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Lud's Church - Peak District Walk
Friday 9th June 2006
An evening walk to start a weekend that was already taken up by England's first World Cup match and a family barbecue on the Sunday. As the temperature (28C) would have made walking in the open too much like hard work today's walk was picked to make the most of the shade in the woods. I had also heard that Lud's Church was very cool regardless of how hot it was, so it seemed an appropriate place to go.
Start: Gradbach car park (SJ 998 662)
Route: Gradbach car park - Forest Wood - Lud's Church - Back Forest - Roach End - Forest Wood - Gradbach car park
Distance: 4.75 miles Ascent: 306 metres Time Taken: 3 hrs
Weather: Hot with a cooling breeze, blue sky.
Pub Visited: The Travellers Rest, Nr Flash Ale Drunk: Adnam's Broadside
![Forest Wood Forest Wood](2006-06-09/forest1.jpg)
Forest Wood, a wonderfully cool place to be.
![Unnamed rocks Unnamed rocks](2006-06-09/rocks.jpg)
An unnamed set of rocks at the point where we took the path to Lud's Church.
![Gradbach Gradbach](2006-06-09/valley.jpg)
Scrambling on top of them gave this view of Gradbach in the valley below.
![Lud's Church entrance Lud's Church entrance](2006-06-09/lud%20entrance.jpg)
The entrance to Lud's Church. Upon stepping inside it the
temperature dropped by a good few degrees.
![Lud's Church Lud's Church](2006-06-09/lud4.jpg)
Walking through Lud's Church, an experience my camera couldn't really cope with.
![Lud's Church Lud's Church](2006-06-09/face.jpg)
Can you spot the face?
![Lud's Church Lud's Church](2006-06-09/lud5.jpg)
The way out of Lud's Church.
![From Back Forest From Back Forest](2006-06-09/valley2.jpg)
Looking back up the valley towards Flash as we came out of Forest Wood.
![Back Forest Back Forest](2006-06-09/paTH.jpg)
Looking along the edge of Back Forest with The Roaches to the right.
![Back Forest Back Forest](2006-06-09/path2.jpg)
Looking back in the opposite direction with the path we had followed visible along the top.
![Shutlingsloe Shutlingsloe](2006-06-09/shutlingsloe.jpg)
A hazy Shutlingsloe from Back Forest.
![Bearstone Rock Bearstone Rock](2006-06-09/bearstone%20rock.jpg)
The big rock in the foreground is called Bearstone Rock, why?
![The Roaches The Roaches](2006-06-09/roaches1.jpg)
Looking along The Roaches from Roach End.
All pictures copyright © Peak Walker 2006-2023