Chatsworth

  

CHATSWORTH

 

August 25, 2021

 

 

BASLOW, PARK SIDE, DOBB EDGE, STAND WOOD, SOWTER STONE, RING POND, HILLTOP FARM, DEVONSHIRE ARMS AT BEELEY, DERWENT BRIDGE, RYE CROFT , NEW PIECE WOOD, SURPRISE VIEW, EDENSOR, CHATSWORTH HOUSE, QUEEN MARY’S BOWER, DERWENT VALLEY WAY, ROBIN HOOD AT BASLOW

 

Distance: 11 miles ​Ascent/descent: 1,520 ft

 

Difiiculty: Easy

 

Weather: Bright and dry, sun later. Warm.

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Mark Gibby, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Dave Willetts

 

Apologies: Alan Hart (accompanying friend to hospital), Tom Cunliffe (‘domestic stuff’), Alastair Cairns (unspecified), Hughie Hardiman (Menorca), Chris Owen (walking with wife), George Dearsley (Turkey), John Jones (Weston-super-Mare)

 

Leader: Rooney​​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Baslow Church

 

Starting time: 10am​Finishing time: 3.23pm

 

 

 

Much of today’s walk was in the 1,000-acre Chatsworth Park estate and magnificent views, stunning scenery and good weather made for an excellent outing with tons of local history thrown in.

 

Summer hols and domestic commitments reduced our happy band to half a dozen Wanderers as we gathered in the busy village of Baslow where parking proved tricky. But the walking route chosen by Jock kept us away from most of the staycation trippers lured to the attractions of historic Chatsworth House.

 

We met in front of St Anne’s Church in the middle of the village and from here turned right towards the busy roundabout marking the junction of the Bakewell and Chesterfield main roads. We turned left here towards Chesterfield and very soon, after the entrance to a caravan park and a pelican crossing took a footpath at a gap in the wall on the right, down a small flight of stone steps.

 

We followed the path over a footbridge with two kissing gates and at another kissing gate in front of a luxury rented cottage, turned right. This brought us to the unusual Cannon Kissing Gate, an eight-foot high revolving gate inspired by Mrs Jill Cannon and opened by her and the Duke of Devonshire in 1999, to make access to Chatsworth Park easier for wheelchair users.

 

We were now in the rolling parkland of the estate and headed uphill in the direction of woods. We entered the woodland by climbing a flight of stone steps (26 minutes) and followed a steepish path through the trees to emerge on a broad track (33 min).

 

At a crossroads we carried straight on to reach the impressive four-storey Hunting Tower, with surrounding cannons,  which dates from the 1580s and is one of only two Elizabethan structures surviving in the park. It was used to observe the movements of the park’s deer herds before hunting and also for banquets. A walker who arrived told us he had counted 148 steps bringing him up from Chatsworth House in the valley more than 300 feet below us.

 

Chatsworth House has been the home of the Cavendish family, later the Dukedom of Devonshire, for almost 500 years. The original house was built by the formidable Bess of Hardwick, the third wife of William Cavendish and one of the country’s richest women. It was rebuilt by the first Duke of Devonshire in the late 17th century.

 

We resumed along the track and soon reached another landmark, the Sowter Stone waterfall, in a clearing in the trees with views of the House below (51 min). A stone-built mini-reservoir above the fall, which feeds the ornamental cascades in the House grounds below, struck our canine friend Tommy (aka The World’s Largest Dog)  as the ideal spot for a bit of bathing.

 

We resumed by following a short and scenic diversion around the Ring Pond, the source of water for the waterfall and one of four reservoirs built on a shelf in Stand Wood. The largest, the Emperor Lake, provides water to power the Emperor Fountain near the House.

Named after the Russian Czar Nicholas when it was hoped he would visit in 1844 it has been reported to reach heights of 300 feet, powered by the pressure of water dropping nearly 400 feet through an iron pipe from the lake above. The Czar never arrived.

