Hayfield

June 19, 2019.

HAYFIELD, TWENTY TREES, SNAKE PASS, MIDDLE MOOR, HUNTING LODGE, HOLLINGWORTH CLOUGH, THE INTAKES, PLAINSTEADS, KNARRS NOOK, MATLEY MOOR, KINGS CLOUGH HEAD FARM, THE LITTLE MILL INN AT ROWARTH, LANESIDE FARM, WETHERCOTES, THE CALICO TRAIL, THE SPORTSMAN AT HAYFIELD

Distance: 9-10miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry with cloud giving way to sunshine.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart and Julian Ross.

Alternative walkers: Colin Davison and Jock Rooney with Tip.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (sailing off Turkey), Peter Beal, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing),Mark Gibby (monitoring Royal Ascot), Chris Owen (Brittany hols) and George Whaites (Croatia hols)

Leader: Cairns. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Kinder Road outside The Sportsman, Hayfield.

Starting time: 9.45am. Finishing time: 2.31pm.

Holidays severely depleted our numbers for this walk and we were obliged to rely on quality rather than quantity. Recent poor weather dispersed and we were able to enjoy a rain-free day. We were also entertained by first a pair of lapwings and then a pair of curlews who dived and cried warnings as the public footpath took us near their nesting sites. For several minutes they flew low over our heads to shoo us away from their offspring.

In the absence of any recognised leaders, Alastair accepted the poisoned chalice and, armed with a shiny new OS map, led us to our main targets – The Little Mill and The Sportsman – with impeccable timing. In the former we were joined by Colin, Jock and Tip. It was a pleasure to see them but our canine friend Tip gave us the most enthusiastic welcome.

From The Sportsman we headed back towards Hayfield, turning right at a green public bridleway. After we crossed a wooden stile to enter the moorland we were treated to a classic aerial display by the lapwings and curlews.

On reaching a copse known as Twenty Trees on our left  (13mins) Hughie confirmed that there were only 19 of them. We passed a sign for Snake Pass (29mins) and entered Middle Moor. Some 200 yards before the distinctive white shooting lodge, we turned left following a sign for Car Meadow (36mins)

We crossed a wooden footbridge at Hollingworth Clough and turned right uphill to stop at a pile of rocks for pies and port (70mins). Continuing we reached the main A624 Glossop-Chapel road and crossed it to head towards Charlesworth (76mins). Instead of turning left at a path opposite Near Plainsteads Farm on our right we continued along the road..After a minor diversion left to and from Knarrs Nook Farm (95mins), we quickly realised the error of our ways and continued along the road towards Charlesworth until we turned left at a sign for Back Rowarth on a road to our left (100mins)

Our quintet turned left at a public bridleway towards Lantern Pike and Hayfield, passing Butchers Piece Farm on our right (104mins). Soon after passing Kings Clough Head Farm on our right (117mins) the road swung left but we continued straight ahead along a footpath (120mins)

After crossing a brook we turned left (123mins), crossed a wooden stile and ignored the first wooden footbridge on our left but crossed a second one and turned right (130mins). We went left over a wooden stile (131mins) and emerged by a red phone box (133mins). After turning left we headed right along a footpath by the side of a Sunday school memorial stone (134mins)

The path brought us out at The Little Mill Inn at Rowarth (139mins), where we enjoyed different pints of cask bitter at tables outside in the sunshine. We were well into our second pints when Colin, Jock and Tip arrived from Thornsett.

Suitably refreshed we bade them farewell and turned right, passing the giant water wheel at the side of the pub. We forked right (149mins) and climbed a steep rocky path which swung right near its summit. As it levelled out we paused for lunch (156mins)

Resuming we reached a T-junction (176mins) and turned left, passing Hext Farm on our left (179mins). As we passed Lower Cliffe Farm  (182mins)on our right, a sign proudly proclaimed that the farmhouse was built there in 1713.

After passing Hayfield Water Treatment Works on our right (189mins) we turned right through the May Queens Park (194mins) and walked along The Calico Trail with the River Sett on our right. We emerged opposite The Pack Horse (198mins) and turned right.

A left turn into Bank Street took us to the Kinder Road (199mins) and reached The Sportsman on our left (208mins) for a choice of cask bitters. 

En route we passed a row of terraced cottages on our left containing a blue plaque in commemoration of one of Hayfield's most famous inhabitants. Actor Arthur Lowe was best known for his role as Captain Mainwaring in the sitcom Dad's Army from 1968-77.

But Lowe (1915-1982) had an impressive catalogue of stage and film credits before he earned fame as draper and lay preacher Leonard Swindley in Coronation Street from its inception in 1960 until he left the show in 1965.

He worked alongside acting superstars such as Olivier, Gielgud, O'Toole and Burton, winning a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actor in Lindsay Anderson's “O Lucky Man!” He also employed a wide range of voices on the BBC's Mr Men series for children. In Thetford, Norfolk, where Dad's Army was filmed on location, there is a statue of him dressed as Captain Mainwaring.

Next week's walk will start at 9.50pm from free parking space next to the quarry entrance at Topley Pike opposite the pay-and-display car park at the start of The Monsal Trail three miles south-east of Buxton. We intend to walk east along the Wye Valley before heading south for a livener in The Church Inn at Chelmorton at about 12.30pm . There will be the option of a final pint around 2.30pm at the Wye Valley House Hotel (Wetherspoons) in Buxton on the way home.

Happy wandering !