I looked at this route as a training route for the Leeds to Skipton 30miler, but the fact that it is a linear walk was both the appeal and the problem. I wanted to do a BHF walk this year, so this seemed the ideal choice, and the timing was great.

I signed up for the 7am shuttle bus from the finish to the start, so was up at 5:30 to get ready, drive to Cromford, and  get signed up. I lost a bit of time scraping the ice off the car, and with a bit of cautious driving in the dark, I was in the queue after registration in time to catch the 3rd bus out to the start.

We arrived at the start in Hurdlow just in time to see the dawn.
The sun was dead ahead, with not a cloud in the sky. Lots of icy patches underfoot. On with the sunglasses, time to put the hammer down in order to keep warm.
The narrow path made things frustrating in terms of overtaking slower walkers. Luckily after the first proper break stop things thinned out a bit, so I could make some good time.
The scenery soon settled down into open White Peak plateau. It was pretty similar all the way out to Harborough rocks.
Looked like there might be some good bouldering/short climbs at Harborough Rocks.
This marked the start of a change in the scenery. Through a cutting and along to Middleton Top
After the visitor centre at Middleton top, the route plummets through a beech woodland.
I really felt for the older guy hauling himself up the steep path, slippery with wet leaves. I was having to hold the pace back, but a few loonies came running past downhill.
After a short flat section, I passed Black Rocks, and started to descend once again.
I liked Black Rocks. I think I'll be back for a better look around.
Final sharp descent down to High Peak Station, then back along the canal to the car.
If anyone is looking to train for some big hills, this would be a great place to do it.
You can see from the pace / altitude pace how steep the end was. Glad we were walking towards Cromford - in previous years, the walk was reversed.
 
Stunning finale to the "National 3 peaks over 4 years" saga. After accident, illness, and breeding, we finally managed to get organised to climb Scafell Pike. Only somehow it had got to be November.
Original plan was to make an early start on the Friday, climb the hill, have an overnighter and a slow day on Saturday, and be back early. Weather intervened, and we made Friday a travel day instead.
We spent the afternoon poking around gear shops in Keswick, and enjoying coffee, cake, and Led Zeppelin in the Square Orange coffee shop. 
Night fell and on to our planned overnight stop. Borrowdale Youth Hostel offered us a double room for about £25 as non members. It was warm, cosy, there was a bar with excellent beer on tap, a games room, full English breakfast for £5, and no coach parties of teenagers. Full of friendly genuine outdoors types. Can't fault it. Will stay again.
Rested, fed, and thankfully avoiding a hangover, we headed down to the farm at Seathwaite. Plenty of free onroad parking here at 8am in November. Suspect it might be a different story on a sunny August weekend.
An obvious path lead up past the farm, and up towards the head of the valley.
Route decision time at Stockley Bridge. The forecast on MWIS was marginal at best. The afternoon was likely to see hail, snow, possible thunder. However, it was only about 9am, and the waterfall looked nice, so "be rate, youth", and we set off up the Corridor Route instead of what we assumed to be the easier route up Esk Hause.
I've not given detailed directions here - if anyone wants to try this route, you'd be wise 
It was a steep pull up beside the waterfall, and in our first heavy shower of the day we toiled away inside waterproofs. The temperature was falling noticeably, as we reached the top and were exposed to the wind coming down the hanging valley of Styhead Gill.
The path up Styhead Gill ran close to the stream. So close, in fact that we were walking up the edge of the riverbed at one point. I slipped on some slime, and dropped my knee onto a rock. I was regretting bringing so much kit.
Eventually we reached Sty Head, and our go/no go decision.  The weather had improved, and the view opened up to Lingmell and the "Crack of Doom" - Piers Gill.  The highest peaks were still in cloud, but we decided to go for it.
The Corridor route seemed to run on forever, weaving in and out between crags as streams cut into the rock. Things got progressively steeper and rougher, with a couple of easy scrambles, made harder by fatigue, damp conditions, and heavy packs.
View over to Great Gable:
After the "bad step" above Piers Gill, the path pulls up towards the summit of Scafell Pike. Anyone planning to descend via the Corridor route should be careful because the path carries on down the ravine like a motorway, and you need to keep your eye out for an apparently blank section of rock on your right, with directions scrawled on using a softer stone like a chalk.
The walk had a real sting in the tail. Things were about to get steep, and bouldery. And at that point, the weather closed in, and my phone battery froze.