 

We arrived back at Sowter Stone (73 min) and took the track again, which soon became metalled. After a zig-zag and just before reaching Park Farm, we climbed a stile in the stone boundary wall to leave Stand Wood (80 min).

 

We took a track through the thick bracken ahead and soon, at a clearing where a footpath led off to the right, we observed a belated pie-time (84 min).

 

We took this footpath steeply downhill, through thick bracken at times head high, to reach a gate leading in to a field (95 min). A stile brought us to a track where we turned left to reach Beeley Hilltop Farm. We went through the messy farm yard and through a gate to a track leading along the side of a field. 

 

We bore right along a path, through fields and over stiles downhill with the village of Beeley seen ahead and just below us. We reached the Devonshire Arms in the village (118 min)  and enjoyed pints on an outside terrace. Our leader had to be revived here after discovering he was charged £4-85 for Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.

 

Resuming we had a short walk on a narrow pavement up the busy road towards Baslow before taking the first path on the left, opposite the church,  through fields. We reached the main road again and turned left across a bridge over the River Derwent and almost immediately left again before taking a path rising through trees on our right. This soon emerged at a car park near a garden centre where we turned left along a minor road (141 min), then swinging right to join a wide, gravelled bridleway, which we followed for around a mile.

 

The track took a zig-zag uphill (162 min) to pass Rye Croft Cottages and narrowed to reach a gate (166 min). We turned right here, signed Chatsworth, and went through a gate in to a field. We headed for a band of trees ahead of us on the crest of the hill. A gate here took us in to a walled track with the private woodland on either side and descended to soon reach another gate leading us back in to the Chatsworth estate (177 min).

 

This was the spot known locally as Surprise View – providing us with a splendid sweeping panorama looking over the valley with the House in its centre and the Hunting Tower we had visited earlier high in the trees above it. We called a brief lunch stop here near an information board at the viewpoint telling us most of the landscaping over the park had been commissioned by the 4th Duke, using the skills of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

 

We descended the gentle sloping parkland, now with the distinctive spire of St Peter’s Church in the village of Edensor (pronounced Ensor) rising above the trees ahead of us. We came to a gate and took a flight of steps down alongside the church to emerge in the picture-postcard village, once the home of estate workers but now considerably more upmarket (192 min).

 

Now surrounded (briefly) by more and more day trippers we crossed the main road, through gates and a cattle grid and took a wide track on the right towards the House. We crossed the Derwent again (208 min) and bore left along a good track, the Derwent Valley Way, following the line of the river.

 

On our right we passed the park’s other remaining Elizabethan feature, Queen Mary’s Bower, a favourite spot of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was ‘entertained’ at the House from 1573 – 82.

 

A walk of just over a mile, passing a picturesque cricket ground on the left, brought us back to the park boundary at the Cannon Kissing Gate (228 min), where we retraced our steps back in to Baslow (241 min).

 

Leader and diarist repaired to the Robin Hood pub for pints of more modestly-priced (compared to the Devonshire) Moonshine (£3-85) and John Smith’s (£3-75).

 

Next week’s walk, again led by Jock, will start in Ashford-in-the-Water at 10am, calling en route at the Pack Horse in Little Longstone around 12.30pm. There is roadside parking opposite the church in the village or alternatively at a small car park at the public toilets.

 

Happy wandering!

 

 

 

 

 

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Furness Vale

 August 18, 2021.

THE SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE, RINGSTONES CARAVAN PARK, WHALEY MOOR, HIGH PEAK SCHOOL, LYME PARK, LANTERN WOOD, LYME CAGE, RED LANE, ST MARY'S CHURCH, DISLEY, THE DANDY COCK, PEAK FOREST CANAL, NEW MILLS, FURNESS VALE MARINA

Distance: 9+ miles.

Difficulty: Easy to moderate.

Weather: Early drizzle; fine later but cloudy.

Walkers: Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, John Jones, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor, Dave Willetts.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Alastair Cairns, Julian Ross (walking in the western Lake District), Peter Beal (entertaining guests), Andy Blease (York races), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (hospital appointment), Chris Owen (busy)

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Soldier Dick at Furness Vale.

