Trail running near Edale
11 routes within 15km · free GPX downloads
HARD
Mam Tor and the Great Ridge
You run the entire Great Ridge end to end, a paved skyline with the Hope and Edale valleys falling away on either side, then loop through Castleton beneath the caves and old road.
VERY HARD
Edale Skyline
You spend almost the whole loop on the skyline itself, linking gritstone edges and summits with the Edale valley dropping away below you the entire way round.
VERY HARD
The Grand Edale Circular
The full Peak District experience — deep peat bog, gritstone edges, and those big Kinder views. Earn the ridge on the way back in.
VERY HARD
Edale, Mam Tor, Win Hill and Derwent Dam from Ladybower
The Dark Peak's greatest hits in one loop - the Great Ridge, Edale, Win Hill's summit view down the Hope Valley - linked up so you never have to double back on yourself.
HARD
Derwent Dam and Ladybower Dam Circuit
Nearly 25km of genuinely runnable, mostly traffic-free trail with almost no climbing - this is where to go in the Peak District when you want distance in your legs, not vertical.
VERY HARD
Kinder Scout from Hayfield
You get onto the highest ground in the Peak District on a route steeped in access history, with the plateau edges giving fast, airy running once you are up.
MODERATE
Win Hill and Ladybower Loop
Win Hill's summit is a bare gritstone knuckle with one of the widest views in the Dark Peak - Kinder, the Derwent moors and the whole Hope Valley at once - for a climb you can fit into a morning.
MODERATE
Torside to Woodhead Tunnels via the Longdendale Trail
It is a rare flat, fast run in the Dark Peak - a traffic-free old railway line running dead level past four reservoirs to the great stone mouths of the Woodhead tunnels.
VERY HARD
Bleaklow Head and Torside Clough from Torside Reservoir
You get a flat 5km warm-up, one long honest climb onto some of the emptiest peat in England, and then four kilometres of clear, fast descending along the lip of Torside Clough with the reservoir laid out below you.
HARD
Burbage, Stanage Edge and Higger Tor from Grindleford
You can get here by train and step off the platform onto the route. Four of the best gritstone edges in the country in one loop, with Higger Tor and Carl Wark saved for 19km in when your legs are already talking.
HARD
Black Hill and Crowden Little Brook Loop
Black Hill's peat-black plateau feels as remote as anywhere in the Peak, and the return along the edge above Laddow Rocks is some of the best moor-edge running in the north.
Running near Edale
Edale is the southern terminus of the Pennine Way and the heart of the Dark Peak. Kinder Scout, the Kinder Plateau and the Bleaklow routes all start from here.
In an emergency
Call 999 or 112 — ask for Police then Mountain Rescue.
No signal? Pre-register SMS: text register to 999.
Common questions
- There are 11 trail running routes within 15km of Edale on Trail Running Planet, ranging from easy riverside paths to serious fell routes. All include free GPX downloads.