Curbar Edge

Curbar Gap car park sits right at the top of the edge, off the B6054 above Curbar village, so the view is a short walk from the tarmac rather than a hike. The path from the car park reaches the gritstone edge in a few minutes and can be extended into a longer walk along Curbar and Froggatt Edges, but none of that extra distance is necessary to get the view.

From the edge, the ground drops away to the Derwent Valley, with Chatsworth’s parkland visible below and the villages of Curbar, Calver and Froggatt strung along the valley floor. Baslow and the wooded hillsides beyond fill out the middle distance. The moor behind the edge is run by the Eastern Moors Partnership, a joint venture between the National Trust and the RSPB that took on the lease from the Peak District National Park Authority in 2011. The rock is the same weathered gritstone as Stanage further north, popular with climbers and boulderers, and it is common to watch a climb in progress from a few metres away while taking in the wider view.

The car park is a National Trust one that charges non-members, with room for 25 to 30 cars according to Peak District Walks, so it fills on fine weekends, given its popularity with climbers as well as sightseers. There are picnic tables nearby and, often, a hot drinks van, but no other facilities, so this suits a short stop rather than a half-day visit. Curbar’s advantage is how little effort it asks for the scale of what it shows: the Derwent Valley opens out a few minutes from the tarmac. It is a view rather than a walk, and anyone who wants to walk an edge end to end should take Stanage, further north along the same line of gritstone.