The weather deteriorated from wind and rain to hail to flurries of snow, then into a blizzard. We followed the path of cairns up to the summit. It took forever. Must have been a good 40 minutes on the loose boulders, complicated as the gaps filled with snow.
Eventually we topped out, and I climbed the summit cairn.
The photos stop there, as things continued to deteriorate, and the snowfall increased. I was considering taking my ice axe from my pack, as things became slippier with the snow building up underfoot, and the path steepened down the convex side of the mountain.
The boulder field was full of people asking directions. The cloud was well down, and there was snow flying everywhere in the strong wind. I had taken a compass bearing in the relative shelter of the side of the summit cairn, but was suffering from self doubt. I asked a few people who which route they had taken, and confirmed we were heading the right way. I couldn't face the corridor scrambles in the poor weather, so headed for Esk Hause.
What started as a relatively faint path soon became a wide motorway as we dropped to a col where a huge white demoralising mountain loomed into view. The first false summit, and then eventually up onto Ill Crag.

Ill Crag was bouldery, and difficult in the fresh snow. There were a few large groups of men with dogs heading the same way, and they felt the need to charge past, barging us off the line of the path, and then stopping, clogging the place up. Very irritating.
Eventually we reached a large cairn as we dropped down, and from the map I was pretty sure we needed to turn left (at Esk Hause). Thankfully they charged onwards, towards Esk Pike and Bow Fell. The cloud was still down, so I checked our position with the GPS on my Google Nexus tablet running a copy of Landranger.  It was the only thing with any battery left.
Another comfort check at the top of Grains Gill, and we knew we were heading the right way.
GPS use in the hills is a contentious topic just now, but I think it's a great navigational aid, provided you're not entirely reliant upon it. Map and compass, with GPS for when you're struggling. And brilliant when you can't see your hand in front of your face in a white-out.

The snow had turned to rain by now, and we faced a dull wet downward trudge back to the car. We met walkers in shorts heading up the hill. It was about 2:30pm. Madness!
The paving stones which comprised the path sloped downhill steeply, and it was downright dangerous in the wet, with a steep drop on the left, and parts where the path had collapsed into Grains Gill due to erosion.

We were glad to get back to the car before dark. It had been an epic full day, Sadly we didn't make our planned snack stop at the http://www.llamakarmakafe.co.uk/ just outside Penrith. We'd seen it on the way up, but it was invisible heading back, and closed at 5pm anyway :(

Two GPS traces because my phone died, then I found the GPS watch I thought I'd forgotten. For some reason I get an error when I try to stitch them together.

Anyway, that's the 3 peaks done. I don't think I'd do Scafell Pike again - the boulders were a nightmare! Some great views of Great Gable and back over Derwent Water to Keswick and Skiddaw / Blencathra on the way up, but with so many hills to choose from, I don't feel the need to go back.

 
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I've quite fancied climbing Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill for a few years. I remember reading that they are "The only Peaks in the Peak District", and recently opened up with permissive paths under the CROW legislation.
I have a number of routes in various guides, which I totally neglected to read.  I printed out a couple of guides off the Internet, and stuffed them into my pocket, but didn't read them.
The original plan for this walk, the Friday before Jubilee weekend, was to walk the High Peak Trail down from Buxton to Cromford. That is another route I have fancied for a while, but I pulled my calf running the Great Manchester Run a week or two ago, and didn't think a 17Mile trek was a good idea.
Anyway, I drove over to Earl Sterndale and parked by the church, opposite the Quiet Woman pub.
The sign says "Soft Words Turneth Away Wrath", above a headless woman. Have you seen "An American Werewolf In London?"...

