The Great Ridge, Castleton, Derbyshire, England

The ridge from Mam Tor to nearby Lose Hill was named The Great Ridge by the late W. A. "Walter" Poucher. Poucher was a character by all accounts with a day job was as a perfume chemist and a sideline in mountain photography and writing together with a penchant for wearing the wares of the day job. Reputedly, he had an arrangement with Yardley, his employers, that allowed him to work for half the year and devote the rest to producing his guidebooks, complete with monochrome photos in the earlier days with colour ones coming later on.To modern eyes, it seems that he enjoyed a charmed existence that few today could hope to have come their way in this ever speeding world.

Taking a step back from the day to day hurly burly is one of my reasons for heading into hill country and the path from Mam Tor to Lose Hill is a tantalising prospect. While it cuts an intriguing line, it is never likely to to trouble vertigo sufferers to that extent. Be warned though that it is an easy target for those who normally don't walk up hills and can get busy. However, you may find like I did on a walk in December 2009, that you have it largely to yourself after Hollins Cross or Back Tor. Mind you, the onset of rain may have helped my cause on the day. The photo was taken on a very different day when the heat of the sun might have sapped the energy of those less dedicated souls. If my memory serves me correctly, I don't recall a great deal of folk going my way on the day and any semblance of crowding is absent from any recollections. Eventually, I was to add Win Hill to my crop of summits with a finish to the hike at Bamford's train station.