I set off from home and the sky was dark laden with snow, I think we were all excited by the prospect of Peak District winter walking. Our first objective was Lose Hill (
SK152854) we enjoyed a steady walk to the top. We found a sheltered spot a short distance from the summit and had a coffee and food. We continued westwards along the ridge to Mam Tor, walking poles were most useful particularly on one of the steeper points at Back Tor which fortunately was not too ice encrusted. Inspection of the snowflakes revealed them to be quite spikey possibly explaining the sticky texture of the snow. It did not come as a surprise to be blasted with 70mph winds on the top of mam tor (
SK128837 ) mmm nice! Well I enjoyed the additional effort required and the build up of rime on my trousers, it had a good mountain feel.
We desended Mam Tor and walked in the direction of Castleton.

After seeing the condition of the sheltering sheep, Gordon decided that a best course of action should be to dig in! So we practised our snow hole digging excellent fun. We completed our walk by dropping down into Castleton via Cave dale. Stopping for a pot of tea in the four roofs cafe. We returned to Hope in the dark via the path along the river Noe.

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