Langsett Barn

March 30, 2016.
LANGSETT BARN, DERWENT VALLEY, LANGSETT WOODS, MICKLEDEN EDGE, ASHOP VALLEY AND WAGGON AND HORSES AT LANGSETT
Distance: 6 miles or 10 for the full walk
Difficulty: Easy.for the 6 milers. Somewhat arduous for the full walk.
Weather: Blue skies and cloud.
Walkers: Colin Davison, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, John Jones and George Whaites.
Apologies: Peter Beal (Portugal hols), Tom Cunliffe (wife ill), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing).
Leader: Davison. Diarists: Hart and Davison.
Starting Point: Langsett Barn Car Park, Barnsley.
Starting time: 10.18pm. Finishing time: 12.50pm and 3.24pm

Can we nominate Mark Gibby for the Diplomatic Corps ? Faced with a squabble about how far we should walk which threatened to break out into civil war, he used the judgement of Solomon to suggest dividing into two groups. This is the diary of the dynamic duo, who chose to curtail the original route on hearing how long it would take to return to the cars.
No doubt Colin will append his notes about the route taken by the titanic trio who soldiered on along the path chosen and mapped out by Tom.
After torrential rain in recent days, the weather was a tad chilly, but there were blue skies above along with glowering clouds which threatened rain from time to time. The journey to our starting point in Barnsley – far further than usual for the Wednesday Wanderers - was rewarded with some spectacular views around the Derwent and Ashop valleys. What a pity Tom was not around to see them !
Once again, having proposed a walk and won the approval of his chums, Tom failed to join us. Unlike previous occasions, when he had opted instead to go to Belgium, Anglesey and York, this time he blamed his non-appearance on his long-suffering wife Stella, who had been taken ill overnight. (Perhaps she had become sick of his excuses) 
From the car park we followed a sign for the pub and cafe which took us down to the main road. Here we turned right and right again just after The Waggon and Horses pub at Langsett heading for Strines and the Derwent Valley (2mins). We passed a Gothic building owned by Yorkshire Water to cross a dam at the end of the reservoir and turned right at a public bridleway (11mins).


We forked right (16mins) before swinging left and turning right to follow a track between two drystone walls (18mins). Upon reaching a road we turned right along a Privilege Footpath (20mins). Initially we swung left with a wood on our right (21mins) to enter a turkey farm where two strutting cocks fanned out their tail feathers in an impressive display for the benefit of the hens and us. But the farmer sent us back to turn left into Langsett Woods (26mins).
A sign informed us that 25 hectares of conifers had been planted here in 1962. Another plaque told us that rubble from the Sheffield Blitz of 1940 had been used for hardcore to make paths so tanks could use Langsett Moor for target practice. During the Luftwaffe air raids 650 citizens of Sheffield had been killed, 1,500 wounded and 40,000 made homeless. We were warned there was still a danger from unexploded ordnance.
We reached the edge of a reservoir and turned left through a metal gate (33mins) and swung right over a bridge (34mins). Just before a wooden gate we turned left (44mins) with a drystone wall on our right. After climbing uphill we stopped for pies and port by the side of a broken drystone wall to the right of the track (47mins). In the distance we could hear the cackle of grouse and the whistles of plover. 

Resuming we could see the Holme Moss TV transmitter on the far side of the valley. We followed a green public footpath sign for Derwent and Ashop Valleys (69mins). After passing the sign Colin consulted his map and announced we had only covered one quarter of our journey. This brought alarm and despondency to George and your diarist who both had tight schedules to fulfil at home.

