Their story, in their words…
We challenged ourselves to do a hike from Sheffield to Manchester, crossing the Peak District as we went. This was extremely exhilarating, but definitely rewarding and gave us some memories which none of us will ever forget.
We departed on Sunday afternoon, from Victoria Coach Station, and arrived at Meadowhall Interchange in Sheffield. We had a train ticket booked from Meadowhall to Sheffield City Centre, which we then took. After taking in the sights, we decided to make our way to our hostel, which was a trek and a taster for what was to come over the next three days.
We woke up on Monday to a breakfast provided by the hostel, and then started making our way towards our next campsite, which was Rowter Campsite.
Firstly, we made a quick stop at a Tesco along our route to stock up on essentials such as water and fresh fruit if we needed some, and then began walking again. We went down Ringinglow Road, and then we decided to go off-route to explore Lady Canning’s Plantation Forest.
To our disappointment, it started raining, so we had to quickly take cover under the tree canopy in order to stay moderately dry, but we ended up making it through the forest and to where we would be having our lunch: Ox Stones.
In my opinion, this was my favourite part of the hike, since we got to climb onto the rocks and see some really cool views. After hiking through a bunch of villages and towns throughout the way, we ended up making it to our campsite, where we set up our tents and settled down for the night.
On Tuesday, we had chocolate porridge for our breakfast, which we made using our trangia, and then we proceeded to our next campsite, situated at Crossgate Farm.
We were supposed to climb Mam Tor during this day, but unfortunately it was raining way too hard for us to safely climb the mountain along with carrying the gear and equipment in our possession, and so we decide to use public transport to get to Glossop, which was still an adequate distance from our campsite, and also gave us variety in elevation.
Once we got to our campsite, we found out that we were actually the only ones camping on that day, and so thankfully the owners of the campsite let us stay in the barn which also served as a public cafe.
However, we soon found out why we were the only campers: it began heavily raining after a while, so we quickly set up our tents before the rain picked up again, and then went into the barn for our dinner. After having cup noodles and playing a few card games, we then went to sleep for the night.
Wednesday was our last day hiking, and so we decided to get up early and pack everything to be prepared for the final day. We made pancakes for breakfast, and then set off on our journey, making our way to Mottram in Longdendale, which was our next town.
After travelling there, we made our way to Hyde, and once again it started raining really heavily. Unfortunately we could not continue hiking in these weather conditions, and so we had to continue on public transport.
This would definitely be something to revise if we were to do a hike again, since weather is something that can only be predicted, and not planned for. We finally made it to Manchester after three days, and we were very much relieved to be on the coach going back to London.
Overall, the experience was definitely fulfilling, and gave us all valuable lessons in resourcefulness and practical thinking. Thank you to everyone who helped donate to our fundraiser, and thank you to the Mark Evison Foundation for giving us the opportunity to do this hike!
