Eyam

July 27, 2016.

EYAM, STONEY MIDDLETON, COOMBS DALE, ROUGH SIDE, WHITE RAKE, WARDLOW, BROSTERFIELD FARM, THE BULLS HEAD AT FOOLOW, EYAM VIEW FARM AND THE MINERS ARMS AT EYAM

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Warm and dry with cloud and sunny spells.

Walkers: Ron Buck, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Chris Owen and George Whaites.

Apologies: Peter Beal (narrow-boating), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (domestic duties).

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free car park at Eyam, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 10am. Finishing time: 2.26pm.

We welcomed a debutant to this trip in perfect walking conditions from the famous village of Eyam. Chris Owen is the younger brother of John Owen, a friend of both Tom and your diarist who now lives in Texas with his American wife Darlene.

The similarity in appearance and mannerisms between Chris, now living near Macclesfield, and John is seriously spooky. We can only hope that Chris did not tell his future wife that Wythenshawe was “a quaint fishing village.”

Like his brother in the first half of life, Chris espouses left-wing politics – although John appears to have undergone a Damascene conversion in the second half, converting from a firebrand trades unionist to a virulent capitalist. It must be the Texan air.

We also welcomed back Colin after his marathon voyage circumnavigating the UK. Although he had not developed a sailor’s roll, our merry matelot had clearly not regained full possession of his land legs as he trudged wearily over vales and hills. He complained bitterly that excessive road walkingwas hard on both his feet and his expensive boots.

Tom took on the mantle of leader for the day, with Lawrie under strict orders to remain silent following last week’s debacle. This proved a stern test for our senior A-teamer who was often seen consulting his map and shaking his head.

Eyam, a pretty Peak District village, has been immortalised by TV and radio programmes because of its communal sacrifice during The Great Plague of 1665. That summer a local tailor received a parcel of material from London, where the deadly disease was reaching epidemic proportions. It is believed he was bitten by fleas in the cloth and died a week later.

By the end of September that year, five more villagers were dead and a further 23 died in October. William Mompesson, Eyam’s rector, persuaded his flock not to flee the plague and risk spreading it. Instead they isolated the village for a year until the plague finally died out. Estimates vary for the death toll with some claiming that 260 out of 350 villagers died.

We began the walk by going through a gate at the rear of the car park, passing a futuristic children’s playground on our right. The path led us into the village centre and we turned right into Lydgate (8mins). This brought us to a wooden public footpath for Stoney Middleton and Boundary Stone.

We passed the latter first. It is a large rock with indentations where 350 years ago villagers left money soaked in vinegar in exchange for food brought by outsiders who were scared of direct contact.

Soon after we went through a wooden gate (25mins) leading into Stone Middleton. We headed sharp right to head down to the main road and crossed it to follow a public footpath sign uphill. We turned left into Eaton Fold, following a wooden public footpath sign (31mins).

The path took us through a five-barred gate marked with a yellow arrow (34mins) and another wooden gate had a wooden public footpath sign pointing to Coombs Dale (35mins) We went through  another wooden gate with a yellow arrow and crossed a plank over a stream (41mins) where Lawrie was amused to read a sign warning people not to swim in the three-inch deep water.

At the far side of the stream was a tarmac path where we turned right and headed along a slight uphill gradient before stopping at a set of stiles on either side of the track for pies and port (70mins). We had already encountered one walking group and two more passed by as we girded our loins for the challenges ahead.

Continuing, we went through a gate (75mins) and took the left fork where the path divided (83mins). We swung right (92mins) with the lane and were amazed to see three wigwams being erected in a field on our right. Was this, we wondered, a retaliation for the Battle of Wounded Knee ?

We kept left at a junction (103mins) to pass White House Farm on our left (113mins) and reached a minor road (115mins). We turned right, passing Manor Farm on our left (116mins) then turned right at a main road to pass The Three Stags’ Heads at Wardlow (122mins), whose door at 12.15pm was firmly locked.

Just past the pub we turned left at a wooden public footpath sign to pass through a farmyard which we left by two metal gates and a stone step stile (128mins) leading to a field. We headed diagonally right across it and exited it by a stone step stile (132mins), crossing four more in quick succession before exiting the fields via a wooden stile (146mins).

En route we had passed herds of cattle, goats, alpacas and flocks of sheep to reach a large collection of farm buildings and residential quarters at Brosterfield Farm. A track took us right to the farm’s entrance where we turned left (149mins).

We entered the village of Foolow, passing Ivy House Farm on our left (153mins) to emerge opposite The Bulls Head (157mins) I apologise to grammatical purists because both this pub and our final watering hole, The Miners Arms, appear to have been painted by sign-writers with no respect for apostrophes.

There was a choice of three excellent cask ales at £3-50 a pint, which were enjoyed outside on benches in the summer sunshine.

Resuming, we turned left out of the pub door to exit Foolow and turned right at a wooden public footpath sign marked with a yellow arrow (161mins). The well-trodden route then took us through a series of stone step stiles and wooden gates which led us ultimately into the village centre. We paused for lunch at a field on the outksirts of Eyam (180mins).

Continuing our direct route we emerged at Eyam Hall and turned left (193mins). By turning right into Hawkhill Road (196mins) we were able to pass the public toilets on our right and turn right into the car park (197mins). From there we drove to The Miners Arms in the centre of Eyam for further refreshment. Among the cask ales on offer at £3-50 a pint was St Edmund, which was deemed to be in fine fettle.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from the free public car park opposite The Spinners Arms in Bollington, near Macclesfield, Cheshire. We anticipate reaching the Robin Hood at Rainow for a livener around 12.15pm, finishing in The Crown at Bollington around 2.15pm. We believe this well-known route will enable Lawrie to regain his leadership laurels.

Happy wandering !