Rowtor Rocks and Stanton Moor

After a lovely quiet (if slightly tilted - the field is sloping) night we woke to an overcast morning. Rain is forecast for later but hopefully we can get our walk in before it arrives.

After breakfast I wandered down to the farm to put our £6 into the honesty box whilst Emma finished tidying. We emptied and filled our tanks before leaving. It’s only a short drive today to a small carpark on the outskirts of the tiny village of Birchover.

Emma make up a packed lunch, we strapped on our walking boots and set out on a 5 mile hike around the area.

First stop was Rowtor Rocks which lie just to the west of Birchover. The local parson carved the rocks into caves, alcoves, tunnels and steps over 300 years ago. He also a carved an armchair, rock basins and a square font.

 

Continuing our walk, we circumnavigated Eagle Tor before following footpaths through fields of inquisitive sheep. As we approached Stanton Moor we stopped for lunch with a super view across the Derwent valley towards Darley Dale.

Suitability fortified we climbed up onto the moor passing several standing stones as we went.

 

The Earl Grey Tower was tall and imposing and would have provided a superb view if they hadn’t bricked up the doorway!

A little further on we came to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle. This early Bronze Age stone circle was traditionally believed to depict nine ladies turned to stone as a penalty for dancing on a Sunday. It had just started to rain so we didn’t hang around too long!

We stopped briefly at the 335m high trig point at the top of the moor before descending to the edge where we came to Cork Stone.

Iron hoops were set in this stone in Victorian times to enable people to climb to rock.

Reaching the road, we walked back to Kiki where after our evening meal we settled down for the night.