Crook Hill and Win Hill Walk via Ladybower Reservoir

May 19, 2022 CIRCULAR WALKS, MEDIUM WALKS 4-9 MILES, PEAK DISTRICT WALKS, PEAK DISTRICT WALKS WITH KIDS, PEAK DISTRICT WALKS WITH PUBS

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

EDIT: As of Christmas 2022 the Ladybower Inn is closed but the Yorkshire Bridge Inn is a half a mile away (ish) and is nearer to Heatherdene car park.

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.

 

You might also like:

Lose Hill and Win Hill

Ladybower Reservoir Walk With Win Hill