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Writer's pictureBen Mellor

The Rosko Chapters - ep3 - The Three Shires Hike, Peak District


I’ve been on full force this week buying some new equipment for our walking trips. However, as most new dads would know, that didn’t mean it was money spent on new fandangled gadgets or some more North Face logos to clog the wardrobe up. It involved new waterproofs and wellies for Rosko. Even though at the moment I am trying my best to dodge the UK showers I’ve found that Rosko does get cold in the wind when in his chair, poor fella ended up having cheeks like leather when we finished last weeks walk!


Once again the weather looks like a wash out in the west so Snowdonia was off the cards. It’s starting to feel like we’re never going out to the far west mountains. So we turned to the Peak District hike again which in reality is giving me some good grounding on how to keep both of our welfare in check before tackling some steeper ground. i wanted to vary up the route selection so I got looking at visiting a waterfall for Rory’s amusement. Usually the main choice here would be getting up to kinder downfall however I have visited this waterfall in the summer before and it was a mere trickle, even with the recent wet weather we’ve been experiencing I didn’t want to risk getting there and there being nothing of any nature that Rosko could wonder at.


So onto the Three Shires! A location which is at the exact point of where three counties meet (Cheshire / Staffordshire / Derbyshire) split between rivers and waterfalls, the photos online looked beautiful, so it was a place I was really keen to get to.

Peak District Three Shires Hike Map
Peak District Three Shires Hike Map

We set out slightly later planed but the most prepared we’ve e been since we’ve started heading out on the Saturdays. I soon found out that my new preparedness resulted in an extremely heavy backpack especially when combined with a child!


The drive into the peaks was a familiar one as we passed by the Roaches and up to Flash. Once we turned off the main road the street became more & more picturesque. Rolling hills and back forest surrounded us, these views set the scene for the remainder of the day and I was completely contempt with it!

Picture taken on three shires Hike, Peak district

Once we arrived at the car park, we got ourselves together, Rosko was placed in the backpack and we shot off up to the birchenough hill. Along the way we went through some seriously overgrown paths which I had to duck and edge through to keep the youngster from eating a face full of thorns, to his amusement mind, he seems to laugh quite a lot from the wild ride bless him! Once the path opened up and we passed a very lonely house I stopped to take in our surrounding. An absolutely amazing landscape surrounded us I. Every direction, rolling hills to the north, the jagged edges and back forest to the south and levels freshly cut grass field to the east. I also noticed I hadn’t passed another person yet it’s not another sole in sight, we had this time completely to ourselves and I loved it. I think Rosko did too! We walked along the side of birchenough hill trying to catch each others hands which he was delighted with.


After 30 minutes or so we were off in the direction of the three shires waterfalls. We turned right and traverse around the edge of cut-thorn hill and down into the valley. Not before long we had made it to the three shir3s and quickly noticed that this is not only a beautiful spot but….. very busy!

picture of the Three Shires, Peak District

We took a perch near the main waterfall for our sandwiches and watched the brave people wild swim in the pools. After 30 mins we packed up and jumped down on the rocks, Rosko was amazed at the waterfalls! He beamed for ages and the people diving in. Despite me being selfishly upset that there was too many people here I was happy Rosko got to laugh and engage with some new people, ever cloud and all that.

Photo of me and Rosko at the Three Shires, Peak District

We started hiking upwards and out of the valley which, similar to our walk in, was “off the beaten track”, after a while we were back by ourselves again! We then had a slow and gentle stroll along the public footpaths that ran by the side of the farmers fields and enjoyed out final 30 mins before the route ended, a fabulous end to the day.

Photo taken on the Three Shires Hike Peak District farmers fields


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