PEAK DISTRICT
Lurking among the green folds of the White Peak are a pair of spiny summits that look like they’ve spilled from the pages of a fantasy novel. Are they as fierce as they look? Raadia Imran chose a perfect summer day to find the answers.
We’d picked a perfect June afternoon; the sky was clear, and the sun was shining. My husband, Shahid, and I pulled into the small lay-by parking area in the village of Hollingsclough. I stretched my arms out wide as I got out of the car and exhaled deeply, almost like greeting the view ahead with a giant hug.
I pointed out to Shahid the unique, jagged faces of the two hills we were set to climb. The landscape was impressive. He was busy changing into his hiking trainers, a little disgruntled from the 2-hour drive in the sticky heat. I, on the other hand, had quite happily slipped in and out of a sun-induced snooze throughout the duration of our journey.
I lay my hand on the curve of my belly, a little apprehensive for the hike ahead. At 21 weeks pregnant, my bump had only just started to become visible, and I was starting to feel tiny nudges and flutters from the growing baby inside me. The arrival of the baby was feeling very real and exciting now. I didn’t know if I was going to struggle with the hike, but reassuringly my pregnancy had been a healthy and active one so far. I was also comforted by the fact that today’s adventure would be a short one. So, I sipped my water and reminded myself to be positive and to maintain a can-do attitude for the day. Mindset is everything!
The Stegosaurus tail
Looking up at the first hill – Parkhouse – Icouldn’t help but wonder how such a spectacular looking hill had received such a plain, unassuming name. Parkhouse sounded more like the name of a local primary school, not really a fitting title for this wondrous, spiky ascent. As we began the first leg of our circular route, I got a closer look at those knife-thin, pointed ridges. The face of Parkhouse Hill reminded me of the serrated blades of a Stegosaurus tail, cutting menacingly through the silent green of the surrounding fields.
From the rolling pastures below, my gaze followed the castellated ridge of Parkhouse all the way across to Chrome Hill, a proud and inflated mound of land. These hills are often referred to as a ‘Dragon’s Back’, and they certainly did elicit images of a slumbering, moss-covered dragon resting among the idyllic landscape of the
