Section 9 - Mam Tor to Hope


Section 9 of The Trans-Pennine 100 leaves the car park and ascends the stepped path to the summit of Mam Tor.

The route from here leaves in a general Northwestern direction along the great ridge. 

Passing Hollings Cross, Back Tor and ascending Lose Hill. Descending from the Summit of Lose Hill to eventually pass through arable fields to the Hope Sports Club.

  • Mam Tor is a 517 m (1,696 ft) hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire. Its name means "mother hill", so called because frequent landslips on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of "mini-hills" beneath it. These landslips, which are caused by unstable lower layers of shale, also give the hill its alternative name of Shivering Mountain.
    • The hill is crowned by a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort, and two Bronze Age bowl barrows. At the base of the Tor and nearby are four show caves: Blue John Cavern, Speedwell Cavern, Peak Cavern and Treak Cliff Cavern where Lead, Blue John, Fluorspar and other minerals were once mined.

  • The Great Ridge is a ridge separating the vales of Edale and Castleton, It extends for approximately 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from Mam Tor at the western end of the ridge to Lose Hill at the eastern end, the lowest point being Hollins Cross.

    • A path runs along the length of the ridge, and is roughly paved to prevent erosion caused by the large number of visitors. The only steep section of the path is Back Tor, just east of Hollins Cross, which may not be suitable for the very infirm. 
    • West of Mam Tor, the high ground continues, slightly changing direction, as Rushup Edge.
    • Suggested explanations for the name of Lose Hill include that it derives from the Old English ‘hlose’, meaning pigsties, or that it may be a corruption of ‘loose’, as in ‘free land’. Another author (Murray) argues that Lose Hill should actually be called Laws Hill.
    • In relatively recent times, the two hills' (Win Hill is the other lump East) names have prompted a fanciful tale concerning the outcome of an imagined 7th-century battle between the forces of Edwin of Northumbria and Cynegils of Wessex. Edwin's forces occupied Win Hill, while Cynegils' men camped on Lose Hill. As the battle progressed, Cynegils' forces advanced up Win Hill, and Edwin's retreated behind a temporary wall they had built near the summit. They pushed the boulders of the wall downhill, crushing the Wessex soldiers and gaining victory in the battle. However, there is no historical basis for the tale, and no evidence of any battle ever being fought here.

  • Hope is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 864.It lies in the Hope Valley, at the point where Peakshole Water flows into the River Noe. To the north, Win Hill and Lose Hill stand either side of the Noe.

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