Because of the contours of the valley there was no possibility of a compromise between a long route and a short one. It was at this point that Mark intervened before any blood was spilled to suggest that he, Colin and John should continue on the longer route originally planned, while George and I headed along an alternative path back to the cars.
We retraced our footsteps to the sign (80mins) and took a lower path back , following it round the left edge of the reservoir and along a broad sandy path with the reservoir on our right. This brought us back to Langsett Barn car park (137mins).
After de-booting we headed for the Waggon and Horses where the Timothy Taylor Landlord and Farmers bitter were in excellent form at an eye-watering £3-80 a pint.
The amiable landlady explained that the pub had been temporarily renamed The Pedalers Inn during the 2012 Tour de France as it passed through Yorkshire. When we asked about other local hostelries, she informed us that the Mustard Pot at Midhopstones was a 30-minute walk away. The Dog and Partridge on the Woodhead Road was 90 minutes distant. So it should be possible, if we return to this spectacularly scenic area to devise a Figure Eight walk starting from Langsett Barn, calling at The Waggon and Horses for a livener on the way to The Mustard Pot before returning. 
Over to you Coli.
n....
And so the hardy trio plodded staunchly uphill into the teeth of the gale...
 Enough of that rubbish...
Having done the steep bit, the path continued at a gentle gradient up the side of the clough. The going was easier until we reached open moorland. Here peaty bogs were abundant and we had to make many detours from the path to avoid them.

Reaching  a small cairn where paths cross at Howden edge, we were able to look down over the Howden and Derwent reservoirs. We identified many of the peaks to th West and South that we walk closer to home.

From there we turned right NNW across treacherous bogland to the rocky outcrop and Trig point at Outer Edge. Finding  a lee behind these we stopped for lunch.
 From here the path was easier going as it descended the edge following  a line of boundary stones marked with the letter  B .  It was these that guided us to th  head of Harden Clough where we turned North along poorly defined paths on the West side of the clough.

Crossing the Little Don at the bottom of the clough presented  a challenge but we rose to the occasion.

Turning right, the valley broadens for  wacouple of very pleasant miles.

 We followed the stream to the head of the reservoir and joined the route of our diffident chums and arrived at the car at 3.24pm. We took  tea and chips in the café for which your diarist is indebted to his companions.
Next week's walk will start from Marple. Park by the Rec. on Stines road just beyond the canal.  A lunchtime pint may well be taken at Devonshire Arms in Mellor and hopefully  we will sample the wares of the new Oldknows bar on Market Street in Marple at around 2.45pm.
Happy wandering.

Castleton

23 March 2016.

Castleton, Knowlegates Farm, Odin Mine, Blue John Cavern, Hollin's Cross, Brocket Booth plantation, Losehill End, Townhead, Cheshire Cheese Inn, Hope, 

Distance: 9 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Overcast with little wind and haze in the distance

Walkers:  Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, John Jones, Jock Rooney with Tip and George Whaites

Apologies: Peter Beal (Algarve), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Alan Hart (Funeral), Laurie Fairman (letching on cruise ship)and Julian Ross (whimping about a sore ankle)

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Davison.

Starting point: Carpark opposite the Cheshire Cheese, Castleton and on the road outside The George Inn, Castleton.

Starting time: 10.00am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.

Photographs by Colin

Once again and in time honoured fashion a venue suggested by a Wanderer was eschewed by the same, this time in favour of a funeral. This in turn led to confusion over the meeting place. Luckily, all was sorted out telephonically before having to RTFM and our happy band sallied forth Westwards along the main road.

Taking the second footpath on our right opposite the car park for Peak Cavern, we passed between houses into fields. At each fork we followed the directions for Odin Mine. This partially comprises an area of spoil heaps immediately East of Knowlegates Farm.

Just before reaching the road that used wind up the side of Mam Tor until its final collapse in the seventies we reached an ore crushing circle.

Crossing the road, we passed through a gate and climbed the right hand side of the worked out vein of Odin’s Mine proper.

The path brought us to a fence which was easily climbed onto the drive up to Blue John Cavern. Here we turned right and then right again at the road. At the gate which prevents access to the collapsed part, we headed off to the left below the rough escarpment of Mam Tor. Following a winding path, we contoured up to Hollin’s Cross stopping for pie time en route at 11.00am.

From Hollin's Cross, we followed the bridleway Eastward towards Lose Hill but staying below the summits of that and Back Tor until we reached Losehill End. Here, keeping to the left hand paths,

we began our descent to Townhead.

