Crook Hill and Win Hill Walk via Ladybower Reservoir
This Win Hill walk also takes in Crook Hill and Ladybower Reservoir and is a 8.5 mile Peak District walk. Bagging the Peak District Ethels of Win Hill and Crook Hill, as well as the Win Hill trig point, this is a great long Peak District walk with a pub stop.
View of Ladybower Reservoir taken from Crook Hill
This Win Hill walk starts from the Heatherdene Car Park at Ladybower Reservoir where there are public toilets. We set off over the Ladybower Reservoir dam wall, past the famous Ladybower plugholes, and up into the woods, where we followed Parkin Clough up to the Win Hill summit. Parkin Clough is very steep, and there are sections which are rocky, have tree roots sticking out and you may need to scramble using your hands in places.
The stony path running alongside Parkin Clough
At the top of Parkin Clough we headed through the gate and into the woods, then followed the path up the hill to the summit of Win Hill. There are some stone steps forming the path.
Win Hill is 462m above sea level and has amazing views of the surrounding area, including over to Mam Tor and The Great Ridge and over Ladybower Reservoir. The top of Win Hill also has Win Hill Pike, known locally as The Pimple, and a trig point. Unfortunately when we went someone had poured some juice or something all over the trig point and it was covered in insects. Some people are just idiots.
Win Hill trig point
After we’d taken some photos of Win Hill trig point (from a safe distance, avoiding all bugs) we headed down the other side of Win Hill to the west. We followed the path until it forked round to the right to enter some woodland, and then headed along the woodland track. This leads to the River Ashop and Ladybower Reservoir, and we walked around the head of the reservoir.
Looking back at Win Hill and Win Hill Pike
Views across to Mam Tor and The Great Ridge from Win Hill – they’re better on a clear day!
River Ashop running into Ladybower Reservoir
We had to walk along the A57 Snake Road for a short distance until we reached a footpath running up through the woods on the other side of the road. This path leads to a gate where you can see the two peaks of Crook Hill (382m above sea level). The higher summit is sometimes known as Ladycrook Hill, and there is the remains of a Bronze Age stone circle between the two summits. We headed across the Open Access Land and up the higher summit first, then followed the path along to the lower summit which has spectacular far reaching views over Ladybower Reservoir.
Views to the twin peaks of Crook Hill (right) and Ladycrook Hill (left)
Views from Crook Hill down to Ladybower Reservoir
Views back to Ladycrook Hill
We then headed down the hillside towards Crookhill Farm, and followed the footpath through the farmyard. The footpath is quite hard to see but we followed the farm track out of the farm yard until we came to a barn, and the footpath gate runs alongside the barn.
Crookhill Farm. The footpath follows the farm track through the farm yard.
Wooden gate leading to the footpath
The path then leads down the hill and pops out near the junction with Snake Road. From here, we walked over the Ashopton Viaduct and to The Ladybower Inn for a pub lunch, before heading back to the car park at Heatherdene.
Looking over Ladybower Reservoir towards Derwent Edge
This walk features some short, steep climbs but the views from Win Hill and Crook Hill are definitely worth it! You could miss out Crook Hill if you just wanted to do a Win Hill walk – we wanted to tick off those two Ethels though.
Crook Hill and Win Hill Walk via Ladybower Reservoir:
Parking for Ladybower Reservoir: Heatherdene Car Park S33 0BY
Facilities: Public loos in the Heatherdene car park, and we went for a lunch in the Ladybower Inn
Walk Time: 3-4 hours
Difficulty: ▲▲
Distance: 8.1 miles (13 km)
Trig Points Bagged: Win Hill
Peak District Peaks Bagged: Win Hill, Crook Hill
Peak District Ethels Bagged: Win Hill, Crook Hill
Win Hill and Crook Hill Route Map:
You can get the GPX file for this walk by clicking on the map and downloading it from Komoot.
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