The Peak District in Film
Having wrapped up the shoot at Sychnant Pass in North Wales, it was time for me to hit the road again and carry onto the latter half of my autumn roadtrip to the Peak District. My first day there saw me going to Combs Reservoir for another shoot, but whilst it (just about) worked as a location for a car, it wasn’t the most exciting location for landscape photography. What greeted me was a rather muddy walk, without much in the way of autumn colours or really anything that grabbed my eye. Ultimately, I shot a single image of a perfectly reflected group of trees; you could almost turn the image upside down and not know the difference.
Unfortunately, the last photoshoot I had planned that week ended up being cancelled due to the owner of the car being ill, but it meant I had an extra day up north to go out with my film cameras. Day two was actually the 11th November – Remembrance Day, and whilst poking about on google maps I discovered there was a crash site of an old American B-29 bomber, with much of the wreckage still lying in-situ. Conveniently the parking spot was also just off of Snake Pass (A57), the famous road that traverses the Peaks and has long been popular with drivers. I’d driven it once before but not in my Peugeot 205. This itinerary meant I could kill two birds with one stone.
I won’t go into too much detail about the crash site itself, as that will be the topic of next week’s blog, but finding it was not too difficult. Once you park up on the side of the road you then walk along the Pennine Way, before making a short turning off West until you reach your destination. After being away from this part of the world for so long it was a real joy to be back out on the moors, and there were also a surprising number of red grouse to greet me. Shame I didn’t have a long lens to get a decent photo, though I hardly had the correct film in my Nikon F100 in any case.
Once I’d passed through the crash site, I headed on up to the Higher Shelf Stones, giving me a phenomenal view out all the way to Manchester which was a long way away. It certainly made for a good stopping point for lunch. However, as I had been making my progress from the cark park the land behind me had begun to disappear into a thick blanket of fog. Whilst I had made it just in time to see out for miles, it was quite striking how within half an hour this had all completely disappeared. It just goes to show how quickly things can change up in the hills and why it is important to always come prepared. With a decent bit of experience and the right gear behind me I wasn’t in any trouble but conditions like this catch out many naïve people every year, sometimes with deadly consequences.
Once I made it back to the car I carried on my drive along Snake Pass, making the odd stop for photos, before finishing up and turning around at Derwent Reservoir. It’s just a shame that the days aren’t very long during that time of year. After a night out in Manchester I had my final day left (and the day I was to travel home), so I decided to visit one of the more popular places for walkers – Mam Tor.
Whilst I had visited the nearby Blue John mines as a child, I’d never been up Mam Tor itself. It’s not a particularly difficult walk, parking down the bottom you can easily be up the top within fifteen minutes if you are fit, though it is fairly steep. Well worth the effort though, as you are greeted with 360° views of the nearby slopes. The fog had been threatening to roll in from a distance, but it cleared away before being replaced by light rain. After walking up and along part of the ridgeway, I walked down to the destroyed and abandoned A625.
The name Mam Tor means ‘mother hill’ and it also has the alternative name of the Shivering Mountain, a name well earned due to the frequent landslips that have occurred for many years. The crumbled road that lay before me had originally been built in 1819 and after numerous minor repairs, was hit by major damage due to a landslip in 1977. The road was finally abandoned in 1979 and what it left is a sight rarely seen in Britain. It’s quite staggering how much the earth has moved, and the sheer differences in elevation between the difference layers of tarmac. In all honesty it is worth visiting just to see that.
Finally, after a full week away I took the final shots on my rolls of film and packed everything away for the journey home. When I had arrived the car park was mostly empty, but even on this wet, random mid-week, it was almost full by the time I left. Goes to show the signs telling you to come early on weekends weren’t kidding. I was pretty pleased with my trip away, especially as when I went there were hardly any autumn colours back home. I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing the images as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Have you done any trips away with just you film cameras? Let me know in the comments down below.
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