Under orders from Squadron Leader Gent, we left Notts at 7.55am ‘on the dot’ and headed up to the hills, via a quick pit stop for a bucket of latte somewhere on the M1. Today, BMSCMC’s hiking subsidiary – consisting of a team of its two founder members – were determined to maintain tradition and uphold the annual December 27th club walk!

Surrounded by reports of the terrible flooding elsewhere around the country we had checked the weather avidly, but we needn’t have worried as the Edale Valley greeted us with clear blue skies that were full of promise. Our route began with a steep 250m climb up to Twitchell Farm and the bottom of the summit of Win Hill. The mist lay over the valley and the sun was shining as we climbed – at fifteen degrees it was hard going in the heat. Bizarre to think that this time last year we were walking in a foot of fresh snow. We adopted the African walking technique of ‘Pali pali’. Traditionally used for climbing Kilimanjaro this is also useful in the Peaks for the post Xmas Turkey burn off walk. On the summit we enjoyed a feast of seasonal Lindor chocolates and a nice cup of tea. Meanwhile our eyes feasted on the sumptuous views across to Castleton Ridge, Edale, Lose Hill, Kinder, Ladybower and the wild moors and edges of the Eastern Peak District. We reluctantly left Win Hill and headed along the ridge west to Hope Cross. Conditions were perfect with no wind – you could hear the silence as we approached Hope Cross. Here we turned left and headed down to Jaggers Clough, affectionately named Mordor by one of the team. As we descended into the black land we lost the sun, so on went the hats as we carefully navigated the stream at the bottom which was bursting with excess surface water racing down off the hills. We fought off orks and Sauron the Dark Lord of Mordor – or perhaps it was just a mountain biker – to emerge up out of the other side of the Clough and a splendid view of the Edale valley. After a brief lunch stop and top up of festive saturated fats, we progressed down to Nether Booth farm, along the road and began our final climb up Backtor Nook to the top of Back Tor. We followed a good grassy path up to the bottom of Back Tor and descended the other side along the well trodden and exceptionally muddy ridge to Lose Hill. The village of Hope was laid out beneath us and we enjoyed an easy, if ridiculously muddy, descent back to the car.  Alison demonstrated classic bridging technique to circumnavigate the mud swamps as Dave waded through them in a smart pair of winter and very waterproof boots as he promised to make a climber out of Alison before the year was up. The excursion finished in the Outside climbing store in Hathersage with a few Christmas purchases.  In summary, a gloriously sunny, 14km and five hours walk and a great ‘winter’ day out. Happy Christmas to all our readers!