Starting time: 9.33am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.

Apologists outnumbered attendees 8-7 for a journey that has become known as The Phallic Walk. The clue to this description lies in the names of the pubs where we traditionally seek refreshment en route – The Dandy Cock and The Soldier Dick.

On this occasion we had quality if not quantity as The Magnificent Seven set off in light drizzle which became steadily heavier as we crossed Whaley Moor and then the rain disappeared.

The walk is tried and tested but on this occasion we made a minor diversion to examine the folly which gave Lantern Wood its name. This gave us an opportunity to approach Lyme Cage from a different direction and to examine the graveyard at St Mary's in Disley as we tried to avoid arriving at our first watering hole before it opened at noon.

The rain and mist obscured the views from Whaley Moor but by the time we reached Lyme Park all precipitation had ceased and the mist had lifted.

From our assembly point outside The Soldier Dick we walked alongside the A6 towards Buxton for 80 yards before turning right into Yeardsley Lane. At its end we turned right just before the entrance to Ringstones Caravan Park (7mins) and followed a track which later swung left towards a farm.

Proceeding through a metal gate with the farmhouse on our left and stables on our right (13mins) we followed the track to another metal gate which we went through and turned right, walking through a field with a drystone wall on our right. We crossed a wooden stile (22mins) and then a second stile brought us to a road (26mins)

Turning left we walked along the road for 100 yards before turning right to follow a green footpath sign for Bowstonegate. The path brought us to a wooden stile which we crossed (35mins) and followed the path across Whaley Moor. After climbing a ladder stile (46mins) we reached a gravel track and turned right (51mins). This took us past High Peak School on our right.

Until ten years ago this was The Moorside Hotel, a popular venue for weddings and anniversaries, and where legendary soap actress Pat Phoenix held her farewell party for Coronation Street colleagues when she gave up her role as Elsie Tanner in 1984. It was also the hotel where Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had extra-marital trysts with club physiotherapist's wife Mary Brown. The affair cost him his job.

Ten years ago it was converted into a school for children with behavioural difficulties.

The track reached a road which we crossed (55mins) and headed uphill passing Hill View Farm on our right (58mins). Beyond this substantial house in a stunning setting we reached a green public footpath sign (62mins) and turned right.

The footpath led us over two wooden stiles to a stone step stile (70mins). We crossed this and immediately on our right crossed a ladder stile which took us into Lantern Wood in Lyme Park. In the trees we stopped for pies and port (72mins).

By now the rain had stopped and it remained dry for the rest of our walk. We followed the path out of the wood via a ladder stile (78mins) and turned left downhill but used a stone step stile to re-enter the trees (83mins) and follow the path until we saw The Lantern on our right (85mins)

This is a belvedere (structure built to take in a view) comprising three storeys, the top of which is a spire which dates from 1580. The folly resembled a lantern in shape and is a Grade 11 listed building.

After posing for a team photo we followed a path downhill, passing the former stables on our left before heading uphill towards Lyme Cage.

By the time we reached the building at the summit (111mins) most of the mist had disappeared and we had a clear view of Manchester and beyond in the distance.

We continued now heading downhill towards the park's green entrance hut (122mins) and turning right to exit the park (124mins) and start climbing Red Lane. This brought us to St Mary's, parish church of Disley, (136mins) where we examined the separate graves of the Legh family, who once owned Lyme Hall and Park until it was handed over to the National Trust to avoid punitive death duties.

From the churchyard we descended a treacherous cobbled path which emerged on the right side of The Ram's Head Hotel at Disley traffic lights (142mins). Here we turned right, crossed the A6 and arrived at The Dandy Cock on our left for pints of Robinsons' or Cumbrian cask bitter (144mins)

Resuming we turned right out of the pub and then sharp right downhill along a road which took us under a railway line before we turned left into Sherbrooke Road (149mins). At the end of this we reached The Peak Forest Canal where we turned right along a path between the waterway and the gardens of houses (150mins)

As we walked along the canal we saw a heron which allowed us to approach it much closer than usual before it took flight.

