Mam Tor (20th February 2018) MAP

On this beautiful crisp morning DiscoDeb, Jude and I set out for a jaunt over Mam-Tor. The journey there is a steady forty minutes and is just three roads from Leek; A53 to Buxton, straight over the roundabout next to the Palace Hotel (A6) and then turn off at the A623 for the last mile. We parked up at the ‘Mam Nick Car Park’ – One thing to note here, the Pay & Display machine ONLY takes debit cards, so don’t save your change up for the  walk.

Mam Nick Car Park
Mam Nick Car Park

Follow the path up out of the car park and at the top you will come to a road which you cross to start the trail

Start of Mam Tor
Start of Mam Tor

The start is quite steep but is aided by an excellent walkway of slabs

Mam Tor slab walkway steep start
Mam Tor slab walkway steep start

What I love about Mam Tor is that you don’t have to go that far to get great views and once you are at the the top of this first incline the views (which are spectacular) are available (360 degrees) throughout the walk.

Spectacular Mam Tor views
Spectacular Mam Tor views

The first part of the walk is all along the ridge. I recommend you get some wind protection as it is very windy up here, and on this day in February it was bitterly cold. We were wearing our Peter Storm ‘Chutes’ (an all in one scarf) which were excellent and of course a hat. There isn’t much protection from the wind so do be prepared. In the summer, the breeze is very welcomed by walkers and also by the many para-gliders and hang-gliders that frequent this spot. Half way along the ridge you come to a very steep rocky climb to the summit. We decided to have a bit of a feed here by lighting up the stove and cooking pasta, which was no mean feat with the bracing wind!

Mam Tor rocky climb to the summit
Mam Tor rocky climb to the summit

The rock to the left is an excellent regular formation that seems out of place in this rugged part of the walk. Here’s Jude modelling it 🙂

Mam Tor sitting rock
Mam Tor sitting rock
Mam Tor sitting rock
Mam Tor sitting rock

At this point you are only about a quarter of the way into the walk. It’s depicted as No.2 on the map (at the end of the page). After leaving here the walk is quite straight but it undulates up and down slightly to the next summit. There is a bit of a stone wall which does give a bit of respite from the gusts.

Looking down from Mam Tor pathway
Looking down from Mam Tor pathway

The last summit gives you a full 360 degree view and has this compass at the top of it

Mam Tor 360 degree views
Mam Tor 360 degree views
Mam Tor Summit Compass
Mam Tor Summit Compass

From here we headed down the slabbed pathway until we came to a stone wall, at which point we turned right

Heading down from Mam Tor compass summit
Heading down from Mam Tor compass summit

The path (or lack of it) from here can be quite tough going as it is boggy in places. The walk starts to climb back up to the summit and even though underfoot is firmer, it is quite steep in places.

Mam Tor climb
Mam Tor climb

We climbed back up to (No.2) on the map and head back along the ridge for a few yards before heading back down. The trek down was very boggy but didn’t pose too much of a problem with the correct footwear (Berghaus Hillmaster II Gore-Tex – these are excellent). There is a steam to traverse (which probably won’t present a problem in Summer).

Mam Tor stream
Mam Tor stream

In the photo above you can see a green building in the distance. We walked past this and headed past a house with a stile which took us down to a road which we followed to a wooded area called ‘Brockett Booth’

Green Building
Green Building
Stile by the house heading down to the road
Stile by the house heading down to the road
Wooded Area Brockett Booth
Wooded Area Brockett Booth
Wooded Area Brockett Booth
Wooded Area Brockett Booth

Heading out of this wooded area leads to a ‘fallen’ road. This road looks like it has been hit by an earthquake! It twists through the valley and is quite magnificent as it dips and rises much like a San Francisco road.

Fallen quarry road
Fallen quarry road
DiscoDeb pretending to be in danger by hanging off the road (you can take her anywhere once) haha
DiscoDeb pretending to be in danger by hanging off the road (you can take her anywhere once) haha

We were now coming to the end of the walk. The road has totally fallen away at the end and there is a bit of a steep climb to get out. The sun was starting to set and the ‘golden hour’ was fast approaching which gave me a couple of great photographs

Mam Tor 'Golden Hour'
Mam Tor ‘Golden Hour’
Mam Tor 'Golden Hour' suns rays through the cloud
Mam Tor ‘Golden Hour’ suns rays through the cloud

The walk is just under seven miles and I would class it as intermediate. Statistics and maps (Garmin VivoActive HR) are here:

Mam Tor map
Mam Tor map
Mam Tor statistics
Mam Tor statistics
Mam Tor statistics
Mam Tor statistics
Mam Tor statistics
Mam Tor statistics

#sheldontours

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