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Writer's pictureBen Mellor

The Rosko Chapters - ep - 2 - The Dragons Back - The Peak District

Updated: Jul 22


We’re high on the success of last week. I spent almost every free moment researching routes that would up the distance slightly and elevation whilst keeping Rosko safe and comfy. The Peak District was the preferred place as I had put a lot of time into toying with the idea the week before. A location came into the forefront of my mind whereby I made a failed attempt on a wild camp a fair few years ago…. Yes, I got scared in the dark lol!


So the dragons back in the Peak District is a circular hike that was selected. I kept the name of the route away from the other half and parents as the name suggests something a little more imposing than what the map topo was describing! A full itinerary was selected and a full packing list. Unbelievably prepared compared to recent weeks and extremely exited to get on the route.

We landed in hollinsclough at 9:30 and struggled to park. After some deliberation I decided to put the motor real close to a dry stone wall with just about enough room for large vehicles to pass through, not the most ideal place. After we got organised we headed out of the village to the North West and swiftly turned right into the grassy footpath upon which the view opened up to Hollins, Chrome & Parkhouse hill could be seen, what a sight to behold! Two sharp looking ridges sat in the middle of rolling hills.


We addled our way over the next 30 mins after a diversion had to take place, Whereby the route I’d taken from OS maps wasn’t possible as it passed over private land. This lead to a tight path between some dense bushes, what on earth did we get ourselves into!

Once we passed the bushes we had a fabulous from near the summit of Hollins hill. We skipped across the top chatting baby language between us. The route at this point was very easy to see around the circular walk I had planned, time to relax in and bang the steps out over to the ridge on chrome hill.

A few fields filled with sheep later, we was at the base of chrome hill. I stopped for a minute to take some water on and. Take Rosko out of his seat to make sure he was still ok. All systems go! We flew up the path to the summit which weaved in and around the rocky patches of the ridge, nothing came of any technical terrain until the summit was bagged, a little windy but nothing we couldn’t handle.



We settle into lunch away from the summit to the east overlooking the impressive view of park house hill. A real spectacle being this “mini tryfan” looking ridge in the middle of rolling hills, the name definitely suits the style of hills here. A slight bit of anxiety built while overlooking the next task of the day. Following some food and tunes that Rosko seemed to seriously enjoy, we got on to the task in hand.

It took a mere 15 minutes of walking to get from the summit of chrome hill down to the base of parkhouse hill. With some mean looking clouds rolling in we went pedal to the metal at the base…… my fitness stone got found out as the incline was the steepest I’ve been challenged with while carrying a baby and a lot of equipment. But we enjoyed it nonetheless! Even more so when we hit some more technical terrain! A small rocky area whereby a traverse to the right hand side was needed, some careful pole and foot placements and we were easily over the obstacle making way for the summit. And there we have it! On the top of the toughest challenge we’ve had to face. I was delighted, I’d like to think Rosko was, and maybe will be in years to come when/if he reads this back.


An easy enough decent and a 1km walk back to the car and we were done for the day. Back safe and sound with a lot of memories in the bag. Onto next weeks antics! (Weather dependant).



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