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?
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. Naming 95 of the Peaks’ finest hilltops after her feels like a fitting tribute.
Who Created Them?
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 a pre-planned route for each one, so you can just pick a hill and go.
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.
Every Ethel by height
The 95 Ethels
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 between 500 and 600 metres. Big moorland days, sweeping views, proper hill walking territory.
The Four-Hundreds are the biggest group, 37 hills between 400 and 500 metres. 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.
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. Our Ethels Map plots every hill, so you can see what you’ve done and plan what’s next. Watching that number climb is oddly addictive.
- Check access. A few Ethels sit on private land. Always check before you set off and, where you can’t reach the true top, walk as close as you’re legally allowed.
- Don’t worry about the boundary. Some hills sit just outside the national park. They’re all amazing places to walk regardless of which side of the line they fall on.
- Take proper navigation. The Dark Peak 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. 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.
All 95 Ethels on one map
Every summit with a pre-planned route to follow. Sign in and tick them off as you go.
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