From airy Lakeland rock to myth-soaked Cheshire sandstone, here are seven edges with a licence to thrill.
STRIDING & SWIRRAL EDGES, LAKE DISTRICT
Striding Edge is the stuff of many walkers’ dreams; others their nightmares. Wainwright called it ‘the finest ridge in Lakeland’, but the craggy tightrope slung east from Helvellyn can be a scarily airy place – 850m above sea-level, 600m above the beck through Grisedale.
The drama – and courage required – builds steadily as you climb from Ullswater. First you climb the comfortably chunky bulk of Birkhouse Moor, then the rock starts to ridge-ify on the way to Hole-in-the-Wall, squeezing further to High Spying How where the Edge proper begins its 500m-long bump through the sky like the spine of a titanosaurus. If the crest itself gets too vertiginous, a thin path tucks in below for much of it. Then, just before touching Helvellyn, you hit the most technical bit – a down-scramble called the Bad Step. Worn rock reveals the best spots for feet, hands, butts before a sharp scrabble to the top, and the triumphant moment when you turn and look back at where you’ve just hiked. The edge is beloved enough to get very busy but try not to feel rushed; it’s safer to take your time and this is an eyrie to savour. The less famous Swirral Edge then forms the other half of the obvious horseshoe around Red Tarn. It’s a chunkier beast, but tilted steeply at the top. If your nerve is wavering, instead keep north to Whiteside Bank for a less edgy descent.
WALK HERE: Download your free route guide at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes
STANAGE EDGE, PEAK DISTRICT
Edges pack tightly into this national park and Stanage is the headline act. Its gritstone runs three and a half uplifting miles from the Cowper Stone to Stanage End, reaching a zenith 458m up on High Neb. Stanage is an edge of the shelf rather than blade variety, with a quilt of moor on one side, a tumble of dark rock – dotted with the dark disks of abandoned millstones – on the other. How close you edge towards the drop, and its long views across the Derwent and Hope Valleys, is up to you. The cliff below is full of life: rare ring ouzels (aka mountain blackbirds), outlaws (well, a cave named after Robin Hood), and climbers (despite being only 25m high, Stanage is home to more than 2000 rock routes includes the UK’s longest recorded – the 5km Girdle Traverse). After surfing the length of Stanage Edge, you can bag a second by circling west over Bamford Edge to complete a 7½ mile loop. Or you can tackle the Nine Edges Walk which traces a wave of rock 23
