TOPLEY PIKE CIRCULAR WALK
Looking for a quieter Peak District stomping ground for your Sunday Walk? You’ve found the perfect hidden gem below…
Start: Harpur Hill, SK17 9LD
Distance: 7.11 miles
Duration: 2-3 hours
Elevation: 475 feet
Navigation: follow the route here
If you're looking to escape the crowds both in Manchester and the more populated Peak District trails, look no further than Topley Pike Nature Reserve: home of rolling hills, all-to-yourself valleys and stunning surrounds every way you turn.
This walk is one of the least populated routes you’ll find in the Peak District, making it the perfect base to escape the hustle and bustle and recharge in the incredible scenery we have on our doorstep.
Starting from Harpur Hill, this small village in Buxton is the ideal place to begin a leisurely stroll up to Topley Pike. From here, you'll set out on a winding path taking us up towards Topley Pike Nature Reserve. Please note, parts of the journey include a section of unpaved a-roads, so please take care during this part of the walk.
Once you’ve made it to the boundary, you'll be rewarded with stunning views of the Thirst House Cave, a true wonder of the Peak and a real hidden gem.
After admiring the eerily calm surroundings (you’ll struggle to see another soul along the way!), continue towards Deep Dale, a peaceful valley surrounded by rolling hills and lush vegetation. This idyllic valley makes for the perfect picnic break or a brew stop in the winter months.
From here, we head back to the starting point for what is arguably this walk’s ‘main event’, Buxton’s infamous ‘Blue Lagoon’. With its striking blue colour and picturesque white shores, Harpur Hill Quarry in the Peak District is the perfect example of a dangerous beauty. Its vivid colour is a result of freezing cold rainwater mixing with minerals discarded from decades of the industrial burning off of quicklime. And the toxic mix of chemicals in the water have the same pH value as bleach.
While its lush blue waters look like a tropical paradise, swimming in it could cause anything from skin irritation to severe sickness. This is because its high alkaline pH levels makes a dip in Blue Lagoon similar to swimming in 'a bath of bleach'.
Its vivid colour is actually a result of freezing cold rainwater mixing with minerals discarded from decades of the industrial burning off of quicklime. The toxic mix of chemicals in the water have the same pH value as bleach, which could cause anything from skin irritation to severe sickness.
Interested to know more? Scroll down to read more about the History of Blue Lagoon.
Whether you’re interested in the history or just here for the views, lease do take care and observe the ‘no swimming’ signage. This is no dipping spot!
Despite its dangers, Blue Lagoon remains one of the most popular destinations in the Peak District — and after another trip up in winter without the crowds, we can certainly see why.
The History of ‘Blue Lagoon’, Buxton
Harpur Hill, officially known as Hoffman Quarry, has a very long and rich history producing quicklime, with small-scale lime burning beginning in the 1600s, before large-scale quicklime production was carried out beside the quarry from 1835 to roughly 1952. The bigger production demands meant using larger shaft kilns, which led to the use of a multi-chambered Hoffmann kiln, operated by Buxton Lime Firms Ltd.
During the Second World War, the quarry was used by the RAF as a depot to store chemical weapons – the biggest such site in the country at some 500 acres. Later, Harpur Hill was deemed a good place to dispose of captured German chemical munitions. The surrounding hills were used to burn such weapons as phosgene and mustard gas with bleach, sending plumes of acrid smoke into the air. The depot shut in 1960 with the area remaining vacant ever since. Incidentally, the site was also home to an RAF Mountain Rescue team who would respond to air crashes the length and breadth of Derbyshire.
In 1980, the Hoffmann lime kiln was demolished in an effort to create space for an industrial estate. Massive volumes of solid waste left over from the lime burning were dumped in nearby tips, thus creating spoil heaps contaminated with traces of quicklime plus ash from the coal used in the process.
The aforementioned rainwater filtering through the waste leaches calcium hydroxide and in turn becomes heavily alkaline. Signs dotted around the site clearly say the water can cause "skin and eye irritations, stomach problems and fungal infections such as thrush" and that the quarry is known to contain all manner of things you definitely don’t want to go swimming with – including dead animals, excrement, car wrecks, and piles of rubbish.
Despite its inviting Mediterranean hue, the water is extremely cold. Yet many seem to still view the area as a popular tourist destination, causing much frustration for nearby residents.
Still here? Get out there and follow the route