At Edale Road we turned right towards Hope and reached The Cheshire Cheese Inn at 12.10pm. Farmer’s Blonde at £3.40 per pint was the order of the day but Tom preferred the bitter at the same price.

The S.O.B.’s joined us within minutes having taken a lower route from the same meeting point.

 our ramble we walked on into Hope via the field path running parallel to the road. We stopped to admire an old gatepost.

In Hope we crossed the Hathersage Road and followed the road to Pindale with its cement works passing an old animal pound.

A little further up the road we took the footpath on the right signposted to Castleton stopping for lunch and to allow John Jones to photograph an ‘interesting’ shed

We arrived at the Cheshire Cheese at 2.20pm followed by the S.O.B.’s a few minutes later

Next week’s walk will start from Langsett Barn Car Park, Post Code S364GY, Pub – Wagon and Horses. Meet at Car Park at 10:00am.

Happy wandering

Furness Vale

March 10 2016

FURNESS VALE, THE PEAK FOREST CANAL, WHALEY BRIDGE SEWAGE FARM, BIG TREE FARM, BIG STONE, CRACKEN EDGE, CHINLEY, THE OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH, PEAK FOREST TRAMWAY, BUGSWORTH BASIN, PEAK FOREST CANAL AND THE SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry but cloudy start becoming warmer with blue skies and sunshine.

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

S.O.B. Walkers: Tony Job and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing), Jock Rooney (White Peak walk), Julian Ross (skiing injury to ankle).

Leader: Jones. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Soldier Dick pub at Furness Vale.

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.

Life used to be so simple. Every week at the end of our walk we would discuss suggestions for where we might set out from the following week. There was a lively debate and then Lawrie would announce where we would actually be going.

Democracy is all well and good, in moderation, but it can easily lead to anarchy and confusion. It is clear the Wednesday Wanderers need the firm hand of decisive leadership. Come back Lawrie: all is forgiven.

In his absence there was much discussion and a surplus of alternative suggestions. Eventually we settled on next week’s walk starting from Castleton in Derbyshire, from where we have been given permission to park at our finishing pub, The Cheshire Cheese. To make matters easier for those of our group with memory lapses, we have also chosen another pub in Hope called The Cheshire Cheese for our lunchtime bracer.

After two weeks in which our walks were curtailed by dreadful weather, we enjoyed a lovely day which got steadily better as the cloud dispersed to make way for sunshine and blue skies. John led us to some panoramic viewpoints and we called at two of our favourite pubs, bestowing upon them the finest accolade – a Wednesday Wanderers’ certificate of approval.

From The Soldier Dick car park we crossed the busy A6 and turned left for 20 yards before heading right down Old Road. The path took us under the Manchester-Buxton railway line, before turning right and left to cross a bridge over the Peak Forest Canal. On the far side of the bridge we turned left and swung underneath Bridge 31 to reach the left bank of the canal (4mins).

The Peak Forest Canal is almost 15 miles long linking Dukinfield with Bugsworth Basin, from which a branch goes to Whaley Bridge. Partially opened in 1796 under the supervision of engineer Benjamin Outram, the canal was completed in 1805. It closed in the early 1960s after it became impassable, but was restored for leisure craft use in 1974.

(One of the canal’s more distinguished boat-owners is Peter B, whose narrow-boat Hot Metal is moored at the Furness Vale Marina). 

Immediately after passing Bridge 32 we turned left over a stone step stile, passing the Whaley Bridge Wastewater Treatment Works on our left, having earlier identified it by the smell. We crossed a footbridge over the River Goyt (11mins) and went to the right of a cottage next to a field inhabited by two Shetland ponies.

After cutting a corner through a field we went through a metal gate (14mins), then a wooden gate and a gap stile before turning left (15mins). The path swung right, leading us through a tunnel underneath the railway line. John pointed out markings on the stonework which indicated the person taking credit for delivering the heavy slabs 150 years earlier.

We headed uphill, passing a field on our right occupied by a group of guinea fowl and reached the road at the side of Big Tree Farm (24mins). We turned right for 20 yards and then went left over a stone step stile marked with a wooden public footpath sign. We headed uphill until reaching a drystone wall where we turned left. 

