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.