Mam Tor Winter Sunrise

This is it. The last day of 2020. And what a beginning it had. Never have I ever seen a more spectacular sight than this morning’s Mam Tor Winter Sunrise. We woke up at 6 am to be able to reach Mam Tor by 8.20, just in time for the sunrise. I know… Sunrises on Mam Tor are pretty cliché by now. But honestly, I’ve never experienced anything like this before so I don’t care how cliché it might seem.

We reached the car park at around 8:10 am, and began climbing to the little summit, as the sun began to rise. I could tell it was rising by how pink the atmosphere became. There were no other tells, because we couldn’t see the sun or anything around us. The whole hill was covered in mist. It seemed like a fast moving cotton candy cloud that diffused the light of the rising sun. We could tell something special was brewing.

As we hit the summit, we saw many people enjoying what seemed to be the most wonderful sunrise of 2020. Many of them were taking photos, some were just standing around, taking everything in. It was pretty wonderful. The mist was moving fast above us and around us, and off the face of the cliff toward the sun. I hope I managed to capture the magic of it. As usual, using my family as the centre of focus.

We’ve been on that exact spot many times, in the spring and in the summer, but I think this Mam Tor Winter Sunrise was the most spectacular. After we were happy with the shots we got, we went a bit further toward the Mam Tor Bridleway to try to capture it, and Lose Hill. They looked amazing as well, as the mist was sweeping across them. We didn’t spend a lot of time here as we didn’t have any food with us, and couldn’t do a proper hike. So we decided to go back to our car.

Easier said than done, as the weather was cold, but so wonderful that I didn’t even want to leave. Instead of going towards the car park, we climbed down Mam Tor and climbed up towards Lord’s Seat. We’d caught of glimpse of Edale and Kinder Scout from the top of Mam Tor and it looked wonderful, all shrouded in clouds and mist. So we wanted to get a little closer. Lord’s Seat was the easiest way. The sight became otherworldly, as you can see in the pictures below.

Such a great sunrise. On the last day of 2020. I hope 2021 will be at least as wonderful as this morning was! Happy New year dear reader. We’ll see you next year!