O
n reaching steps we climbed up to a bridge over the canal which we crossed and turned left to reach the far bank. We turned left again to go under the bridge with the canal now on our right. Beyond it was a form where we stopped for lunch (156mins)

When we continued our route was a direct one, keeping the canal on our right as we passed the aromatic Swizzels' sweet factory in New Mills on our left and reached Furness Vale Marina. Here we exited at Bridge 31 (198mins) before turning right to cross the bridge This took us over the level crossing to the A6 with The Soldier Dick diagonally on our right (203mins).

Here six of us enjoyed pints of The Rev James' cask bitter. The only exception was the wanderer who had used the pub car park for the duration of the walk. As any pub landlord will tell you, this is unacceptable behaviour and should not be repeated.

Next week's walk will start at 10am from outside the parish church at Baslow, on the A623 heading south-east just before it joins the A619. After going through the village of Calver the church at Baslow is on your right. Just before it is a narrow bridge which you should cross and turn left. Unrestricted parking is available on the road here. Walk back to the front of the church from where Jock will lead us through Chatsworth Park to The Devonshire Arms at Beeley for a livener around 12.45pm.

Happy wandering !

Bugsworth Basin

 

April 14, 2021.

BUGSWORTH BASIN, WHITEHOUGH, PEAK FOREST TRAMWAY, CHAPEL MILTON, SHIREOAKS, SOUTH HEAD, THE LAMB AT CHINLEY HEAD, MONK'S MEADOWS, CHINLEY CHURN, COTEBANK, BRIERLEY GREEN AND THE NAVIGATION AT BUGSWORTH

Distance: 9-10 miles

Difficulty: Moderately strenuous.

Weather: Dry with blue skies, cloud and sunshine.

Walkers: Alastair Cairns with (Jack Russell) Daisy, Tom Cunliffe with (toy poodle) Daisy, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, John Jones, Dean Taylor, George Whaites, Dave Willetts.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Peter Beal, Andy Blease, George Dearsley, Hughie Hardiman, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney, Julian Ross.

Leader: Jones. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Navigation at Bugsworth Basin, near Chinley, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 9.43am. Finishing time: 2.53pm.

 

This walk was a repetition of the first hike of the Wednesday Wanderers post lockdown in April. If it has a familiar ring to it that could be because your diarist has copied sections of the previous report ! Some of us did not climb all the peaks involved but this is a description of the route of those who did

On this occasion we were delighted to welcome back to our ranks Alastair's dog Daisy after a lengthy absence. The old girl might be past the first flush of youth at 13, but she proved that, like her master, there is still plenty of life in her yet.

From the car park we passed the pub on our left and took a path on the right bank of Black Brook which took us past the Stephanie Works (16mins) and across two roads as we joined the Peak Forest Tramway (22mins). We reached the main A624 road to Glossop and turned left towards Chapel Milton (36mins)

At a public footpath sign on our right we turned right, passing CJK Packaging (39mins) to follow the path which led under a double railway viaduct (45mins) to reach a road (47mins). Here we dog-legged first left then right to head through a walled passage.

 

 

 

This led to a lane where again we dog-legged left and right, passing Oak House on our right. We turned left through a wooden gate at The Cottage (50mins) and crossed a field to go through another gate and turn left uphill. At a T-junction we dog-legged left and right for the third time in less than an hour to follow a road over a railway bridge (53mins)

 

 

 

After passing Breck Corner on our right we then swung right and left as the path headed towards a farmyard (58mins). We took a path to the left of the farmhouse, going through two gates to exit and head uphill. After a long climb we went through a metal gate, reached The Pennine Bridleway and stopped for Pietime (86mins) accompanied by port.

