Even on the high moors, it doesn't quite manage to rain all the time. Here, we are standing high above the eastern bank of the Derwent. In fact, to be precise, we’re above Derwent Reservoir: north of Win Hill the valley is flooded by the dams of Ladybower, Derwent, and Howden. Happily, the most northerly and wildest stretches of the Derwent, below the shadowy bulk of Bleaklow Hill, remain intact.

The people of Derbyshire (wherein lies most of the Dark Peak) were clearly once both very thorough and very creative in the art of naming things. This famous boulder is the Salt Cellar. Looking west we see the yet higher moorland of Bleaklow and Kinder Scout.

From Chatsworth to Stanage, the gritstone escarpments are unbroken, but north of Stanage you’re into the real high moorland, and they take on a different nature. It can be very wet and misty up here, and pools form everywhere on the ill-draining peat. Visibility, meanwhile, falls very low. Walking up on Derwent Edge in such conditions, you’ll suddenly see a great mass of stone looming up out of the grey drizzle. These are tors, outcrops of millstone grit (upon which the dark peak stands) weirdly shaped by the elements. They are all the more impressive in awful weather!

These uplands are among the most deserted and wild areas in England. It’s easy enough to find your way when the great vista of the Peak landscape is displayed before you, but when you can scarcely see 50 feet, you’ll need a map and a compass as well as a raincoat.

(The outcrops pictured here are actually the Rocking Stones, right in the North above Howden reservoir.)