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The route I had half read from the excellent Walking Britain site suggested walking through the recycling centre to the side of the Quiet Woman, to pick up the path. This path passes through a couple of gates until it runs alongside an electric fence (at the time of my visit - looked pretty temporary) until reaching the brow of the hill.  The vista revealed is the picture on the left. It's like something from Tolkien. I kept expecting Hobbits to pop up. 
The path dropped down through fields, to a road. I crossed the road and made a b-line for the bottom of the first hill.
I'd got excited. I'd ignored the guide. The paths aren't on the OS map, anyway. So I just climbed the first hill I saw.

The excellent Walk Britain link is at http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks/walk_b/1861/

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The farmer had been spreading muck on the fields, which was nice.  I arrived at the bottom of the hill, and was presented with a steep grassy slope with occasional foot steps where the turf had worn away, presenting a sort of flight of steps up the hill.
It was pretty steep and very hard going, but following the edge of the ridge soon brought me to the summit.
The hills look alpine, but are actually quite small. It's only 350ft of ascent to the top of the first hill.  The guide said I should be on Chrome Hill. I was sat on the top of Parkhouse Hill. I was doing the walk in the wrong direction.

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I haven't managed to capture it in the photographs, but this ridge is called The Dragon's Back for a reason.  It's the edge of a prehistoric coral reef, and the limestone has worn to a fabulous undulating ridge. This photo shows one of the later pinnacles. You could climb them all, but a few at the Chrome Hill end of Parkhouse looked a bit exposed, over a long steep drop. The path around the side was fine.

Parkhouse dispatched with, it was time to descend to cross the road to Chrome Hill.  This bit was a bit hairy. very steep descent down steep grass, loose mud and limestone scree, and some polished rock steps which sloped away. I did some of it sliding sat down. I decided that the hill was definitely better climbed in the opposite direction.

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Chrome Hill was much easier going. Again, there was an undulating ridge, but it began grassy and gentle. This picture is looking back at the way I had been. Up until this point I had been pretty lucky with the weather, overcast and cool. But now the cloud was coming down, and it was becoming difficult to see the hill behind me.
I pressed on, the easier slope and safer footing allowed me to make better progress.
Why do sheep insist upon sitting in the middle of the path?

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The weather closed in. Things were slightly damp, but the low cloud was my biggest problem. I was aware I had been basically ignoring the route guide, and winging it on the grounds that I was just aiming for the ruddy great lump of rock in front of me. Looking at the OS map, there were no paths marked. These are Permissive Paths, not Public Footpaths, and I think the OS maps are pretty out of date.  No signal to download a map onto my phone GPS.  Marvellous.
Looking at the OS map I could see a farm at the far end of the hill, with a road. The plan was to try and find that, then head down.

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I followed the ridge by keeping to the high ground. Eventually I reached the end of the ridge and dropped down.  As I left the clouds, I could see a stile. With a signpost for Permissive Path. It didn't say where the path was going, but it pointed right, and that was the vague direction I was heading, so I went for it.
The path passed to the right of Tor Rock, and eventually I saw a sign for Stoop Farm.
Lucky guesswork and some vague waving of the compass saw me heading down the road into Dowel Dale. I think the Post van was as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

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I was able to make some decent time up heading down into Dowel Dale. I kept an eye out for the cave, but missed it.
Eventually I passed Dowel Hall (farm) on the left, and found myself back at the gap between the two hills.

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In theory, I should walk past the hills, and head back up to Earl Sterndale.  But... Well... It's such a nice shapely hill, and I was pretty sure I had climbed it in the wrong direction.... So I climbed Parkhouse again in the reverse direction. Definitely better from the Chrome Hill side heading back to Earl Sterndale.
There was still cow poo all over the field at the other side.

I popped into the Quiet Woman for a can of Coke and some crisps, then drove home.
I can't help but think I'll be back. I just wish the hills were a bit bigger. Another thousand foot or two would do it.