 

 

Resuming we turned left along the bridleway. When we drew level with South Head on our left we turned left (107mins) to head steeply for the summit (111mins)

Pausing for breath  we looked back across the valley to Kinder Low, Edale Rocks, Swinesback, Pym Chair and Crowden Tower before starting our descent down the opposite side (117mins). After going through a metal gate we headed left over a stone step stile (126mins) and went diagonally right (133mins) to go through a gap in a broken drystone wall (135mins)

 

 

After walking through a wooden gate (137mins) we headed further downhill to cross a wooden stile and reach the A624. We turned right towards Hayfield and after 30 yards turned right at the entrance to The Lamb Inn (144mins) where we enjoyed pints of cask bitter for £3-70. Tom preferred a pot of tea.

 

 

Suitably refreshed we turned left out of the pub car park and after 50 yards followed a public footpath sign on the right of the A624. This led down towards a farmhouse but before reaching it we followed a footpath on our left (149mins)

This took us across a stone and wood stile where we stopped for lunch (159mins). In the adjacent field we had already been approached by a llama who was clearly used to posing for photographs. A small family of cows and calves took exception to the presence of the two dogs until Tom dismissed them with a wave of his pole and some Anglo Saxon vocabulary.

 

 

Continuing our journey we followed a path on the left of a drystone wall then headed left up a steep hill to reach a lane through a wooden gate (167mins). We turned right for 50 yards then headed left at a wooden public footpath sign (168mins). After a steep climb we crossed a stone step stile (174mins) and turned right uphill.

 

 

As we walked in the direction of the summit of Cracken Edge we turned left off the track to reach another footpath  over a broken drystone wall on Chinley Churn. Here we turned left (185mins). After crossing a wooden stile (190mins) we passed a wooden public footpath sign 50 yards before a wooden gate on our right led us to a farm track (198mins). We turned left and reached a lane (204mins) where we turned left again downhill (208mins).

At a public footpath sign we turned right towards Cote Bank (211mins) passing Tythe Barn Farm on our right (216mins) and 100 yards further on we headed left off the main track before crossing a wooden stile where a sign pointed us in the direction of Bugsworth (218mins)

Keeping a drystone wall on our left we continued to cross a wooden stile (223mins) and enter a road with houses on either side. Dolly Wood Lane led us left to a main road where we turned right (224mins). We walked through Brierley Green, through a railway tunnel and passed Bugsworth War Memorial Club on our left before turning left at Brookside to reach our cars (230mins).

After de-booting we sat outside The Navigation Inn drinking a weak but flavourful local cask ale at £4 a pint. 

Next week's walk will start at 9.30am from outside The Soldier Dick pub on the A6 at Furness Vale. Free parking is usually available on nearby Yeardsley Lane. For reasons which might be obvious this is popularly known as The Phallic Walk. After heading steadily uphill into Lyme Park we drop down into Disley for a stiffener in The Dandy Cock around 12.10pm. We then follow the towpath along The Peak Forest Canal, returning to Furness Vale and The Soldier Dick around 2.30pm.

Happy wandering ! 

 

Mill Hill

 MILL HILL

 

August 4, 2021

 

 

SPORTSMAN INN HAYFIELD, BOWDEN BRIDGE, HILL HOUSES, WHITE BROW, SHOOTING CABIN, MILL HILL, HOLLINWORTH HEAD, MATLEY MOOR, LANTERN PIKE INN AT LITTLE HAYFIELD, HAYFIELD, SPORTSMAN INN

 

Distance: 9.5 miles​Ascent/descent: 1,900 ft

 

Difiiculty: Moderate

 

Weather: Sunny at first, then thunder and sustained heavy rain

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, John Jones

 

Leader: Beal​​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Sportsman Inn, Kinder Road, Hayfield

 

Starting time: 9.45am​Finishing time: 2.30pm

 

 

 

This walk was undertaken as an alternative outing to that of our chums who were away enjoying the delights of the Northumbria Coastal Path (aka 'the seaside'). Your diarist and John Jones instead enjoyed the loftier heights of Mill Hill (1,785 ft) above Hayfield, where we got thoroughly soaked.

