Who, in the pub on a Friday night, proudly tells their mates they are going to climb the lowest hill in the local area or national park?
Not many I reckon.
For the thousands who go up Kinder Scout every weekend (and the dozens who actually visit the highest point of it- there is a path to the top thesedays), I bet only a handful of mostly hardcore peak-baggers each year find themselves on the summit of Hare Knoll. And even then, they probably aren't aware that at a mere 185m, it is the lowest hill in the Peak District National Park.
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| Hare Knoll in all it's diminutive glory. |
For all of an easy 50m ascent you can be rewarded with fine views along the Derwent Valley, very cold swimming nearby and it doesn't take a genius to include it in a nice short walk from Froggatt or Calver. You won't find bouldery slopes or gritstone tors, nor wild bogs or remote cloughs. But the Peak District's lowest hill has many joys, especially when the weather is crap higher up or on a hot summer's evening.
Yet. Small hills don't stroke the ego. Small hills covered in open fields full of cows and associated cow poo are even less appealing. Mr Billy Big Bollocks will not find daring adventures impress his friends on this tiny grassy lump either.
Unless...
You link it up with the highest in the Peak District: Kinder Scout at 636m- in a circular walk. Aka, 'The Lowest to The Highest' : 34 miles of varied and pretty walking from either Hathersage (good pubs) or Grindleford (that godly cafe by the train station). A delightfully simple idea that is long enough to tire the legs yet not so long to ensure you'll be back in time for a well earned pint. You'll find at least two swim spots along the way and enough shops to travel light. On the loooong slog up Win Hill Pike 29 miles in, the tiny ego may grow a bit too...
I did this route in September 2022. It took me 11 hours 13 minutes to walk the 34 miles over some of the nicest scenery in the Hope, Edale and Derwent Valleys. For a good chunk of it I went as fast a possible. There were a lot of people at Hollins Cross and on Kinder. Far too many for comfort. I soon realised that if I appeared wild eyed and dripping in sweat, they would hastily move to either side of the path granting me a unhindered passage through. Want to have space in predictably busy places? Smell badly... Anyway, the route weaved it's way through Calver, Eyam, Sir William Hill, Castleton, and Win Hill Pike, included Lucozade stops in Bradwell and Bamford, a quick swim to feel refreshed and late summer sunshine all the way. Just constantly changing pretty scenery and easy plodding. It is honestly one of the best longish walks I've ever done. And I've done a lot.
It is good to enjoy the smaller things in life alongside the big, boggy and pointy things, particularly if they are grassy, surrounded by cold rivers and covered in cow shit.