Keeping the drystone wall on our right, we went through a wooden gate and entered a copse through another gate (36mins). We exited via a stone step stile (38mins), crossed another one (44mins) and went right over a third one (45mins).

In a field on our right was a cosmopolitan collection of cows belonging to a variety of breeds. They came in white, black, brown, red and striped colours. Another stone step stile brought us to a lane where we turned left (55mins). We went right at a footpath sign and climbed steadily before reaching a grassy bank deemed suitable for Pietime (76mins).

Resuming we went through a gate (77mins) and headed straight on uphill. This brought us out at the rocks known as Big Stone on the north end of Cracken Edge (87mins). From here we had 360 degree views of the valleys on each side.

After a photo opportunity we turned right, crossed a stone step stile (92mins) and started to drop down to the left from the ridge (97mins). We went right over a wooden stile (99mins) and followed the path which swung left so the ridge we had walked along was now on our left high above us. We crossed a wooden stile (105mins) then swung sharp right (107mins) for a gradual descent.

We crossed a wooden stile (114mins) and just before we reached another one John led us steeply downhill (119mins). We exited the field by a wooden stile (125mins) and went through a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow. This brought us out on a road (127mins) where we turned right.

At a war memorial we turned left over a bridge across The Hope Valley railway line, a picturesque route linking New Mills with Sheffield (130mins). We now had a straight route along Green Lane which took us across a bridge over Black Brook (136mins), with the 1st Chinley Scout HQ on our left to the 16th Century Old Hall at Whitehough on our right (139mins).

The Marstons’ bitter was, as ever, on good form and well priced at £2-90 a pint. We presented the likeable landlord, Daniel Capper, with a WW certificate.

During the lively discussion about from where we should walk next week, eventually resolved by the choice of Castleton, it was further agreed that Tom should investigate the possibility of holding a walk the following week on Langsett Moor.

Continuing our walk, we turned right out of the front door, heading downhill past the Old Band Room cottage and turned left along the Peak Forest Tramway (142mins). We passed a memorial shrine to a young man outside the factory on our right (147mins) and stopped by the side of a bridge for lunch (155mins).

Resuming afterwards we passed The Navigation at Bugsworth Basin on our right (157mins) and kept to the towpath on the right of the canal branch heading for Whaley Bridge. After going under Bridge 36 (175mins) we carried on along the towpath, eventually retracing our earlier footsteps when we reached Bridge 32 and exiting on Bridge 31.

We reached The Soldier Dick (199mins) and enjoyed a selection of cask beers, including Wainwrights at £2-85. Another WW certificate was handed to the barmaid for the quality of service in recent years. There was no obvious alteration to the pub but it does appear to have changed hands recently so we hope standards remain high.

Pictures by Colin

 

Next week’s walk will start at 9.45am from the pub car park opposite The Cheshire Cheese in Castleton. We aim to reach The Cheshire Cheese at Hope via Mam Tor and Lose Hill by 12.15pm and return to The Cheshire Cheese in Castleton around 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !

Old Glossop

OLD GLOSSOP

March 9, 2016

OLD GLOSSOP, SHELF BROOK, DOCTOR'S GATE AND RETURN

Distance: 7 miles

Diffilculty: Hard

Weather: Rain, then snow, then rain again. Mist

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Graham Hadfield, John Jones, Jock Rooney and Tip,

George Whaites

Apologies: Alan Hart (visiting York), Laurie Fairman (didn't fancy it), Mark Gibby (abandoned in Poynton after cock-up), Julian Ross and Micky Barrett ( allegedy skiiing together), George Dearsley (in Turkey)

Leader: Davison​Diarist: Beal

Start point: Centre of Old Glossop

Start time: 9.50pm​Finish: 1.33pm

After last week's truncated walk, which your temporary diarist recorded was not one of the Wanderers' most glorious days, who could have thought it could get worse? But it did.

