Lud's Church - A Mythical Paradise ~ 13/06/26

Hello! 

Our first proper hike of the year took us to Lud's Church in Staffordshire, just past Castleton. 

We woke up bright and early, though there was a slight delay in setting off (we needed to care for our little Tortoise beforehand!) We eventually hit the road and listened to some music along the way whilst chatting, there were some beautiful views - as always out in the Peak District, and the weather was overcast but not too cold or damp - A success if you as me! 

We managed to get parked up at the top, on Kevin Hill near The Roaches starting point (something we want to go back and tick off) the parking wasn't too bad, a first come first serve situation but completely free. 

We then started the walk along the top of The Roaches and had a quick stop to look at the view, then made our way back down to the right onto Lud's Church. The terrain was steep in some places but we managed! 

There was a massive crack in the surface all the way down, which has some cool lore attached to it, see below! 

The Devil's Fingernail: One of the oldest origin myths claims the chasm was not formed by geology, but by the Devil himself, who scraped back parts of the earth using his fingernail.

Down we went even further until we reached the top of Lud's Church, which is a magical 18 metre deep, moss covered chasm, and my god was it magical. We decided to walk around rather than risk it climbing down into it with my battered docs (I'm in the process of getting some new boots as we speak!)

And once we got to the opening, it was magical, it was like some form of Fairy paradise! 

We then walked through the Chasm itself, stumbling over rocks and even through plenty of puddles. 

There were loads more people than we thought there would be, which was nice to see to be honest! 

Then started to make our accent back up to the wooded level, where we finished the rest of the walk through the woods, stopping for lunch along the way (praise the lord for taking a packed lunch as we were ravenous) We made our way to the hill, which was a bit of a trek, but it eventually brought us back out at the main road, just near where we parked. 

  

 

Overall, we had a joyous day, filled with lots of smiles, laughter and friendly strangers. It felt so god to get back out into the open again and actually get a good few miles in the sunshine and the outdoors with some fresh air! 

We're now planning to get the patches every time we complete a new hike and attach them to a new bag, which shall be known as our walking bag! Here's the patch that we'll be getting and a lovely photo of us at the top of The Roaches! 

 

Till next time, Happy Hiking! 🥾⛰

Em & Sam x