ノーベリーアンドロストンの天然記念物・トップ16

The car park is free for National Trust members. I love climbing but I don't like heights....confusing I know! I really enjoyed this short climb but I found myself on a small scramble which got my blood pumping a little!

Car park isn’t free but costs £6.60 for the day or £4 for 4 hours

Try and get there as early as possible, especially if the weather is nice!

A first for Staffordshire! Brown End Quarry became the County’s first geological nature reserve when it was acquired by the Trust in 1987. Brown End was quarried for limestone from the mid 18th Century until 1950, when its inclusion within the Peak National Park restricted further development. Quarrying finally ceased in the mid 1960's. For much of this period the stone was dug by hand and typical production in the late 1940's was about 5,000 tonnes a year – not much by today’s modern quarrying methods! https://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/nature-reserves/brown-end-quarry

At the time of writing, the National Trust has erected signs informing people that the summit is closed due to erosion and the risk of falling rocks. There is no date set for when the path to the summit may reopen (hopefully soon). The path around the hill is still open and affords spectacular views itself.

Thorpe Cloud rises proudly from Dovedale and affords breathtaking views over the River Dove, Bunster Hill, Ilam and beyond. It has a distinctive conical shape and is a popular summit for hikers in the area. That said, it can get extremely busy up here so choose your moment to climb it.

A short but steep climb to the summit is rewarded with beautiful 360 degree views of the surrounding areas. In 1997, the writer Jeff Kent discovered that a double sunset could be seen against Thorpe Cloud from the top of nearby Lin Dale and, two years later, the phenomenon was first captured on film by the photographer Chris Doherty. The occurrence is visible in good weather on and around the summer solstice and perhaps beyond, when the sun sets on the summit of the hill, partially reappears from its steep northern slope and sets for a second and final time shortly afterwards. The precise event and its location are described in Kent's book The Mysterious Double Sunset

Dovedale is owned by the National Trust and has been since 1934. It became a National Nature Reserve in 2006, in recognition of its importance for wildlife and native flora, and it is also designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The limestone rock that forms Dovedale and the surrounding valleys is made up of the fossilised remains of marine life that lived during the Carboniferous period, 350 million years ago, when this area was underneath a shallow tropical sea. As you walk through the dale, keep your eyes peeled for fossils in the surface of the rocks. The River Dove is renowned for its trout fishing, and was immortalised in the book The Compleat Angler, written in 1653 by Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, who lived nearby. For much of its course the River Dove has one bank in Derbyshire and one in Staffordshire, forming the border between the two counties. https://letsgopeakdistrict.co.uk/listing/dovedale/ If you want to avoid the crowds and parking issues that can be found at the main visitor entrance between Ilam and Thorpe, you can access the walk from Milldale where there is car parking available. Or if you don't mind adding an extra mile or so to your walk the car parking available on the Tissington Trail close to Alsop en le Dale is another option.