Rain, then snow, then rain again and sodden conditions underfoot, mostly in mist, forced a retreat before our objective was achieved and most of our seven-strong party arrived back at the starting point thorougly drenched.

Most mysterious was the question of how this debacle was allowed to happen. Our original plan to head for Glossop Low and down to the Longdendale Trail to Hadfield was abandoned in favour of a plan to head for the top of Bleaklow. To his credit John Jones accepts full responsibility for this foolhardy suggestion, but the rest of the party must carry some of the guilt for not realising how daft it was.

We left the car park in the centre of Old Glossop in light rain, turned right, then right again and at the bottom of the lane turned left in between two sizeable engineering factories. We soon left these behind to continue along the track on to the moors with Shelf Brook on our right.

Little in the way of direction finding was involved here, the track continuing upwards with the formidable snow-clad slopes of Shelf Moor and Bleaklow in front of us.

At a gate (36 mins) the track became more of a footpath. We ignored a path to the left leading up to Yellowslacks and carried on upwards, with the brook to our left. 

At a fork in the track we continued right and reached a new metal gate leading us further upwards (50 mins). We stayed on the west side of the brook until reaching a point where several of the Wanderers remembered that there should be a bridge. It was there no longer and a very awkward crossing of the swollen stream via rocks ensued, albeit without disaster (72 min).

Now on the east side of the stream we began a boggy climb and then a long and soggy traverse of the slope to our right. The rain had now turned to snow and was settling increasingly on the ground. We continued along the slope above the brook before slanting right along an awkward path with a second brook below us on the left.

With the snow becoming heavier we called a belated halt for pietime (110 min), still considerably below the crest of the ridge that would have taken us towards Bleaklow Head. At this point we ruminated on what our chum Alan was missing while he was presumably languishing in the warmth of Betty's Tea Rooms enjoying tea and possible a fairy cake.

We were now approaching the high point of Doctor's Gate, the line of the Roman Road linking Melandra Castle in Glossop to Brough in the Derwent Valley.

Several dubious explanations surround the origin of the name. Colin advanced two unlikely theories involving a ghostly deceased doctor who perished on a mercy mission and whose wails can still be heard across the moor, and a corruption of a Roman name.

There is also apparently a legend that a local Dr Talbot came under the power of the devil and to gain his freedom had to win a horse race against him. He lost because the Devil cheated and used black magic (well, he would).

More likely is the tale that that in 1435 the Abbott of Basingwerke leased the whole of Glossopdale to a John Talbot of Hallam for £50 a year. One of his illegitimate sons, a Dr John Talbot, was appointed vicar and was responsible for paving parts of the road. Who knows?

Here we had a discussion and decided that going on was impractical, indeed foolhardy. On a unanimous vote we turned round and retraced our steps in the snow.

Little can be said about the return journey other than at the crossing of the stream your diarist managed to go knee-deep in to the water after missing a rock. We arrived back at the starting point (220 min) and adjourned to the Queens Arms, where Speckled Hen Bitter - granted the supreme accolade of 'nice beer that' by Tom - and Wainwright, both at £3.10, were appreciated.

Pictures by Tom

Next week's walk will start at the Soldier Dick in Furness Vale at 9.35am. Our leader John Jones has said he will negotitate parking spaces there. The stop en-route will be the Old Hall at Whitehough around 12.15pm. We should arrive back at the Soldier Dick at 2.15pm.

Happy wandering!

Sparrowpit

March 2, 2016

WANTED INN AT SPARROWPIT, GAUTRIES HILL WOOD, PERRY DALE, BEYTONSDALE, PEDLICOTE FARM, BARMOOR

Distance: 4 miles

Difficulty: Easy, apart from weather

Weather: Briefly fine, then near blizzard, mist and driving wind

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Mark Gibby, Graham Hadfield, Jock Rooney and Tip, George Whaites

Apologies: Alan Hart (weather check), Laurie Fairman (jet lag), John Jones (phone call cock-up), Julian Ross ( 'allegedly' avoiding birthday round), George Dearsley (in Turkey)

Leader: Davison​Diarist: Beal

Start point: Wanted Inn at Sparrowpit

Start time: 9.45am​Finish: 11.48am

This was not one of the Wanderers' most glorious days. Brief optimism that the gloomy forecast of heavy snow was clearly misguided lasted barely half an hour before we found ourselves in near blizzard conditiions, driving wind and thick mist. This was despite it being the second day of the official meteorological Spring.

