Explore Peak District. An easy Mam Tor walking route

Last Updated on October 27, 2023 by

At 500 mt over the sea, overlooking at the beautiful Hope Valley, you can find the suggestive Mam Tor. The name Mam Tor is a hybrid combination of Scottish Gaelic and Old English words that mean “Mother Hill”. The hill is famous also with the name Shivering Mountain because of the landslips caused by its unstable terrain. In this blog, you will find how to organise a perfect day out to Peak District and follow an easy Mam Tor walking route.

With this guide you will visit the top of Mam Tor, the gorge of Winnats Pass, the Castleton village and Windy Knoll. Moreover, you will enjoy a beautiful view on the Hope and Edale Valleys.

5 things to know before visiting Mam Tor

1. Avoid to go on a (very) windy day. The area of Peak District is always a bit windy. Nevertheless, there are days in which the wind is unbearable and attempt to have a nice walk becomes challenging. I went to Mam Tor several times now. However, I still remember that my first visit was ruined by the wind. In fact, it was so windy that I couldn’t reach the peak without crying all the time. If you want to have a relaxing walk, avoid windy days!
2. Parking is challenging. There is a very limited parking space at Mam Tor. This is a Pay and Display car park managed by National Trust that gets full very quickly (especially on summer days). For this reason, is better to get there very early.
3. Bring your lunch with you. If you want to spend a day out at Mam Tor is better to bring your lunch with you. This because there are no places selling food in that area. The nearest place where to have food is Castleton. If you take your own food, you will find some tables near the car park that you can use for your lunch. Otherwise, you can sit on the hill and enjoy the panorama. But remember to keep your trash with you!
4. Wear comfortable shoes. You will spend most of the day walking. So, it’s important to have comfy shoes for your walk. Keep in mind that you may find mud on the way. Therefore, trekking shoes might be the best option.
5. Consider your fitness level. Some parts of the path (especially near the Winnats Pass) are a bit steep. Not excessively steep but some people may find them challenging. Consider your fitness level before undertaking this route.

Some historical notes on Mam Tor

Long before being a place for day excursions, Mam Tor was considered as a good location for settlements because of its abundance in minerals. Indeed, research and radiocarbon analyses revealed the presence of burial mounds dating back to the Bronze Age. The summit of the hill itself was used as a hillfort around 1500-400 BC. This makes Mam Tor one of the earliest hillforts in Britain. Mam Tor was likely abandoned during the Roman Age when the nearby Navio Roman Fort in the Hope Valley gained more strategic importance.

An easy Mam Tor walking route

Route Detail

Route Map – Circular walk

Starting point – Car park to Mam Tor summit (A-B)

Your starting point will be the National Trust Car Park. If you don’t find space in the parking and leave your car on the main road, there is a small gate where you can enter. Soon after you will see a National Trust sign saying “Mam Tor”.

From here, you can proceed by following the clear pathway going up the hill. The initial pathway is made of stone steps and it is a bit steep and narrow. Moreover, during summer is also crowded so you will likely proceed slowly during this part.

Proceed along the stone pathway to the summit. You cannot get it wrong as there is only one pathway. You can take the opportunity to sit along the way and enjoy the beautiful panorama. We decided to stop off the road and sit on one of the cliffs to have lunch.

If you go off the pathway, check always the conditions of the ground. Indeed, Mam Tor is famous for its unstable cliffs.

As you walk along the pathway, you will find the Mam Tor trig point. This is considered the top of the hill and there will be many people taking pictures with both the trig point and the beautiful views on the Edale Valley (left) and Hope Valley (right). Congratulations! You’ve reached the top! Now, you can do two things. Go back to the car park or continue the circular walk.

If you continue your hiking, you will see the pathway becoming increasingly steep as you walk the Great Ridge. Don’t give up and follow the route leaving the trig point to your back.

