Staggering dawn run - Peak Bagging in the Peak District

Some adventures do not feel remarkable in feat and risk, but instead in how they touch you with unforeseen moments of beauty. 

Disturbed by dreams, I had woken up in the middle of the night. I’d hoped it was 5am as I reached to check the time and begrudgingly tucked myself back in to sleep when I realised it was only 1am.

I dozed after my first alarm at 5, getting up with the second one 15 minutes later. I peered through my bedroom curtains to check the conditions outside, then opened the blinds in the living room. Still very dark, I made coffee and took it back to bed with me. I tried to decide between a local run up Kinder Scout, or a short train journey through the Hope Valley to Grindleford.

Orange dawn sky rises over the misty landscape of the Dark Peak

My bag was already packed, my running clothes stacked, I just needed to decide where to go. I shoved my clothes into the bed to warm them up a bit, ate some coco pops, and checked the forecast a few more times. The window to catch the early train to Grindleford was getting smaller and smaller.

Finally I decided to catch the train, quickly bought a return ticket, and got ready to go. After locking my door I paused for a moment to look up at the moon with a beautiful halo around it. I took a photo and then ran down the road to Edale train station for the trip to Grindleford.

Once the noise of the train had disappeared under the tunnel from Grindleford, I noticed the bellows of stags rising through the mist in the valley.

I smiled to myself, feeling how lucky I was to be with the moon, stags and birdsong as the day dawned. Morning dew on the grass soaked my socks as I ran through fields beside the river. I had forgotten that about autumn. My footsteps startled some deer ahead of me and I watched them run off. Just as the atmosphere began to rumble with more bellows, I then saw a big stag strutting about in the near distance. 

I realised there were stags everywhere and my body reacted each time I heard one. Although I wasn’t afraid of them, their bellows sounded threatening. As my body and breath tightened and my adrenaline quickened, I wondered if it was an instinctual reaction. I decided it most likely was.

Eyam Church among autumnal colours

Approaching Eyam, there was a small gap in a hedgerow where I met a stag with several hinds. I gasped with joy as they all looked at me, pausing before they got up to make their escape. They had been lying down in a small field with a horse before I’d disturbed them. I wondered if they were borrowing food and water from the horse. I decided they were.

As the sun finally peered above the clouds I made my way through Eyam. It was empty of people and silent, other than someone getting ready to open their cafe. The church and its many graves looked beautiful among the autumnal trees and I enjoyed listening to the bells as I ascended towards the woods. 

Bagging the trig at Sir William Hill filled me with nostalgia as I fondly remembered spending a day there for my Hill & Moorland Leader training. We had explored the ins and outs of the surrounding moor together, sunbathed in a clough while learning about emergency shelters, and listened to scary stories told by our tutor. The views from up there are magnificent!

Bagging Sir William Hill trig pillar

Descending brought dewy ferns that soaked my bare legs and beautiful bronze colours that contrasted with sky blue. I traversed through woodlands littered with fungi and dwelled on my resistance to the journey ending. I had loved the simplicity of moving through nature and being part of the morning. I said hello to dog walkers and wondered if they enjoyed morning walks as much as dogs. I decided they did.

Grindleford Station cafe was bursting at the seams with people. The fire was lit, just like the first time I visited in 2018. I ate a breakfast bap while listening to others' conversations before catching my train home. I wasn’t ready for the packed carriages, but I did smile when the chocolate labrador wouldn’t sit still and a young lass remarked how early it was to be on the train at 10:30am. 

The dawn felt like a dream now, with its bellowing stags and haloed moon. One of those mornings that will stay with me forever. I wondered if I should write about it. I decided I would.

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Route 17 - Above Grindleford - from Peak Bagging Peak District by Anna Paxton, published by Adventure Books. Includes excellent public transport links.