1000m Lords Over Thor

My Lord! Your challenge is to conquer the peaks of the Manifold Valley, adding up to 1000 metres of ascent over the day. Along the way you will see much superb scenery of the White Peak, limestone shining in the spring light. The challenge culminates above Thor's cave, marking your Lordship over the whole valley!

This difficult hill route follows many steep slopes, making use of access land and permissive paths at times, as well as scrambly banks, so you will need to be comfortable with this kind of walk. We aim to cover the three tops of Wetton Hill, (319m 355m 328m), Ecton Hill (369m), Ecton South top (360m), Dale above Sugar Load (325m), Ossoms Hill (334m) and Thor's Height (294m). The rewards for this are that you will have accomplished an amazing challenge and experienced some unbeatable and incredible views of Thor's cave and the Manifold Valley. The walk southwards on a hidden route towards the impending Thor's cave is particularly spectacular.

Ecton Hill at the north end of our route was the centre of historic copper mines and a wealthy earner for local miners. There are information boards near the mine remains. We'll also see the small cave at Wettonmill, where there is a tearoom, which we will pass mid-afternoon.

From Ossom's Hill we head onward with giant Thor looming ahead, cross the Manifold river and head up a path with a long flight of steps. The cave itself is huge, slippy and scrambly. After the cave, we will go further to circle the giant's lair and come out on top, above the cave, for all round views of the valley.

This is as difficult as hill walks get and is pretty much the same as a mountain walk, and certainly good preparation for one, We may adjust the walk according to weather conditions, and there will be an opportunity to miss a peak if you're tired, but please come ready for a challenge. A recent OutdoorLads hill walk would be excellent preparation! 

If bad weather, we may shorten the route to 500m ascent, but will still include Thor's cave. Note that if you just wanted to see Thor's cave without the rest of the challenge, you might be better choosing a hillwalk focused on that alone, which is offered by OutdoorLads leaders regularly, if not often.  

Well behaved dogs who are fit enough to manage this challenge are welcome to accompany us on this walk.

Note: If there are no places left on this event, join the waiting list, as people frequently drop out during the week before an event, and you are likely to get a place.

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Pictures: taken by Outdoorlads members, free to reuse.