Hollins Cross to Hollowford Road (C-D)

As you continue walking, you will see two different pathway (one of them going a bit off road). You can walk in line in both of them but at one point you should look at round stone memorial dedicated to Tom Hyett. This is placed on the main pathway and this point is known as Hollins Cross.

Here you will see a small gate on your right. Enter the gate. From now on, the pathway is a bit rough because you are leaving the modern pathway made by National Trust. After the gate, you will immediately see a fork of paths. Take the path going left down the hill (if you take the other one you will go back to your starting point).

The path going downhill is lovely. You will see wildflowers, plants and magnificent views of the valley. There will be also some small trees where you can rest under a bit of shade during summer days. Once you reached the bottom of the hill, you will find a sign with many directions. Follow the Public Bridleway sign to Hollowford Road.

Hollowford Road to Castleton

This pathway is very narrow and the route follows a small stream (it looks like a scenery from the Lord of the Rings). Beware that because of the stream, there will be mud and you can also becoming a bit wet. It’s better to have waterproof trekking shoes.

Follow the pathway until you find another small gate called “the Liggate”. Exit from the gate onto the main road. The rough pathway is over and now you will find yourself on a normal road. During summer, if you are lucky, just after the gate you can find a small mobile coffee van serving some ice cream, tea and coffee.

From here, follow the route to Castleton (there should be also some signs). The route is pretty straight and characterised by low stone walls. Therefore, don’t try to go off the road as I don’t know where other roads are leading to. You will walk for about 10-15 mins until you see the first houses of Castleton.

Castleton (E)

Once you reach Castleton, you can enjoy a bit of rest from your walk. Personally, we decided to stop for an ice cream and we sit under the sun for about one hour before going back to Mam Tor. You can decide to spend more time in the village and visit some of the Castleton sights like the Peveril Castle or the Peak Cavern. When you choose to go back, you can decide to follow the route you’ve just done (through Hollowford Road) or continue the circular walk (read below).

If you want to explore more of Castleton, read my blog post about it here!

Castleton to Winnats Pass (E – F- G)

If you continue the circular walk, the next stop will be the iconic Winnats Pass. To reach this point, you have to follow Arthurs Way from the Castleton car park. If you have time, you can visit the Speedwell Cavern that is along the way (point F).

Beware that the road to Winnats Pass is steeper than it looks. You might feel a bit tired here after a half day walking. Despite I used to hike a lot during that period, (now after the pregnancy and with the pandemic, I am quite out of shape) I felt a bit tired and needed to stop a few times.

The gorge of Winnats Pass is beautiful to see and photograph. The name means “wind gate” because of the sound of the wind swirling through the gorge walls.

There are some pathways to climb the gorge walls and see Winnats Pass from another perspective. However, we decided to not attempt the climb for this time.

You have done 90% of your walk now! For the remaining time, you have to follow the way until it become flat again. Here you can see a great green expanse called Windy Knoll.

Windy Knoll to Car Park (H-I)

Soon after the Winnats Pass, turn right (the road is called Sparrowpit Buxton A623). Here you can see a great green expanse you can enter throughout a gate. This place is called Windy Knoll and lies between the old Mam Tor road and the Dark Peak. If you don’t want to walk on the road (because of the traffic), you can cut through the green grass . In fact, from this point you can easily see the Mam Tor peak and the car park.

Congratulations! You’ve finished the circular walk! Now you will probably be tired but satisfied of having walk through this beautiful Peak District itinerary!

Other things to do at Mam Tor

There are many things you can do at Mam Tor. Unfortunately, unless you want to cycle on the main road, cycling is not one of those. However, you can have a good run (I’ve seen many people running there) and if you are particularly adventurous, you can do paragliding. For more information about airsports, you can visit the Peak District website.

Moreover, if you follow the entire route you can explore the many interesting caves disseminated along the area. Here there is a list of all the caves in Peak District but the closes ones are the Blue John Cavern, the Speedwell Cavern and the Peak Cavern.

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