Cavedale

Another cheap YHA deal led us back to Castleton for the weekend. The weather preceding our trip involved lots of heavy snow which closed a lot of the main roads including Snake Pass & Winnats Pass. Thankfully there was a road in to where we were staying which was still open and we made pretty good time getting there.

W'd eaten by 7pm and were feeling pretty itchy footed so decided to walk from the YHA to Cavedale. I'd hoped to include it on a previous walk but we ran out of time. It's an amazing lime stone valley which was carved by glacier meltwater. It used to have caves in it, but they collapsed in leaving a deeper valley.

Castleton was looking beautiful in the snow. and it felt quite exiting ascending the dale with the steep sides all around. There were signs of mini avalanches on some of the steeper slops, but there wasn't enough hanging snow to have caused injury.

The moon was full which made for some great photography conditions. Frustratingly I didn't have a tripod which mean't that most came out blurry.

Once at the top of the valley we had a great view back down and towards the Castle. We headed over the top as the wind picked up and it started to snow. Aside from winter walks which have ended in the dark due to the length this was my first experience walking in the gusting snow in the dark. It's hard to comprehend how rescue teams search mountains at great height in far worse conditions.

Once off the hills we walked back through Castleton Village taking a brief detour to look at the grand entrance of Peak Cavern and a nose in the gift shop windows. We were both too tired to stop in the pubs en route back for a drink! Would definitely recommend walking the valley at night to avoid the crowds as it looked like there had been plenty of footfall during the day.