was the lowest ranked player who'd never previously won a ranking event, though he did have a good showing at the Crucible the previous year. Not the most high scoring of players but a brilliant safety player. Stuart Bingham was the only previous winner of the World's, though this was back in 2015 and his last few seasons had been poor by his standards. In the other semi-final we had David Gilbert, another capable player, but one who'd also had a few poor seasons, but was showing some of the form that got him within an inch of the final in 2019 when he lost to four time world champion John Higgins. Lastly, we had Kyren Wilson. Of those remaining, he was the one I most wanted to see in the following day's final. He was the highest ranked of those left and has hovered around the top 8 for a few seasons now, but although he'd won five ranking events, he hadn't lifted any of the game's majors, having fallen to Mark Allen in the Masters and O'Sullivan in the in the World's some years before. 

The view over to Ladybower reservoir from Crook Hill

So as I made my way up the steep lane up toward the National Trust owned Crook Hill farm, I was rather transfixed on the snooker, taking periodic breaks to turn around and admire the views behind. The mist had completely lifted by this point and it was turning into a lovely day. Just before the farm I took a right of way over a field then onto the open fell. Crook Hill has two similar sized summits, with a dip in between them. After summitting, I descended to the gap between the summits where there were some rocks, perfect for a sit down. I watched the end of the Wilson vs Gilbert match and was pleased that Kyren made it through to the final.  After making my way down, I stopped at my car for a bite to eat. I'd brought a stir fry mix and some marinated tofu. I was cooking on the trusty jet boil. I fitted my pot stand then lit the flame. I sprayed in some vegetable oil and the pan was scolding in seconds. A couple passed me by and one of them commented positively on the smell. And it also tasted great, prompting me to scold myself for having relied on pot noodles for so many of my hiking meals. 

It was nice

I had initially planned on doing another fell, but it was getting toward 5pm now and I didn't want to be rushing around at the campsite so I called it a day. I made my way to North Lees Campsite. It is a decent place with good facilities. The man on the reception was also very helpful. He pre-warned me about a large group of people doing the D of E, and recommended a field out the way of the hustle and bustle. I set up my old Regatta 3 man tent, blew up all my inflatables, then left the site for Hathersage Village. It was a pleasant walk through a lane, then over fields towards a church yard. Once in the village, I stopped for a quick pint and checked in on the snooker. Jones still in front. Bingham is crumbling. He pots a cracker, but leaves himself with a slightly awkward next pot. Instead of taking it, he takes the seemingly easier option of playing for a snooker but butchers the shot, leaving Jones in. This prompts pundit Stephen Hendry to lambast Bingham, opining that it is the type of shot befitting of Bingham's ranking position. Ouch! The end result: Jones wins, and is to face Kyren Wilson in tomorrow's final.