Hayfield

October 11, 2017

KINDER ROAD, HAYFIELD, NEAR SPORTSMAN INN, HILL HOUSES, FARLANDS BOOTH, BROAD CLOUGH, WILLIAM CLOUGH, WHITE BROW, MIDDLE MOOR, PARK HALL ESTATE, LANTERN PIKE INN AT LITTLE HAYFIELD, SNAKE PATH

Distance: 8 miles                 Ascent/descent: 1,900ft

Difficulty: Moderate

Weather: Mainly dry, two short showers, windy

Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison

Apologies: Alan Hart, Mark Gibby, Hughie Harriman (all wimped out), Julian Ross (undisclosed), Micky Barrett (hamstring), Tom Cunliffe (achilles), George Whaites (domestic duties), George Dearsley (Turkey), Laurie Fairman (presumed cruise lecturing)

Leader: Beal                         Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Sportsman Inn, Kinder Road, Hayfield

Starting time: 9.41am                     Finishing time: 1.32pm

Once again the dire warnings of the weather forecasting services, particularly the BBC, proved horribly misguided, with no sign of the persistent heavy rain that was predicted.

The result of their grim forebodings however was that your temporary diarist and plucky companion Colin were left alone to ponder on the level of moral fibre displayed by some of their absent colleagues.

Marred by only a couple of 20-minute showers our walk comprised a broad circuit of the Kinder Reservoir above Hayfield, with rewarding views, and a first revisit to the Lantern Pike Inn since the departure earlier this year of landlord and fellow Wanderer Tom.

We turned left along Kinder Road outside the Sportsman and almost immediately turned right through a gap in the wall to descend a zig-zag line of steps to cross a footbridge over the River Sett.

Our route took us left again along a track which took us past Hayfield campsite (10 minutes) to join a lane near the Bowden Bridge Quarry car park, where we turned right, following the river. At a junction of the road and two tracks we turned sharp left uphill (15 mins), bringing us to the hamlet of Hill Houses.

We followed this track until it descended gradually through a farm to join a lane near the collection of houses at Farlands Booth (30 mins). We climbed up the lane to the right, soon reaching a footpath sign at a gate on the right.

From here we had a view of the grassed dam of the Kinder reservoir. This huge engineering project was completed in 1911 and at the time the construction was the biggest earth dam in the world. The 44-acre reservoir holds 515 million gallons of water.

The path climbed steeply through a field and at its crest we ignored a path higher on the right to follow a track running alongside woods on our left. Here we found a magnificent cluster of pixie-type red, white-spotted, toadstools, the correct name of which escaped us.

The path dropped down to a stream running from the Kinder plateau high on our right down through Broad Clough (60mins). We crossed a stile, forded the stream, and after a second stile climbed steeply up a grassy slope.

At a gate at the top we slanted left at a National Trust fingerpost across a grassy field. On our right we had a fine view of water flowing down the rocks of Kinder Downfall being blown back high in to the air by the strong wind.

We bore left and joined a track bringing us to a footbridge over the River Kinder. We crossed this and took a narrow path leading us to woods at the head of the very full Kinder Reservoir.

Pie-time was declared at a spot with excellent views across the reservoir below us (79 mins). Continuing we soon reached a footbridge spanning the stream of William Clough, shortly before it enters the reservoir (91 mins). We crossed this and headed up the clough for a short distance before turning sharp left up the hillside on a path which headed back towards the reservoir.

On its crest at Nab Brow we descended slightly before taking a right fork up through the heather, bringing us to the two white-painted shooting boxes and a wooden bridge over a boggy area (111 mins).

We crossed the bridge and followed the path until it dropped down a paved section to a stream. We forded this and climbed slightly, soon reaching a path to the left, which we descended to reach the stream again at a ford just before a gate at the entrance to the wooded Park Hall estate, once the home of local benefactor and textile baron Joseph Hague.

We turned right through the gate and soon emerged on the Hayfield to Glossop road, where a right turn brought us to the Lantern Pike Inn (135 mins).

The pub is largely unchanged since Tom's departure. Timothy Taylor's Landlord bitter was £3-55, Moonshine was £3-35. But what was missing was Tom's cheery welcome and his gay repartee. Actually, what was really missing was his free chips.

We left soon afterwards and retraced our steps to the gate at the top of the Park Hall estate, where this time we turned right on a track which brought us to a wall on our right, which we followed up the moor to a metal kissing gate on the Snake Path.

A right turn here took us down through a series of fields, past the local landmark of the copse known as Twenty Trees, joining Kinder Road in Hayfield a short distance from the Sportsman Inn on our right (135 mins).

The Wainwright's bitter here, in a pub that has recently been pleasantly refurbished, was a rather heady £3-60, but the barmaids were very welcoming.

The following pictures by Colin

As you might be aware next week's walk will mark Alan's birthday. Start will be at 9.30am at Poynton Sports Club, calling at the Boar's Head around 12 noon and returning at 2.15pm. Food and festivities are promised. Some walking might be included in all this at some point.

Happy wandering!