Whitehough

25 January 2017

Whitehough, Chinley, White Knowl Farm, Hull End, Beet Farm, South Head, Vorposten, The Lamb Inn, Monk’s Meadow, The Naze Chinley, Whitehough.

Distance: 7.5miles.       Ascent/descent: 1,100 feet.

Difficulty: Easy

Weather: Sunshine and clear skies with little wind

Walkers: Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman, Mark Gibby, Jock Rooney and Tip, Julian Ross, George Waites

Apologies: Micky Barret (still swinging the lead though we are cheered by talk of his recovery), Peter Beal (Spanish walking trip), Tom Cunliffe (long and tearful farewell to the Lantern Pike Inn involving much wringing of hands), George Dearsley (achieving hedonism Turkey), Alan Hart (Spanish drinking trip), John Jones (berating South Africa for not following his advice), Steve Kemp (dubious trip to the far East – no news of his being arrested)

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Davison

Starting point: Old Hall Inn carpark, Whitehough

Starting time: 9.45 am. Finishing time: 2.05pm.

Once again, regular and avid readers of this august journal will detect your diarist’s flagrant plagiarism of the works of earlier and more talented writers. Due to the lack of previous criticism he does it with even less regard for his own moral well-being or the feelings of others.

From the car park of The Old Hall Inn we walked along a pebbled path with the pub on our right, reaching a road where we turned left downhill. This led us over a road bridge into Chinley town centre.

We continued straight ahead until the main road swung right past The Turnpike Chapel on the left and St Mary’s Church on our right. Passing the footpath sign on our left at Alders Lane (13mins), we continued along the road past a school to the next wooden public footpath sign on the left. Here we climbed a stile and crossed the field to a bridge over the Sheffield railway line.

Across the bridge we took the left hand gate and kept close to the wall on our right. At the end of this we bore diagonally right to another gate. Through this, we again kept close to the wall on our right to a small gate into the lane at White Knowl Farm. We turned right for 50yds to the Glossop Road.

Directly across the road a lane with a footpath sign lead us to a house called East Meats. The signs took us to the right of the house and over fields to the road at Hull End. This is Beet Lane which leads up past the eponymous farm to the bridleway between Hayfield and Rushup Edge.

 

We turned left. With the sun now slightly behind us and a gentle breeze on our backs the ascent was as idyllic as one might ask. The Farm itself has been converted into a desirable house since we last walked this lane but the detail above the window reminds all of the wisdom and god-fearing nature of its original builder.

 

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Proverbs 13:20

We are truly blessed amongst the Wednesday Wanderers.

At the bridleway we stopped for pietime then turned left to South Head. Here our party split in two with the young tigers racing up to admire the views whilst the septuagenarians and octagenarian took the more sedentary route around the bottom.

The group reformed further along the bridleway and continued to the fencing sheep fold. Having crossed the cattle grid beyond we turned sharply left along the track to a house called Vorposten. Two Stiles gave onto a grassy trackdownhill through fields.

 

Paying attention to the course of the track as it winds down through fields, we reached the Glossop Road. Here we turned right into the grounds of the Lamb Inn

Fully 50% of the team were non-drinkers today. The coffee and soft drinks were applauded. The bitter ales, however, had a mixed reception at £3.20 per pint. I fear that for your diarist, their names were as memorable as their flavours.

Refreshed, we took our lives in our hands and crossed the main road to the track opposite marked with a footpath sign to a farm called Monk’s Meadow. Here we turned left along the marked footpath.

Keeping the wall on our left we passed through three fields.As we climbed the final stile we were greeted by the unusual sight of a lama and two kiwis approaching us in the adjacent field curious to see our unwonted band.

 

We turned right keeping the wall on our right down to the stream in the valley below. A stone slab serves as a footbridge and we climbed the steep bank on the far side stopping for lunch part way up.

At the top we reached a gate into Maynestone Road and turned left. We reached Chinley at the railway bridge which we crossed and carried on straight ahead into Whitehough Head Lane and so back to the Old Hall Inn.

The best seats in the tap room were taken by a group of kindly old gentlemen commonly known as the S.O.B.s. Their story will likely be told elsewhere but consisted much of barbed wire, forgotten paths, bus alternatives and licensed premises.

Next week’s walk will start at the carpark in Brabyns Park at 9.30am. It will involve beer at the Ring o' Bells in Marple. Beyond that your diarist has little notion and would direct youto young Mr Fairman for further clarification. Happy Wandering.

Chapel-en-le-Frith

18 January 2017

CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, BOWDEN HALL, MALCOFF FARM, GREEN LOW, RUSHOP EDGE, WANTED INN AT SPARROWPIT, GOLDPIECE FARM, BAGSHAWE, KING'S HEAD INN AT CHAPEL

Distance: 10 miles.       Ascent/descent: 2,100 feet.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Low cloud giving poor visibility through the morning, clearer in the afternoon.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney and Tip

Apologies: Micky Barret (still swinging the lead), Tom Cunliffe (long and tearful farewell to the Lantern Pike Inn), George Dearsley (practising hedonism Turkey), John Jones (Explaining to South Africa how to do it better), Steve Kemp (dubious trip to the far East), Laurie Fairman (cruising lectures), Julian Ross (running out of excuses), George Waites (pre-alterations alterations),

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Davison

Starting point: Miry Meadow public car park behind the Co-op in Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Starting time: 9.45 am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.

Regular and avid readers of this august journal will perhaps detect your diarist’s flagrant plagiarism of the works of earlier and more talented writers. For this he begs the forgiveness of his victims and the forebearance of his readers

We were not exactly sure why so few of us – apart from those with legitimate excuses - assembled for this week's excursion from Chapel-en-le-Frith, but it may not have been entirely unconnected with the rather miserable weather forecast.

As it was, only four of us set off from the carpark in mist which quite baffled half of our party as to our whereabouts and route. Whilst Alan has rarely any idea of where he is, Navigation officer Ian Rooney is quite another matter. Both were convinced we were some miles Southwest of the A6 despite passing Bowden Hall and Green Low well to the Northeast of that thoroughfare.

The vaporous miasma abated in the afternoon when Peter joined us following his dental appointmentand we enjoyed splendid views from the hills above Chapel.

Our select quartet left the car park below the Co-op in Chapel by the footpath which brought usthrough an archway at the back of the Roebuck Inn.

We turned left into the Market Place and thence Burrfields, an alley which led us past Chapel Parish Church where we turned right along a footpath downhill into a modern housing development. The old winding footpath through the town has been preserved despite this new building and past Morrison's supermarket on our right. The path dipped over Blackbrook and up the other side, still through housing.

We crossed the old main road linking Chapel and Chinley. Ahead,another stretch of footpath brought us to the A6 Chapel by-pass (20 minutes). In a previous diary entry, Alan remarked that this was“worth remembering as a way out of the town avoiding roads and traffic almost completely”. Evidently he failed to heed his own advice.

We crossed the busy by-pass and followed a grassy path immediately opposite through fields. This took us through two metal kissing gates before we  came to Bowden Hall on our right. This imposing Grade Two listed building, with its own private lake, will be familiar to viewers of the gloomy TV series The Village as the home of the wealthy industralist family before they upped sticks to Lyme Hall at Disley in the second series.

We emerged on a lane (27 min) and turned right along the road past the Hall whose tower clock once adorned Chapel Parish Church. Reaching a T-junction (intersecting the Wash to Slackhall road), we went straight ahead through a gate and passed through a field with a wall on our left to Birchenheadwood. The path is well marked through this and emerges on a bank which we descended directly to a bridge over a stream.

On the far side, a track winds uphill to a gate and a road. Turning right into the hamlet of Malcoff, we took the second footpath on our left just past Malcoff farm. This is a walled track at first which becomes less defined when it climbs steeply through moorland fields to the bridleway connectingHayfield to Rushop Edge below Green Low where we turned right. We stopped for pie time at the second clough with a major stream (84minutes).

Continuing, we reached Sheffield Road, built as a turnpike from Chapel-en-le Frith, at a T-junction. Crossing this, we walked straight ahead along the minor road towards Perryfoot. About 200yds along on our right, we crossed a stile. This lead to a poorly defined path across fields and stiles with a wall and overlooking a shallow ridge on our left.

Eventually, this path becomes a walled track.About 200yds before reaching a line of cottages at Sparrowpit, we turned left over a wall through fields to a farm. Passing between the farm buildings wereached the crossroads at 12.05pm and our objective, the Wanted Inn, immediately in front of us (140mins).

The pub, a former farmstead that lies on the Pennine watershed at 1,217 feet, started life as The Three Tuns in 1700 and became a key stop on the packhorse route between Sheffield and Manchester.

It was here in 1758, in the middle of the night, that two riderless horses galloped in. It seems their owners, runaway lovers Clara and Allan had been murdered with a pickaxe in nearby Winnats Passby five miners from Castleton who had overheard them talking in an inn in the village and noted their obvious wealth. Their bodies were thrown down a pothole. Their killers were never caught but local legend has it that when the wind howls through Winnats the young couple's souls can be heard begging for mercy.

The pub was renamed the Devonshire Arms in 1839 after its owner, the eponymous Duke. But when the 10th Duke died in 1950, leaving massive death duties, it was put up for sale. It remained unsold and became known as "the unwanted inn", until being bought six years later by Mr and Mrs Jack Buswell from Whitehough, who gave it its new name. Their son Neville went on to achieve fame as Ray Langton in Coronation Street.

As ever, the present Landlady greeted us with a smile and served us with excellent Farmer's Brown Cow bitter from the Bradfield Brewery and Marston's Pedigree, both at £3.20 a pint. Half way down our first pint, the lonely figure of a rambler emerged from the mist and slowly resolved itself into that of our chum Peter who quickly caught up our pace of alcoholic consumption.

Suitably refreshed we left the pub. Turning right, we crossed the Castleton road and walked through Sparrowpit (derived from ‘Spar Pit') past Bennett's Well on our left before turning right at a stone step stile marked with a wooden public footpath sign (150mins). A series of stiles, wooden and stone but all slippery, brought us to a three-way crossroads where we paused for lunch (164mins).

Resuming we followed the signs downhill pointing to Slackhall and Chapel. We first passed Upper Bagshaw Hall on our right then Bagshaw Hall farm. After crossing a wooden stile (176mins) and a wooden footbridge (180mins) we reached a road which we followed under the bypass into Chapel.

As we entered the town we passed, on our left, a gold-painted pillar box. This commemorated the feat of Stockport-born Anthony Kappes, who won the gold medal at London in the 2012 Paralympics. Partially-sighted Kappes won the tandem sprint cycle race. He had previously triumphed in the same event at Beijing in 2008.

We passed the Chapel Methodist Church on our left, presided over by the inappropriately-named Rev Kerry Tankard, and the former Primitive Methodist Bethel Chapel, dated 1852, on our right, proving the town was once a hotbed of rival non-conformists.

As the Roebuck was closed for refurbishment, we repaired to the King’s Head in the market place. This turned out to be warm, bright and comfortable and the Black Sheep bitter was in excellent form at £3.00 per pint. Alan renewed his acquaintance with the erstwhile chef of the Kingfisher at Poynton and the Cock at Whaley Bridge who now plies his talents at King’s Head.

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am at the Old Hall, Whitehough, Chinley. Hopefully, we will ascend South Head, drink copiously in The Lamb Inn at lunchtime and return to the Old Hall at approximately2.30pm. Happy wandering.

Little Hayfield

January 11, 2017

LITTLE HAYFIELD, PARK HALL WOODS, MIDDLE MOOR, TWENTY TREES, HAYFIELD, SETT VALLEY, SHOULDER OF SOUTH HEAD, THE WHITE LADY STONE, THE LAMB INN AT CHINLEY, HAYFIELD VIEW CAMPING BARN, HIGHGATE HEAD FARM, HAYFIELD, THE CALICO TRAIL, SWALLOW BANK FARM AND THE LANTERN PIKE INN AT LITTLE HAYFIELD

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Buffeting winds made easy walk awkward.

Weather: Mainly dry but with gale-force winds followed by blue skies and sunshine.

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

B walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job, Ken Sparrow and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (foot injury), Tom Cunliffe (pub duties), George Dearsley (in Turkey), John Jones (in South Africa), Julian Ross (domestic duties)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Lantern Pike Inn at Little Hayfield, High Peak.

Starting time: 9.39am. Finishing time: 2.05pm.

The Lantern Pike was chosen as the venue for this walk because it could be the last occasion we were able to meet there with our colleague Tom as landlord. The sale of the lease is imminent and it will mark the end of an era when Tom and Stella depart after 11 years as mine hosts.

This sad juncture was brightened by the generous purchase of a round of drinks to celebrate Mark’s 56^th birthday and a plentiful supply of chips, bread and butter provided by Tom from the kitchen of Chris Caldwell. A total of 11 Wanderers turned out to bid a fond farewell to Tom in his role as landlord and to accept a free pint from Mark: proof, if proof were needed, that free food and drink always increases our turnout.

Gale force winds from west-north-west had blasted the UK overnight and continued to buffet us whenever we crossed open fields. But these unwelcome winds also provided us with the spectacular sight of a waterfall going uphill ! Newcomers thought they were witnessing a bushfire when they saw the Kinder Downfall on the skyline. The fierce winds were clearly driving the falling water back up the ridge in a dramatic display of smoke-like spray.

Another interesting feature of the day was the arrival of the B team at the pub after approaching from Clough Mill apartments. It was noted that they had managed to avoid getting any mud on their shiny boots – a sight which prompted one cynic to question whether bus passengers might be a more appropriate term for them than walkers.

From the pub we turned right towards Hayfield and after 80 yards we crossed the road to enter Park Hall Woods on our left. A climb brought us to the gate leading to Middle Moor (8mins). We went through the gate but instead of carrying on across the moor we turned right. The path eventually swung left and before a metal gate we swung left again (15mins) to reach a sign for the start of the Snake Path.

Instead of following this route towards The Snake Inn on the Snake Pass linking Glossop with Sheffield, we turned sharp right through a metal kissing gate (24mins). But first we admired the phenomenon of a waterfall being blown uphill.

We passed the 19 trees always known as 20 Trees on our right (37mins) and at this point we lost one of our walkers. Colin had bravely overcome man flu and torn himself away from the sick bed of Angela, who had caught the infection whilst nursing him. But the icy winds were too much so he marched ahead to catch the bus home to a hot bath. *

When we reached a road on the outskirts of Hayfield (43mins) we turned left. With The Sportsman Inn on our left (50mins) we turned sharp right down to the River Sett, which we crossed by a footbridge. We turned left (52mins) with the river on our left. We soon took a right fork in the path (53mins) and followed a wooden public footpath sign for South Head (57mins).

This path led through fields with South Head to our left as we crossed its shoulder. We came to a tarmac lane (70mins) a few yards past a white standing rock, mysteriously known as The White Lady. Twenty yards after turning right along the lane we took a fork on the right and paused at a grassy bank for pies and port (82mins).

By now a brief spell of drizzle had ended and the clouds had cleared. Continuing, we went through a wooden gate (88mins) and reached a farm track. We turned left uphill towards South Head (94mins) and went through a wooden gate following a wooden public footpath sign taking us to the left of a farm (104mins). This path brought us to a wooden gate where we turned left (108mins) before swinging right and heading diagonally right across a field and through an open gateway (113mins).

The route then took us downhill through two wooden kissing gates and over a wooden stile to reach a main road (120mins). We turned right and on the right was The Lamb Inn, an 18^th Century coaching inn on the A624 road between Glossop and Buxton. We entered at 11.55am (121mins), and an enterprising barmaid told us that although the bar did not open until noon “You might as well have a drink while you’re waiting.”

There had been an unhappy experience with the beer on a previous visit, but this time the Marston’s Pedigree was in excellent form at £3-20 a pint and the cheery landlady created a welcoming ambience.

We returned to the main road and turned right. After the best part of half a mile we turned right at a sign for Hayfield View Camping Barn (135mins) to reach a T junction. Here we turned left downhill and reached a minor road where we turned right (146mins). This took us past Highgate Head Farm on our right (152mins) and back into Hayfield village.

Hayfield, with its quaint stone-built houses, shops, pubs and banks, featured in the BBC TV series called “The Village”. It was also a meeting point for the mass trespass of the Kinder Scout range in 1932 which led to the rights of way acts.

We turned left at St Matthew’s Parish Church on our left (164mins) and crossed a footbridge over the River Sett. Opposite The Pack Horse we turned left down Mill Street to follow The Calico Trail (166mins).

This trail is a recently-conceived short walk round the village, linking sites associated with the local calico-printing industry, which employed more than half the population at the beginning of the 20^th Century.

The trail took us briefly along the right bank of the Sett and into a large area of common land known as the Carnival Ground or May Queen Field. Here some of us paused for lunch (168mins). Resuming we exited the field and turned left until we reached Bank Vale Road and turned right (174mins).

We passed Swallow Bank Farm on our right (175mins) and turned right at a public footpath sign on our right (177mins). This path emerged on Slack Lane, where we turned right to reach the main road (187mins). A left turn brought us back to The Lantern Pike Inn (188mins) just before the B team arrived with their suspiciously clean boots.

Next week’s walk will start from the free Miry Meadow Car Park, Station Road, near the Co-op in Chapel-en-le-Frith, at 9.40am. We will aim to stop for a bracer in The Wanted Inn at Sparrowpit around 12.15pm before returning to Chapel for further refreshment at the King’s Head which is in the town centre on the B5470 road to Whalely Bridge, at about 2.15pm. (Our preferred pub, The Roebuck, is closed for refurbishment).

Happy wandering !