January 2017 - Christopher Goddard

Woodland Heritage Survey

It was probably not the day many of us had imagined when we signed up for the Celebrating Woodland Heritage survey at Hardcastle Crags, a small hardy group of us gathering in the car park amid light but persistent rain. Snow had been forecast but only touched the higher ground, and down here the slushy … Continued

Midwinter Solstice

Dawn on December 21st is at 8.23am in West Yorkshire, late enough to allow even those out the night before to join in the winter solstice celebrations. I have been invited to join a large group of Calder Valley fellrunners “aiming to see if Chris Goddard is right about the sun rising out of the … Continued

Latest from the Blog

Memories of the South Yorkshire Moors

October 24, 2018

I recently asked my Dad for his memories about the moors around Sheffield for my new book The South Yorkshire Moors. I was interested how his experience of the moors growing up in Greenhill in the 50s/60s compared to mine growing up in Oughtibridge in the 80s/90s. Though on opposite sides of the city, the … Continued
The Hunt for Shirl Fork

August 17, 2018

In the course of writing my books, there are places I end up going back to repeatedly, normally because I have missed something first, second and third time. Chatsworth Moors, the furthest straggle of the gritstone peat moors of the Pennines down towards Matlock, hold their secrets close. While the moor directly above Chatsworth is … Continued
The Brontë Stones

July 9, 2018

Over the early part of this year, I have been involved in a side-project created by Michael Stewart, writer and senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield. He devised four great walks around a series of stones carved with new poems about the Brontës and asked me to provide the maps and route … Continued
In Search of Houndkirk

April 3, 2018

Houndkirk Road is a fantastically named ancient highway across Burbage Moor between Ringinglow and Longshaw, but seems something of a barren trudge across a lonely shoulder of moor. My school used to use it for its cross country races, bussing the whole year to the far end of the track and then letting us race … Continued
Bleaklow: In the Bleak Midwinter

February 18, 2018

Bleaklow is the wildest of the Dark Peak’s moorland expanses, stretching up from Alport and Ashopton all the way to Longdendale, 40 square miles of deep valleys and barren peat plateaux. While Kinder Scout’s tableland is renowned for its disorientating qualities, in truth it is hard to go too far wrong there Bleaklow on the … Continued