The Peaks Revisited, Part I

Our Northfield friends Bob and Debbie are on vacation in England, and we spent the latter part of this week sharing a self-catering cottage with them on the side of Win Hill, overlooking the village of Hope, Derbyshire, in the Peak District. Last October, Clara and the boys and I spent a couple of days in the Peaks Pictured here is the landscape we covered on our major walk on that occasion, beginning at Lose Hill and ending at Mam Tor (from right to left in the photograph). This photograph was taken from Win Hill, just above our cottage. The walk up Win Hill was lovely. There were friendly sheep and lambs along the way, and an amazing view from the top of Win Pike. Below are pictures of (1) Win Hill Pike, (2) a sheep and lamb on the footpath up Win Hill, (3) a morning rainbow over the Vale of Edale, and (4) Clara standing on the summit of Win Pike.





The legend is that Win Hill and Lose Hill took their names from a 7th-century battle between Edwin of Northumbria and King Penda of Mercia and his Wessex allies, in which the winning army took its position on Win Hill and the losing army encamped on Lose Hill. The village of Hope is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Hope's long history is attested to by this Anglo-Saxon cross shaft in the churchyard of the parish church of St. Peter, in the center of the village.

Next: On the trail of Jane Eyre.