Barber Booth

November 2, 2016.

BARBER BOOTH, CHAPEL GATE, RUSHOP EDGE, LORD’S SEAT, MAM TOR, EDALE, RIVER NOE, THE NAG’S HEAD AT GRINDSBROOK BOOTH, COOPERS CAFE, THE OLD DAIRY AND THE ROEBUCK AT CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH

Distance: Eight miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Crisp with blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Steve Kemp, Jock Rooney with Tips, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

S.O.B. walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job and Ken Sparrow.

Apologies: Micky Barrett (in Truro), Tom Cunliffe (sore back), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Terry Jowett and Chris Owen (w*^king).

 Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Parking area at Barber Booth, Edale.

Starting time: 9.58am. Finishing time: 2.24pm.

If it be true that the sun shines on the righteous, then Peter and George W must have already booked their places on the Stairway to Heaven. The birthday boys enjoyed an exceptionally sunny November day in one of the prettiest parts of the Hope Valley.

Walking conditions were perfect as the morning chill prevented us from overheating while we climbed steadily from Barber Booth to Rushop Edge. When we reached the cool high points, the sunshine kept us warm and gave us magnificent views in every direction (with the sole exception of that blot on the landscape: Hope cement works)

Owing to a miscalculation, Peter had chosen the most expensive pub outside London for his birthday round, and was obliged to shell out an eye-watering £3-75 a pint for his chums at The Old Nags Head. He confessed this was an oversight and fears he may lose his status as a Yorkshireman. George had the better of things in The Roebuck, where the Tetleys’ cask bitter was in excellent form at £3 a pint, but there were three B-teamers added to the cast list. We understand the celebrants shared the outlay and Steve kindly chipped in with a bountiful supply of crisps.

The day was not without its problems, however, with Peter delayed near his home at Birch Vale while he waited in vain for a promised lift from Tom. It transpired that Tom, suffering from a sore back, had sent a text the night before informing Peter he was hors de combat .Tom appears to be unlucky with his use of modern channels of communication, having once claimed to have received only part of an email from me, thus preventing him from placing an order correctly. As he seems to be cursed with ill luck, perhaps we can suggest Tom uses phone calls or telegrams in future.

We were 13 minutes late when our leader arrived which meant we were behind schedule at the first watering hole. This caused as much concern as the whereabouts of Tom, who remained impervious to all our efforts to contact him.

A plaque informed us at our starting point that Barber Booth was one of five booths in the Vale of Edale – Upper, Grindsbrook, Ollerbrook and Nether being the others – which had grown up around the temporary shelters (or “bothies”) used by shepherds.

From the car park we headed back under the viaduct (4mins) and turned right over a wooden stile (5mins) to enter a field. This brought us first through a wooden gate on the right and then three more wooden stiles in the space of three minutes. Another wooden gate (16mins) took us through thick mud before we headed towards Chapel Gate – a path over the shoulder of a distant hill.

After going through a wooden gate sandwiched between two more wooden stiles (21mins), we could see the ventilation shaft of Cowburn Tunnel on our right in the middle distance.

Cowburn Tunnel on the Hope Valley railway line is more than two miles long (3,702 yards) taking the line west out of the Edale Valley to Chinley. It was built in 1891 by the Midland Railway. On one occasion the headings filled with water to a depth of 90 feet and work carried on in a diving bell. Nevertheless when the headings met they were less than one inch out in the vertical and exact on the horizontal !

When we reached a drystone wall we turned left (52mins) and followed the path with the wall on our right until we reached a marker post and stopped for pietime (62mins). Continuing, we crossed two more wooden stiles to reach Lord’s Seat (64mins).This is the highest point on Rushop Edge at 1,804 feet and should not be confused with a fell and two hills of the same name in The Lake District.

From here we began our descent, crossing a wooden stile (71mins) and reached a road (83mins). We crossed it and took the path leading to Mam Tor, but after 20 yards went left along an alternative path which skirted the summit.

Mam Tor is 1,696 feet above sea level and its name means Mother Hill. It is also known as The Shivering Mountain because unstable layers of shale often cause landslides. The A625 linking Sheffield with Chapel-en-le-Frith was blocked many times and finally closed in 1979.

The path brought us to a gate (99mins) where we continued our descent along stone flags. The main party continued before taking a path on the left to head more steeply downhill. After going through a gate marked with a yellow arrow (118mins) we crossed a bridge over the River Noe. This brought us to a road (130mins) which we crossed and followed a wooden public footpath sign,

At a wooden gate we went diagonally left along the well-trodden path (133mins). At a gap stile (137mins) we repeated this manoeuvre and went through a wooden gate to follow a path made of flagstones (139mins). Another gap stile brought us to a bridge where we crossed the Noe again and turned right along a road with Edale Parish Church on our left (144mins).

The present church was consecrated in 1886 on the site of the first chapel built in 1633. We are indebted to our learned friend Mr Beal for the information that before this date the villagers were obliged to take the coffins of their dear departed over Hollins Cross to the nearest church in Hope. It thus became known as “The Corpse Road.”

This route brought us to The Old Nags Head (146mins). Pedants may have noticed, as I did, that there is a missing apostrophe in the pub’s name. Blame the sign-writer, not your diarist, for this outrageous grammatical error which also applied to the term Hikers Bar above the door. It was hard to fault The Farmers Blonde (no apostrophe: you have to admire their consistency) or The Black Sheep apart from the price of £3-75 a pint.

On leaving we turned left in the direction of Edale railway station and followed a road with Coopers Cafe on our right. The track was marked with a yellow arrow. We turned left at a wooden public footpath sign (150mins) and went through a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow (152mins). After passing through another wooden gate we paused for lunch (157mins) and watched a group of paragliders riding the thermals off Rushop Edge.

Resuming we crossed a stream and headed diagonally left across a field. Two wooden gates either side of a footbridge led us into another field (161mins) and we followed a fingerpost for Barber Booth through a wooden gate (165mins). We crossed Bridge 58 (171mins) and passed The Old Dairy on our right (173mins).

After crossing a bridge we turned right at a fingerpost for Upper Booth (175mins) and this road took us under the railway viaduct and back to our cars (182mins). After de-booting we drove to The Roebuck at Chapel and joined the B-teamers.

Next week’s walk, known as The Phallic Route, begins at 9.30am from the car park of The Soldier Dick at Furness Vale. After a climb into Lyme Park we plan to descend to Disley for a stiffener at The Dandy Cock around 12.15pm. From there we will walk along The Peak Forest Canal back to The Soldier Dick, expecting to arrive at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !