Thursday was a short journey from High Onn heading north east through Stoke-On-Trent, Leek and arriving at the Buxton Caravan and Motorhome Club site just after noon.
The only thing notable about the journey was that the A53 from Stoke To Buxton was an absolute shambles for pot holes and poor maintenance – won’t be long before the caravan needs screwing back together yet again!
The site is extremely peaceful, situated on the floor of a dis-used quarry – judging by the road names, presumably this was Grin Low quarry. Given we are almost at mid-summers day and the daily high temperature was a cool 13 degrees, maybe this should be called “Grim” Low!
The views over the campsite are pleasing enough.
Facilities here look all recently refurbished and we have a nice spot tucked away in one corner of the campsite, complete with a fully serviced pitch.
Spent much of today (Friday) sussing out access to the various off-road cycle trails – there are three well-known ones in the area:
- Monsal Trail
- Tissington Trail
- High Peak Trail
We have cycled these routes before on a number of occasions but never from the Buxton end and access from Buxton is challenging. The roads are in poor condition and the traffic is heavy, Buxton being a major crossroads for many routes criss-crossing the Peak District.
In addition to this there are direct routes to Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield. We really don’t intend cycling on any of these routes to access the cycle trails!
We stopped briefly in Buxton, and one can fully appreciate the communications hub it is / once was. There are railway lines, a number appear to be for freight / quarry materials heading in all directions and a plethora of viaducts overlook this small market town. Pictures just don’t seem to do justice.
It’s market day in Buxton tomorrow so perhaps we will head into town on foot.