[RWD version 1 ] As students of England's geography (and fans of the Smiths) will know, the eastern outskirts of Manchester rise straight onto the Pennine moorland. This walk takes in some of the scenic highlights of the mighty Chew Valley and offers a bit more genuine excitement than most itineraries in the Peak District.
Starting from the end of the public road to the Dovestone Reservoir (there's a pay and display car park...boo!...with an ice cream van...yay!) I wandered up the optimistically-monikered Chew Road, a broad track destined eventually for the higher Chew Reservoir. Not far short of this I cut down across the bottom of the valley (rough) aiming for the most prominent of several ravines on the far side...this is Wilderness Gully East, one of the very best scrambles in the Peak. WGE gets a climbing grade of Moderate: in reality it's 'not bad' for the grade, being mostly clambering and rough walking with four or five stiffer steps to surmount. These steps are brief but potentially awkward...the individual moves might seem hard for scrambling, but there's enclosure rather than exposure due to the nature of the line. Still best not to slip...you probably won't die but the landings tend to be poor, and you might break something. It should also be noted that I made my ascent in a dry spell with the rock slightly green but otherwise not too slippy; it would be significantly harder when wet. At the top I turned west along the path following the obvious edge of the escarpment, making a short diversion into the bog to the west to visit the summit of Hoarstone Edge (a pure summit-bagging exercise, seeing as the view deteriorates with every step you take away from the path). Rather than following the escarpment to its conclusion at Alphin Pike I dropped down to admire the fairytale towers of Wimberry Rocks, one of the most spectacular gritstone climbing areas in the Peak. Having craned my neck and slackened my jaw while imagining the difficulties and dangers of routes such as 'Appointment With Fear' and 'Wristcutter's Lullaby' I dropped down a steep but obvious path back to the car.