What Are The Peak District Ethels?

Your friendly guide to the Peak District's own hill bagging challenge, who it's named after, and how to get started.

Overview

You've probably heard of the Munros up in Scotland, and if you've spent any time in the Lake District you'll know the Wainwrights. Well, the Peak District has its own version now, and they're called the Ethels.

The Ethels are a collection of 95 hills scattered across the Peak District. Most of them sit above 400 metres, but the list also folds in a handful of lower hills that are simply too good to leave out, the ones that stand proud in their own right even if they don't quite hit the height. Together they make up a proper hill bagging challenge, a tick list you can chip away at over months or even years, one summit at a time.

They range from the wild, wind battered moorland tops of the Dark Peak, think Kinder Scout, Bleaklow and Black Hill, all the way down to the gentle limestone gem of Thorpe Cloud at the mouth of Dovedale in the White Peak. That's the beauty of the list. There's something on it for every kind of walker and every kind of day, whether you want a big remote outing across the peat or a short family friendly pull up a grassy cone.

If you've been looking for a reason to explore more of the Peaks rather than heading back to the same three car parks every weekend, the Ethels are it.

Who Was Ethel?

The list isn't named after a hill or a place. It's named after a person, and she's well worth knowing about.

Ethel Haythornthwaite was a Sheffield environmentalist, born Ethel Mary Bassett Ward in 1894. Her life took a hard turn early on when her first husband was killed in the First World War, and she was widowed at just twenty three. Encouraged by her family, she started walking out into the moors and countryside around Sheffield to cope with the grief, and she later credited those walks with keeping her going. Out of that personal connection to the landscape grew a lifelong mission to protect it.

In 1924 she founded the local group that would go on to become CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire, the countryside charity that dreamed up the Ethels in the first place. Over the following decades she helped save the Longshaw Estate from development, established the first green belt in the UK around Sheffield, and served on the government committee that led to the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. That act is the reason the Peak District became Britain's very first national park in 1951.

So when you're stood on one of these summits catching your breath and taking in the view, it's fair to say you're only able to do it because of the woman the list is named after. Naming 95 of the Peaks' finest hilltops after her feels like a fitting tribute.

Who Created The Challenge And When?

The Ethels themselves are a fairly recent idea. They were dreamt up in early 2021 by Doug Colton, a volunteer with CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire, and officially announced in May 2021.

Doug didn't just draw up a list and leave it at that though. He worked with CPRE to devise the whole challenge from scratch, choosing which hills made the cut and setting the whole thing in motion. If you'd like to keep track of your progress as you work through them, you can use our own Ethels Map, which plots all 95 summits with routes, distances and estimated walking times to help plan each outing.

The Four Categories

The 95 Ethels aren't all cut from the same cloth, and it helps to picture them in four groups. Here's how the whole list breaks down.

[GRAPHIC 1 GOES HERE — "The 95 Ethels at a Glance"]

The Sixers are the four giants that break 600 metres. These are the highest, wildest hills on the list, all up in the northern Dark Peak.

The High Peaks are the 27 summits sitting at 500 metres or more. Big moorland days, sweeping views, proper hill walking territory.

The Four-Hundreds are the biggest group, 37 hills at 400 metres or above. This is the heart of the list and where you'll spend most of your time.

The Characters are the 27 lower hills, all under 400 metres. Don't let the height fool you. These earned their place through sheer presence and personality, hills like Thorpe Cloud and Parkhouse Hill that punch well above their weight.

The Sixers: The Four Highest Ethels

If you only remember four hills off this whole list, make it these. The Sixers are the only Ethels that top 600 metres, and every one of them lives in the remote northern gritstone country of the Dark Peak.

[GRAPHIC 2 GOES HERE — "The Sixers" ridgeline]

Kinder Scout (636m) is the highest point in the entire Peak District and the spiritual home of the right to roam. This is where the famous Mass Trespass took place in 1932, a moment that changed public access to the countryside forever. The plateau up top feels genuinely otherworldly, all gritstone tors, dark peat channels and open horizons.

Bleaklow (633m) is Kinder's equally wild neighbour just across the Snake Pass. It's a vast, boggy, brooding place that's easy to underestimate and even easier to get lost on. Take your navigation seriously up here.

Higher Shelf Stones (621m) sits on the shoulder of Bleaklow and is best known for the wreckage of a crashed B-29 bomber that still lies scattered near the summit. It's a haunting, memorable spot and one of the most atmospheric walks in the Peaks.

Grindslow Knoll (601m) is the baby of the four, tucked on the southern edge of the Kinder plateau above Edale. It's often walked as part of a bigger Kinder circuit and offers some of the best views down into the Edale Valley you'll find anywhere.

How To Get Started

The best thing about the Ethels is that there's no right way to do them. Some people set out to bag the lot in one enormous push. Others tick off just one or two a year and treat it as a lifelong project. Both are completely valid.

If you're new to the list, my advice is to start with the ones that double up as brilliant walks in their own right. Kinder Scout is an obvious first tick and a Peak District rite of passage. Mam Tor and the Great Ridge give you several summits in one glorious outing. And if you fancy something gentler to ease in, Thorpe Cloud down in Dovedale is a short, sharp, family friendly climb with a big reward at the top.

A few practical bits worth knowing before you dive in:

Track your progress on our Ethels Map. It plots every hill with routes, distances and walking times, so you can see what you've done and plan what's next. Watching that number climb is oddly addictive.

A few Ethels sit on private land. Always check access before you set off and, where you can't reach the true top, walk as close as you're legally allowed.

Some hills sit just outside the national park boundary. Don't let that put you off, they're all cracking places to walk regardless of which side of the line they fall on.

Take proper navigation. The Dark Peak in particular can turn from friendly to featureless in minutes when the cloud comes down. I use the Ordnance Survey app as my main aid, backed up by a paper map and compass for emergencies. Never rely on your phone alone up on the moors.

Ready To Start Bagging?

The Ethels are one of the best ways I know to fall in love with the Peak District all over again. They'll take you to corners of the park you'd never otherwise think to visit, from the highest peat hags of the Dark Peak to the prettiest little limestone cones of the White Peak, and every single one carries the name of the woman who helped save this landscape for all of us.

Head over to our Ethels Map to see the full list of all 95 summits plotted out, complete with routes, distances and estimated walking times to help plan your adventure.

Go prepared, stay safe and enjoy the hike!