Bradwell

June 24, 2020.

BRADWELL, ABNEY MOOR, DERBYSHIRE AND LANCASHIRE GLIDING CLUB AT ABNEY, GREAT HUCKLOW, WINDMILL VILLAGE, HIGH RAKE, NEW FARM, MOSS RAKE, EARL RAKE, JENNINGS DALE AND BRADWELL DALE

Distance: 12-13 miles.

Difficulty: Long initial climb (after route discovered) and excessive miles in hot sun.

Weather: Blue cloudless skies with early gentle breeze.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Alan Hart, Julian Roach, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh and George Whaites.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett and Alastair Cairns (locked down in Lake District), Peter Beal (foot injury), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (health risk), John Jones (moving home), Chris Owen (building work), Jock Rooney (locked down with wife Mary)

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Shoulder of Mutton, Bradwell.

Starting time: 9.52am. Finishing time: 3.30pm.

Glorious scenery. Fabulous sunny weather. What could possibly go wrong ?

Where can I begin ? Shall we just put it down to a bad day at the office and draw a veil over the whole sorry episode ? I'm afraid not Tom. There are too many sadistic critics in this group who derive untold pleasure from hearing of our woes – and our woes were manifold.

What follows is therefore for the benefit of those who enjoy what the Germans call Schadenfreude – taking joy from the misery of others.

A Magnificent Seven turned up for a maiden route around the picturesque hills and valleys of the Peak District. There was nothing wrong with the weather or the scenery, although the sun proved somewhat relentless as a welcoming breeze in the morning disappeared by the afternoon.

It may also be that JJ's belated cry-off put the spotlight on Tom's limitations as he volunteered to lead us into pastures new with only the sketchiest knowledge of the way and no map to help him out..

Tom's idea of flying by the seat of his pants and hoping for the best has seen him crash and burn in the past but never have his weary followers been as scorched as we were on this lengthy journey which lasted more than five and a half hours. Furthermore, because of the Covid clampdown, there was no opportunity to quench our thirsts at the traditional country pubs we encountered.

The writing was on the wall when Tom took a left fork at a junction after only two minutes. He retreated, went up the right fork and a few minutes later was asking a villager for directions. We retreated again, headed the wrong way and Tom was berated by a farmer for failing to keep Daisy on a lead as required.

Fifty minutes after setting off we were back in Bradwell heading up the left fork of the road we had retreated from only two minutes after our start !

It is not our intention to provide a detailed account of Tom's follies for posterity so we will be sparing in the detail. Suffice to say that after establishing the correct way out of Bradwell we faced a steady climb up Abney Moor which took us past the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club at Abney on our right.

When we reached a T junction we turned right and entered the pretty village of Great Hucklow and its 17^th Century pub, The Queen Anne. Before we reached the pub our group passed The Great Hucklow Cross.

A plaque informed us that although the plinth on which the cross stood probably dated from the 14^th Century and had until recently been used as a the base for a sundial, the cross was a replica of one which had been broken. The restored cross and ancient plinth had been moved to its present site in 2003 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Continuing through the village with The Queen Anne on our left we turned right to pass through a hamlet called Windmill before following a path starting from High Rake Mine passing mounds where the spoil left by open-cast lead mining had been grassed over in the bygone centuries.

By now the cooling breeze had disappeared, the country's pubs were all shut and we only had the cry of the curlew to lift our spirits as we reached New Farm and continued our weary way along roads and gravel paths back to Bradwell.

En route we went along Moss Rake, Earl Rake, Jennings Dale and Bradwell Dale. Even at journey's end your dehydrated diarist had one last ignominious moment. The landlord of The Shoulder of Mutton came out of his closed pub, angrily announced that I was trespassing on his almost empty car park and ordered me to leave immediately.

Should we return to Bradwell, as I hope we will one day, can I recommend The White Hart around the corner for post-walk drinks ?

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am from the higher car park overlooking the public toilets in Eyam, the historic plague village. Like a surviving Spitfire pilot Tom has clambered from the wreckage of the Bradwell crash and offered to lead a ten-mile circular route.

Happy wandering !

Pictures by Alan Hart