The Four Inns is a fell race/hiking event held annually over the high moorlands of the Northern

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

. It takes place mainly in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

(though it starts in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and, near the end, makes a short detour into

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

), in northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is organised by

the Scout Association The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was for ...

. It is a competitive event, without an overnight camp (although teams must be equipped to bivouac if the conditions are severe enough to warrant it). It was first held as a

Rover Scout Rover Scouts, Rovers, Rover Scouting or Rovering is a program associated with some Scouting organizations for adult men and women. A group of Rovers is called a 'Rover Crew'. Rovers was originated by The Boy Scouts Association in the United K ...

event in 1957, but is now open to other teams of experienced hill walkers and fell runners.

Rules

The event is undertaken in teams of three or four, for safety reasons, and at least two of these team members must be at least 17 (the others may be 16) on the day of the event. An amount of equipment must be carried by the team, including

survival bag A survival kit is a package of basic tools and supplies prepared as an aid to survival in an emergency. Civil and military aircraft, lifeboats, and spacecraft are equipped with survival kits. Survival kits, in a variety of sizes, contain supp ...

emergency rations Emergency rations are items of food and drink that a person stores and relies on in case of an emergency. Emergency food supplies can be purchased for camping trips or wilderness adventures. These supplies are meant to last for several days. M ...

, a

first-aid kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents of first aid ...

, and a group shelter. Any member of a team is allowed to drop out at any point, but the rest of the team will not be permitted to continue the event unless they are in a group of not less than 3, or more than 7 people (which can be formed by combining two groups together). The remaining team members must still carry all of the safety equipment. Any team that has not reached the checkpoint at

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (belo ...

before 21:15 will not be allowed to complete the rest of the event. No dogs are allowed to accompany the walkers.

Route

The 40-mile (65 km) hike starts at the local church of

Holmbridge Holmbridge is a small village on the A6024 road, A6024 to the southwest of Holmfirth and south of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. It is in the parish of Holme Valley and the metropolitan borough of Kirklees. In the 1950s, it was a site ...

. The first of the 12 checkpoints is the "site of" The Isle of Skye Inn, then the route heads south, crossing the flanks of Black Hill. Next, it passes through Hey Moss, Crowden, Tor Side,

Bleaklow Bleaklow is a high, largely peat-covered, gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. It is north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass ( A57), and south of the A628 Woodhead Pass. Much of it is nearly 2,000 ...

, and

Doctor's Gate Doctor's Gate is a Roman road in the Derbyshire Peak District of England, which ran between Ardotalia, Melandra fort at Glossop and Navio Roman Fort, Navio fort at Brough-on-Noe. Doctor's Gate was recorded in 1627 as "Docto Talbotes Gate", named ...

to the ' Snake (Pass) Inn'. The next checkpoint is over the Kinder plateau to the 'Nag's Head' Inn in

Edale Edale is a village and civil parish in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, whose population was 353 at the 2011 Census. Edale, with an area of , is in the Borough of High Peak. Edale is best known to walkers as the start, or southern end, ...

. The route then passes through

, White Hall, and the

Goyt Valley The River Goyt is a tributary of the River Mersey in North West England. Etymology The name ''Goyt'' may be derived from the Middle English ''gote'', meaning "a watercourse, a stream". Derivation from the Welsh ''gwyth'' meaning "vein" has b ...

to the ' Cat and Fiddle' Inn, finally descending to

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

for the finish. Usually, two thirds of the teams finish the event, in times between 8 and 16 hours (the course record of 6 hours 38 minutes was set in 2013). However, some teams take longer than this, and some have taken over 20 hours. At most of the checkpoints, hot drinks and sandwiches will be given to the competitors, and several Mountain Rescue teams are on hand to ensure their safety.

Awards

A number of trophies are available for teams that complete the event. These are:

The 1964 Event

Three Rover Scouts, aged 19, 21, and 24 died in the 1964 event. The youngest was a member of the 32nd Huddersfield (Dalton) Rover Crew. The two older were from the Birmingham University Rover Crew. Travelling lightly laden and without support, they were overtaken by deteriorating weather, including 30 mph winds, heavy rain, and temperatures from 0 to 7 °C above the Snake Pass. The youngest of the group got into trouble in the upper reaches of the Alport Valley. One of his team members summoned help and he was brought down to Alport Castles Farm by the Glossop Rover Crew. He was taken to hospital but died later. The other two scouts who died were in a separate team, but in the same area. A third member of that team was found in the Alport and taken to safety, but he was unable to give accurate information about where the rest of the team were. Because of the worsening weather, the search had to be called off during the night, but it was resumed on Sunday morning. However, it was not until Monday afternoon that the first body was recovered. By Tuesday, 370 people were involved with the search and the second body was recovered later that morning. (In that year, when the event fell in mid-March, only 22 of the initial field of over 240 finished). There is a Memorial Tablet to the three Scouts in Holy Trinity Church, Edale, dedicated in a memorial service held on Sunday, 22 May 1966. There is also a small memorial cairn in the Alport valley, this is at location approx. 53.427840, -1.808535. Presumably this is near to where the two scouts were found. An MRC ( Medical Research Council) respiration and metabolism project, devised to identify the metabolic and biochemical basis for this tragedy, was performed during the 1965 event, with young volunteers.The Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation
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References

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External links