It was so bad that we shamefully abandoned the walk for the cheery comfort of the Wanted Inn, only for the law of Sod to come in to play and grace us with two hours of glorious sunshine, by which time we had gone home.

The walk was brief so your temporary diarist's account will be the same, not least because he had no pen and it was too cold to take his gloves off anyway.

We turned right out of the pub car park and right again briefly in to the minor road towards Castleton before taking a gate and stile to the right leading us on to open fields and slightly uphill towards the Bronze Age barrow of Gautries Hill.

Two stiles later (two of many,many on this brief walk) we crossed another in to Gautries Wood (13 min), a long strip of trees that was clearly the scene of old mine workings. The OS Explorer map marks the Rake Vein and disused shafts, and during our walk through the wood a short stretch of old rail line could be seen.

We descended steeply from the trees to reach a narrow lane running down Perry Dale towards the village of Peak Forest. Here we crossed another stile in to the lane and turned right (31 min).

As we made the gentle descent down the tarmac the benign weather, which had even blessed us with brief spells of sunshine, ceased and the snow began.

As we reached the farm at Beytonsdale our leader Colin took a walled stile to the right (42 min) and led us into the teeth of the strong wind and driving snow up through fields. Visibility by this point was less than 100 yards.

Several stile and fields later we reached the main A623 Chapel to Chesterfield Road at Pedlicote Farm (53 min).

We crossed this to the accompaniment of some blaring horns from disgruntled motorists who we could hardly see in the mist and headed uphill through the fields of Barmoor, over stiles too numerous to detail.

One possible pietime stop behind a wall was rejected as being too exposed, but fortuitously shortly after our leader found a small cave, where four of our number sheltered in the manner of Hobbits, while the braver of our party stayed outside (86 min).

Ten minutes later we resumed out trek in the snow through muddy and mist-covered fields before reaching a T-junction of tracks (111 min).

The mist was still heavy and the snow still falling and our leader announced he was inclined to abandon the original plan to head for Doveholes and instead aim for the Wanted Inn only a mile away.

There were cries of 'No, no Colin, we want to go on!' (your diarist just made that bit up) and we headed right through more muddy fields to reach the Chesterfield Road a short distance from the pub only 10 minutes later.

This has been recorded before but it is worth repeating that the pub, dating from the 1800s, was originally called the Three Tuns and later the Devonshire Arms after it became part of the 10th Duke's massive estates. Put up for sale in 1950 to meet heavy death duties, it remained empty for six years - gaining it the name of the Unwanted Inn.

It was bought in 1956 by a Mr and Mrs Buswell. They were the parents of actor Neville Buswell, who played Coronation Street's Ray Langton for many years, and they sympathetically renamed it the Wanted Inn. The death of the series' creator Tony Warren, who devised the programme while sitting in Tom's Lantern Pike pub near his home in Little Hayfield was announced as we were walking today.

Marston's Pedigree and Farmer's Blonde were on offer at £3.50 a pint. While we were enjoying these Tom announced an excellent scheme to award Wednesday Wanderers' certificates to pubs on our travels providing good Real Ale and friendly service on three occasions. It has to be noted here that the specimen certificate that Tom displayed had the name of a certain hostelry in Little Hayfield in the award-winning position.

Next week's walk will start at the car park in the centre of Old Glossop at 9.40am. We will walk over Glossop Low and down the Pennine Way to the Longdendale Trail to reach The Anchor in Hadfield around 12.15pm. Drinks afterwards will be at The Queens in Old Glossop.

Photos by Colin

It emerged today that some people have difficulty acessing George's excellent website recording our wanderings. The address is www.wwanderers.blogspot.co.uk (note the two w's at the start of wwanderers).

Happy wandering.