Chrome Hill + Parkhouse Hill: Tackling Dragon’s Back on a 5-mile hike

Difficult
3 hours
5 miles
Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill (known as Dragon’s Back) is a must for anyone looking for a challenging hike in the Peak District. The route is fairly straight forward and you can’t go far wrong, however, caution is advised when tackling this walk. There is scrambling up and down limestone rocks which is very slippery especially when wet – as well as the terrain getting very muddy and boggy when the weather is bad. Our advice would be to attempt to do this hike in good weather and always keep your wits about you especially on the scrambles. As always ensure you have correct footwear for this hike.
Useful information for Chrome Hill + Parkhouse Hill
- Circular walk
- Total ascent 418m/1,371ft
- Highest point 425m/1,394ft
- No public toilet facilities
- Free on-road parking (this is a small village so please be considerate of residents)
This route is our preferred way to tackle this walk as we found it more enjoyable than doing Parkhouse Hill and then Chrome Hill second.
Route Description
Stage 1 – Chrome Hill
Starting out in the village, head up Hollinsclough Rake road to a gate on your right which is signposted as a public footpath.
Heading along the path which heads downhill and reaches a stream with a footbridge to cross. Pass through the metal gate and head left uphill until the tracks gets wider and there is a stile to your right. This path continues uphill between the stone wall and the gorse bushes.

Please note: At the time of our visit the stile had a notice to say no dogs allowed from 31 March until 01 November.
Continue along the path following it through another stile and eventually to a gate. Head through the gate and continue down towards the farm buildings (this is Booth Farm). When you reach the road, cross over the cattle grid and over the stile to your right.
From here you head through several fields and will pass through three sets of gates until you reach a drystone wall. At the wall there is a signpost, from here keep right and follow the boundary wall (keeping it to your left).

Again you will head through several fields and go through three gates, at the third gate follow the path downhill. You will now be at the foot of Chrome Hill and ready to start the climb up.
We chose to have a bit of a break for some refreshments at this point before the ascent and scrambling began.
The path along the ridge of Chrome Hill is narrow (there is a lower path that winds around). There are some small caves that can be spotted on your route up to the summit.
Stage 2 – Parkhouse Hill
The descent from Chrome Hill towards Parkhouse Hill is narrow and fairly steep – again very slippy in bad weather. Follow the path down to the gate underneath the tree.
As you reach the bottom of the path, cross over the stile and head across the road to the foot of Parkhouse Hill.

There is a scramble option to your right where the small trees and bushes are but we opted to follow the grassy route up to the left. This ascent has switchbacks and turns to a scramble further up towards the top – again keep your wits about you as this is rocky terrain that can easily compromise your footing.
Once at the top enjoy the views before continuing along in the same direction.
Stage 3 – Back to Hollinsclough
The descent down from Parkhouse Hill is quite steep and switches back and forth. The path then levels out near the bottom and from here head diagonally across the field towards the stone pillars. Here there is a signpost – follow the route for Hollinsclough.

Further along the path you will reach a ford which has another footbridge over. Cross the footbridge and keep following the path until you cross a second cattle grid. Here you will reach an ‘honesty cafe’. Turn right here onto the road and follow it back to Hollinsclough Village.
Food & Drink
From Hollinsclough you are not far away (in the car) from The Winking Man pub. We stopped here following our walk for some refreshments, but were unable to eat as we hadn’t booked in advance and there was quite a wait on tables.
The pub is very cosy and they serve home cooked and traditional food. We could see why there was a wait on for the food just looking at the people eating around us. As you would expect there was also a good selection of real ales, lagers, wines, ciders and spirits as well as non alcoholic options for non-drinkers or designated drivers.