Little Hayfield

January 6, 2016

LITTLE HAYFIELD, PARK HALL ESTATE, MIDDLE MOOR, CARR MEADOW, HOLLINGWORTH HEAD, KNARRS FARM, FAR COWN EDGE FARM, COWN EDGE ROCKS, ROWARTH, LANE SIDE FARM, CLOUGH MILL, LANTERN PIKE INN AT LITTLE HAYFIELD

Distance: 8.5 miles​Ascent/descent: 1850ft

Difficulty: Easy​

Weather: Dull at first, brilliant winter sunshine later

Walkers: Peter Beal, Ron Buck, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney, George Whaites

SOB walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job, Geoff Spurrell

Apologies: Mark Gibby, Julian Ross, John Jones

Leader: Cunliffe​Diarist: Beal

Start: Lantern Pike Inn at Little Hayfield

Starting time: 09.40am​Finishing time: 2.15pm

A most unpromising day with low-hanging cloud unexpectedly transformed itself in to welcome sunshine amd warm temperatures for the latter part of our walk.

The rain-sodden countryside proved perilous in places however and one particular treacherous downhill stretch saw six of our eight walkers fall like ninepins in quick succession.

Ron also achieved what might be some sort of record by missing the start by ten minutes, despite living only 100 yards away, and had to work hard to catch us up over an hour later.

We left the rear of the pub and turned right along the pavement of the A624 towards Hayfield. A short distance after, we crossed the road and took the track leading through the National Trust-owned Park Hall estate.

Park Hall, now converted in to self-catering holiday apartments, was the retirement home in the 18th century of local-boy-made good Joseph Hague. He was born in nearby Chunal in 1695, so my Peak District Companion tells me, and became an itinerant boy pedlar, wandering the hills with his goods in a basket until he could afford a donkey with a pack saddle.

He learned about trade and the exciting future of textiles, went to London, and gradually amassed a fortune by dealing in imported cotton and fabrics. He returned to become a local benefactor, but on a murkier note a booklet published in 1979 to mark 200 years of the Joseph Hague Trust suggested that some of his profits came from the sale of loincloths to West African tribes by English traders in exchange for slaves who were shipped across the Atlantic.

We walked past, on our left, the remains of the open-air swimming pool which was open to Hayfield residents in the summer until it closed in the late 1960s.

We came to a large gate leading on to the open expanse of Middle Moor (10 minutes) and went through it, turning immediately left to cross a stream and begin a steady climb up a track though the heather.

A three-year project by the National Trust to eliminate rampant rhododendrons which were engulfing this stretch of moor has proved successful.

We continued up the track to reach a footpath (19 min). Ahead of us was a faint track through the heather which would have brought us to Mill Hill. But we had earlier decided to forgo this because of the recent deluges which would have turned the normally boggy approach to the summit in to a morass.

Instead we turned left along the path through the moor, which eventually descended to bring us to a small footbridge over Hollingworth Clough at the hamlet of Carr Meadow (38 min). We crossed the bridge and slanted diagonally left up a path climbing alongside a wall.

We passed a very small quarry on the right and crested the hill to reach a stile at the summit of the A624 road on its way to Glossop (63 min). On our left was the sad sight of what was once the welcoming Grouse pub, recently closed and now apparently on its way to becoming a private residence.

We crossed the busy road hurriedly and went straight ahead along the Monk's Road towards Charlesworth. Three hundred yards further on we took a track to the left and at a metal gate a short distance up the track declared pietime (70 min).

Just before the end of a lengthy 20-minute break - despite Tom's leadership - we spotted Ron making his way towards us. He had been delayed, he said, by being accosted by a lady wanting him to inspect her radiator. Whether this is some euphemism peculiar to Little Hayfield, I know not.

We continued up the track, bearing right at a junction to reach Knarrs Farm (79 min), where we crossed a stile over the wall to the right of the farm building. Here a mechanical digger was demolishing a old part of the farm buildings, seemingly prior to an sizeable extension being added.

Having crossed the stile we realised our usual direct descent to Rowarth would bring us to the Little Mill possibly before opening time. So after another stile we struck off diagonally right across the fields to emerge another two stiles later on the lane leading towards Rowarth (90 min).

We turned right rather than left towards Rowarth and almost immediately left up a track with the ridge of Cown Edge ahead of us. Before reaching the top of the Cown Edge ridge we turned left on a track which soon brought us to Far Cown Edge farm, where we crossed a stile at the end of the farmyard next to a Northern Footpaths direction sign (99 min).

We then forked slghtly right on a gentle ascent and continued through three more fields before emerging to join the path descending from Cown Edge towards Rowarth (116 min).

From here we could see towards Lantern Pike, where the phemomenon of cloud inversion had filled the valley with cloud, leaving the fell tops clear.

We angled left here, sharply downhill, forked right over a stile at a footpath junction, and followed the path through a narrow snicket between two gardens to emerge on the lane in Rowarth village (123 min). We turned right then left and just after a doorless phone box on the left took a path to the right which descended gently past a row of scruffy cottages to emerge opposite the Little Mill Inn (133 min).

The Banks's Bitter was pronounced acceptable by our leader but sadly the Farmers' Brown Cow chosen by George and your diarist at £3-20 a pint proved not so. Tom declared it 'off' just by the smell. We swapped it for the Banks, but only later discovered this was 35p a pint cheaper. Your diarist, being a Yorkshireman, might claim his refund at a future date.

We left the Little Mill at 1.04 pm.  By now the cloud had disappeared, leaving us in bright sunshine. We turned right up the road to reach the converted Laneside Farm (143 min). Here the road ends and we continued ahead up a rocky track between drystone walls, soon pausing for lunch (150 min).

We came to a junction in the track and bore left, almost back on ourselves, to reach a gate at the crest of the hill. We turned right along the ridge on the left of a wall, and where it descended to the foot of Lantern Pike we headed diagonally right across the open field to bring us to a stile in the corner (163 min).

We crossed this and descended the muddy path, which narrowed and brought us over a stile to a house. We crossed the stile in front us for the descent to Clough Mill and Little Hayfield.

A flagged path down the field brought the downfall in rapid succession of six of our party, including our leader. As Tom came crashing to the ground Colin, behind him, scrabbled for his camera, only to fall over himself in the process.

Shortly after our leader regained his feet you diarist called flippantly that he had better fall again for Colin's benefit. This he promptly did and Colin, full of concern as ever, managed to capture the misfortune. The only two of our party to remain upright on this descent were Laurie and your diarist - but as they had both fallen earlier a new record was probably achieved by an entire Wanderers party hitting the ground during a walk.

Soon afterwards we crossed a stile and the bridge over a brook next to Clough Mill and took the lane up to the Lantern Pike (180 min).

Awaiting us were Tony, Geoff and George who had walked from New Mills, through the Torrs and along the Sett Valley trail to Hayfield, taking the path through the fields to Little Hayfield.

Our leader and host generously supplied chili con carne, together with a supply of excellent chips.

Pictures by Colin Davison

Next week's walk will start at the lay-by near the top of Ridgegate reservoir, near Langley, at 9.40am. Following a planned ascent of Shutlingsloe the en-route refreshment point will be The Hanging Gate around 12.15pm. Drinks afterwards will be at the Leather's Smithy at 2.15pm.

nb: A series of new marked parking bays have appeared on the road alongside the rerservoir, starting near the Leather's Smithy. Ignore these and go to the lay-by near the top of the reservoir.