One word of advice, if you are heading up to Mam Tor and want to park in the National Trust car park (£3 or free to National Trust members), don’t follow SatNav and instead use the directions on the National Trust Mam Tor Circular Walk website.Ĭastleton is a gem of a town, steeped as it is in history, and overlooked by the Norman ruins of Peveril Castle.ĭespite being so small, on our meander around town, we counted 5 pubs and 3 cafes, all within a few hundred metres. The start of the steps leading up to Mam Tor from the National Trust car parkĭespite the rain and fog we decided to head up to Mam Tor anyway though once at the top we decided that completing the circular walk we’d intended to do, was a pointless endeavour, given most of the pleasure for us comes from the views, but as you can see, there wasn’t one!Īt the top of Mam Tor, taking in the erm ‘view’ that was a very short 0.6km walk from the car park It’s true! With the right gear you can get out whatever the weather. What we didn’t consider though was visibility, and as we neared our destination and were on our final leg of the drive through Winnats Pass, it became clear that the drizzle had turned into heavy rain and that the fog was so thick, visibility was down to around 20 metres or so. We’d checked the weather forecast for the Castleton area that morning, and were prepared for patchy rain. We left the DSLR at home and opted for the compact, but still managed to get some beautifully atmospheric shots Nothing really went as planned today though, illustrating a need to remain flexible and to be prepared for the unpredictability of nature. This proved handy as the weather today was not on our side! We had hoped to do the circular Mam Tor walk finishing our day off with a visit to Peak Cavern and then finally, a good pub meal. There are loads of show caves in the area we were in, including Blue John Cavern and Peak Cavern, also known as the Devil’s Arse (how charming). On a wet and dull winters day, we headed up to the Peak District for our first walk of the new year…but it didn’t exactly go to plan!

Mam tor how long to walk