Robin Hoods Stride Traditional Cache
DJacklin: Been up today and its gone will have a look at placing another in the area.
many thanks
DJ
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Park at the side of the road, room for a couple of cars, on the B5056 off the A6 Matlock to Bakewell road.
I have rated this cache a difficulty level of 5 for the direct route as a bit of scrambling is required, the other route is easier but is still very rocky ground.
The cache is in a container 12 inch by 12 inch and 7 inch deep so will take large items.(container has been replaced with one a little smaller, do to it being damaged).
cross road and take the track uphill to footpath post go left uphill to the seat and take the footpath left of the seat.
Robin Hood’s Stride
The two upright blocks of stone forming Robin Hood’s Stride make a landmark visible over a great distance. They are each about 18 feet high and 66 feet apart. They both sit on top of a natural hill of rock. They are known as Grained Tor owing to the deep grooves that the rain has washed out of the gritstone. Also as Mock Beggar's Hall owing to the similarity in the twilight to the tall chimneys or towers of a medieval manor hall, from which the weary beggar would expect rest and refreshment. Rooke calls them a curious group of "Druidical monuments" and also describes four rock basins that are clearly natural formations.
In the rock shelters on the hill sides, particularly on the south side, are numerous socket holes for the erection of roofs and cave fronts and there is no doubt that they have been inhabited particularly in the Romano-British era. Bateman in his Vestiges describes the finding here in 1845 of Romano-British pottery and a coin of the Emperor Tetricus. During the last years of the same century Mr. Joseph Heathcote found many fragments of this pottery on Robin Hood’s Stride and careful searching at regular intervals have enabled us in recent years to pick up many hundreds of fragments chiefly near the largest shelter on the southern slope. The pottery is of different types but mostly fragments of the red, black or grey amphora type that have been broken and thrown away down the hillside. So far as we can tell none of it was buried intentionally. Many Roman coins have been found. A few jet buttons, pieces of lead, a long piece of bronze wire also date from this period. The Romano-British families who used this pottery probably chose the site because it offered natural protection from enemies and wild animals. Some writers have described traces of a fence of boulders round the bottom of this hill. The summit of Cratcliffe Rocks has been made into a hill fort by a wall of great boulders. This may be pre-Roman.
The road leading up to Robin Hood’s Stride was once part of the highway and quite possibly goes back to Roman times. It is now enclosed and the main road along the valley takes all the traffic. This modern road, always referred to as the "New Road", dates from 1811. The old road comes down from the high ground above Winster through Dudwood Lane up to the Stride and over by the Nine Stones to Alport and thence to Bakewell. Two other roads from Birchover join it beyond Robin Hood’s Stride having gone up what is now Cratcliffe Wood. There are still traditions in Birchover of one road being used by Birchover people when visiting the Mother Church of Youlgrave. The places where the bearers rested with the coffins are still pointed out. All three of these roads were closed in 1816 after the "New" turnpike road in the valley was made.
There are two ways to access this cache,
1. The direct route which requires a bit of a scramble up, only for the confident, not suitable for young children or the elderly, aim for the oak tree. After finding the cache walk round the oak tree and onto the top See, photo for way up.
2. This route, walk round the right hand side of the base of the outcrop, and round the back of the second pillar then walk towards the first pillar, keep pillar on your right and walk round it to the oak tree, Reverse for way back. A little scrambling is still required for this route.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jura fgnaqvat ba syng ebpx snpvat gur gerr, lbhe urnq fubhyq or nobhg yriry jvgu onfr bs gur gerr, lbh pna whfg gbhpu gur yrnirf bs gur gerr, ybbx qbja.
Treasures
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