April 26^th 2009

Marie Curie “Walk of Hope”

Peak District Mountain Challenge

Michael and Julie Skinner completed this walk in memory of Julie’s Mum, Marie Bramah, who died of cancer in January 2009.

Marie Curie nurses helped the family to keep her at home, as she wished.

As a thank you, Michael and Julie decided to raise some money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Thanks to all our good friends who sponsored us for this walk, we raised nearly £500.

Here’s our day…

We started with registration at Edale Village Hall.	We then walked up to the church behind the village hall, taking a footpath down into and across the Vale of Edale.	From here we could see the track being followed to the top of Mam Tor. It looked very busy!
The climb up Mam Tor started gently with a comfortable footpath….	..but soon got steep with a worn, rough path to follow.	After much puffing, we reached checkpoint 1 at Hollins Cross on Mam Tor.
The route then continued over the ridge of Mam Tor .	This was the highest (and windiest) part of the route, at the site of the iron age fort.	We found checkpoint 2 at Mam Nick, where the road goes between Mam Tor and Rushup Edge.
We walked the length of Rushup Edge, while watching the hang gliders & parascenders.	Checkpoint 3 was at the end of Rushup Edge, where the route took a right hand turn towards the Vale of Edale.	The 10 mile route dived sharply down off the Chapel Gate track.
Thank goodness we had walking sticks. This bit was very steep and hard on our old knees!	The route then crossed Whitemoor Clough and several fields (in the background here)..	..until we reached Upper Booth (checkpoint 4 & ice cream shop).
We followed the Edale footpath from here, which joins the start of the Pennine Way.	The Pennine Way is paved here, and was quite busy.	A final stroll from Grindsbrook Booth…
..into the top of Edale, past the Nag’s Head,	..brought us back to Edale Village Hall, checkpoint 5, a cup of tea and a sit down. We were lucky with the weather as it was dry and just the right temperature. Everyone was very friendly and helpful – and we weren’t quite the last ones in! Thank you to all who supported us.