Encountered something absolutely mental on the Peak District trail last month

Right, I've been sitting on this for weeks and my mates think I've lost the plot, but I need to get it out somewhere. About 4 weeks ago, I was hiking near Mam Tor with my girlfriend around 3 PM on a grey Saturday afternoon. We were maybe 45 minutes into the walk when the temperature just dropped - like, properly dropped. My girlfriend said it felt like walking into a freezer.

Then we heard this sound. Not wind, not an animal. It was like... rhythmic clicking? Coming from behind the outcrop ahead of us. We both felt watched, genuinely uncomfortable. My girlfriend wanted to turn back but I'm a stubborn git, so we pressed on. Nothing was there. No animal, no person, nothing. But the clicking followed us for another 10 minutes until we came to a clearing, and it just stopped.

We didn't mention it for days, but then my girlfriend admitted she'd had nightmares about it. Has anyone else experienced weird sounds on UK trails? I'm not saying aliens or anything daft, but something felt seriously off that day.

Mam Tor's got a bit of history mate. Not paranormal necessarily, but that area has a lot of folk reporting odd feelings. Have you tried going back with more people? Sometimes that helps. Also - what kind of clicking? Like insect-ish or more mechanical?

Could've been a grouse or some other bird doing a mating call? They make proper strange noises that sound almost mechanical. The temperature drop though - that's interesting. Low pressure systems can do weird things to your perception.

This is exactly the kind of thing that gets explained away, but you're right to trust your instincts. The animal response your girlfriend had (the nightmares) suggests something genuinely unsettling happened. Not everything can be rationalized as a grouse, skeptics. Have you considered contacting the local paranormal research group? They might have reports from that area.

Clicking could've been your girlfriend's knees, mate. No offense but hiking at altitude plays tricks on your head. The mind's powerful thing.