Chapel-en-le-Frith

April 29, 2015.

CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, MIRY MEADOW, BLACK BROOK, BOWDEN HALL, MALCOFFMOOR, COWBURN TUNNEL, SOUTH HEAD, CALDERS FARM, SUMMERFIELD, MOSELEY HOUSE FARM, CHINLEY, OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH, BRIDGEHOLM GREEN AND THE ROEBUCK INN AT CHAPEL

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Mainly sunny and dry with occasional threatening rainclouds.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Steve Courtney, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, John Jones and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Jock Rooney and Ken Sparrow.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (ankle injury), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (family anniversary), Julian Ross (emergency diversity w*^k), Geoff Spurrell (recovering from hip replacement op).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Miry Meadow Car Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Starting time: 9.48am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.

With scattered showers forecast to start at noon, our leader Colin predicted we would be arriving at the Old Hall at 12 sharp to escape a soaking. Our luck held as dark rainclouds passed us by on either side. The rain finally came at 12.05pm in the form of hailstones, but once again Colin’s luck, and those with him, ran out due to a miscalculation of time and route.

Fortunately the shower was brief and three of us had taken a shorter path to reach the pub unscathed. Colin and his trio arrived nine minutes later after a failed attempt to penetrate a housing estate.

Nonetheless we all enjoyed some more spectacular views and perfect visibility in the sunny, but chilly, weather. Back at the final watering hole, Tony bought a round of drinks to mark the 80thanniversary of his birth. We wish him many happy returns.

We left the car park via its rear exit and turned right along a path which brought us out by the side of The Roebuck Inn. We turned left, passing the St Thomas A’Beckett Parish Church on our left (2mins) and turning right to follow a series of passages which took us across Black Brook. Here we turned left, with the brook on our left, and entered The Crescent.

By following a green public footpath sign we were able to cross the A6 (14mins), walking through a kissing gate and up a lane (21mins).

On our right was Bowden Hall, a Grade 2 listed building erected around 1844, with three bays in Tudor Gothic style, and a two-storey gabled porch.

We carried straight on uphill, ignoring a wooden public footpath sign on our right to pass Bowden Head Farm on our left. At a T-junction we carried straight on following a wooden public footpath sign (28mins). Soon we were heading downhill, crossing a stream by a footbridge (35mins) and ascending Malcoff Moor.

Turning left at a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow, we reached a lane where we turned right (38mins) and began to climb again. It was proving to be a rollercoaster journey. We turned left at a wooden public footpath sign (41mins) and headed downhill, passing a post with a yellow arrow.

This led us over a bridge across the Hope Valley railway line linking Manchester with Sheffield. To our right was the entrance to Cowburn Tunnel (45mins).

The tunnel, at the western end of the Vale of Edale, is 3,702 yards long and was built in 1891. During its construction on one occasion the headings filled with water to a depth of 90 feet and the work was carried on in a diving bell !

It lies beneath Colborne, moorland between Kinder Scout and Rushup Edge. In the 1970s this picturesque railway was controversially given precedence over the more modern Woodhead route which had only recently been re-engineered and electrified, as the preferred passenger rail link between the two cities.

After going through a metal gate, we headed uphill once again (58mins) and turned left at The Pennine Bridleway in the direction of South Head, with stunning views in every direction. After pausing for pies and port (74mins) on a grassy path-side bank we continued along the right shoulder of South Head before turning left over a stone step stile (88mins).

We crossed a wooden stile (92mins) and ignored a flock of stampeding ewes to pass some more sedate sheep with their new-born lambs along the path ahead. We went through a tied gate to join a stony track (100mins) and crossed the Chapel-Glossop road (105mins).

When we reached Calders Farm on our right, Colin initially decided we should make a dog-leg right and immediately left to follow a sign marked “Footpath” to carry straight on. But after Tom, John and your diarist had followed these directions, crossing a footbridge (113mins) to head up through a field, our leader had a change of heart.

It would seem that whenever he ignores his instincts and attempts to read a map, he leads himself and those foolish enough to follow him into trouble. Bearing this experience in mind, the three of us declined to turn back and continued through the field until we reached a lane by the side of a house called Summerfield.

Here (120mins) we turned left, passing Moseley House Farm on our left (122mins) before turning left over a railway bridge (128mins) to enter Chinley. By proceeding in a straight line, we picked up the sign for Whitehough and continued directly ahead to reach The Old Hall (136mins) for outstanding pints of Marstons’ cask bitter at £2-80.

We were joined by our comrades nine minutes later after they had made a failed attempt to find their way through a housing estate.

The pub boasted a Magic Mild Award for its tradition of stocking mild beer. When your diarist pointed out to a barmaid that there was no mild beer on sale, she replied with feminine logic that mild beer was stocked at the nearby Paper Mill Inn (which never opens on weekday lunchtimes).

We passed the aforementioned Paper Mill Inn on our left and headed uphill to cross the road-bridge over the A6, then turning right at Eccles Bank Lane (142mins). After turning immediately left at a stone step stile we crossed another stile of that variety and went through a gate into a field.

After crossing one wooden stile (147mins) we crossed another on our left (150mins) and went through a metal gate to cross a field. After going through a gate on our right we stopped for lunch(155mins) with a view across the valley below. Resuming, we took the path down through a farmyard to a lane where we turned right and then left at a track on our left (164mins).

We crossed a wooden stile on our right (168mins) and headed uphill to cross another wooden stile (171mins). After crossing a stone step stile (173mins) we reached a wide path, followed it as it turned left and then swung right through a tunnel under the railway line (177mins).

We followed the path right and continued until we emerged from Church Lane (182mins) and turned right to enter the Roebuck on our right (184mins). We were soon joined by the B team, with their new recruit Jock, and the birthday boy himself, who bought a round of Tetley’s cask bitter.

Next week’s walk will start from New Mills Golf Club car park at 9.45am, with a stop for a livener in the Ring O’ Bells, Marple, about 12.15pm, before returning to the New Mills Golf Club’s 19th hole around 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !