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 !