 

Despite this our route let us enjoy the quieter open spaces away from the Kinder plateau.

 

With The Sportsman on our left we went up Kinder Road, soon dropping down a path to the busy Hayfield campsite.We passed the car park at Bowden Bridge, the former quarry which is the site of the rally that led to the 1932 Mass Trespass on to Kinder that paved the way for public access to the countryside.

 

We crossed the River Kinder here and continued up a lane that brought us to a crossroads with the lane leading to Tunstead Clough and Kinder ahead of us. Instead we turned left and took a track taking us to the delightful hamlet of Hill Houses (20 minutes). We carried on through a gate and reached Booth Farm.

 

Here we turned briefly left down the road before quickly reaching a path on the right that followed the River Kinder to emerge at the metal gates to the Kinder Reservoir, opened in 1912, to supply water to the valley and Stockport (31 min).

 

To the left of the gates, at a National Trust sign announcing White Brow, we went through a smaller wooden gate and took a steep path lined wth stone setts. Interestingly a National Trust notice here announced that the true summit of Kinder had been remeasured and was at a point 45 metres north west of the previous summit cairn on the plateau. This was pleasing, as it confirmed that the Wanderers' excursion to seek the summit on June 30 this year had indeed reached the right point.

We emerged at a viewpoint overlooking the reservoir dam. Here we turned sharp left uphill, following a bridleway sign, and came out on the open moor near the white-painted shooting cabin on Middle Moor (53min).

 

Behind the cabin a track, becoming fainter, took us up the heather moorland, with a line of shooting butts on our left. Near the last of the butts the first spots of rain fell and we donned waterproofs, looking behind to see a wall of rain approaching from the south.

 

We finally reached the summit of Mill Hill (88min), where the Pennine Way, having descended from Kinder Scout, swings right towards the Snake Pass and Bleaklow. Here the rain steadily became heavier and as we descended the flagged path to the left the first claps of thunder were heard. Any thoughts of pie-time were abandoned.

 

We followed the clear route along the stone flags, recovered from the Lancashire mills, that eventually brought us to the Hayfield to Glossop road at Hollinworth Head above Chunal (138 min). By now we were soaked and even our waterproofs were offering little protection.

 

We crossed the busy road here and went straight ahead to take the Monks Road, named because in medieval times it was a tax collecting route for the friars from Basingwerke Abbey.

 

A short distance along here we took a track on the left. After 200 yards we turned on to a track on the left that brought us to a stile leading on to the open pasture of Matley Moor. The path rose and then descended to another stile, where we turned right to the Matley Moor farm house (152 min).

 

A track to the left brought us to a signed six-way junction where we went through a gate and bore left with Lantern Pike rising to our right. We crossed a stile and descended a narrow and overgrown path that brought us to a stile at a cottage. Here we went through a gate on the left that took us down through a field to emerge at a bridge below the converted residential Clough Mill, once the home of our esteemed blogger diarist George Dearsley.

 

We followed the lane to soon reach the Lantern Pike Inn(165 min), whose former mine host was of course our equally esteemed companion Tom. Despite our appearance giving a passable impersonation of two drowned rats we were given a warm welcome and pints of Taylor's Landlord at £3-75.

 

After a convivial half-hour, chatting to two similarly drenched walkers and their collie dog we left, the rain having ceased, and took the main road towards Hayfield, turning right into Slack Lane and soon turning left along a path that brought us to the former Slack Mill on the outskirts of Hayfield. We turned left along a road, then left, than down through what is known as the May Queen field, where we had a belated lunch stop, to emerge opposite the Pack Horse Inn. The road to the right led us in to Kinder Road and back to the Sportsman, where Thwaites IPA and Original were consumed at £4 a pint.

 

Next week's walk, led by JJ, will start at 9.40am from the Navigation Inn at Bugsworth Basin. After ascending South Head refreshments will be taken at the Lamb Inn, before crossing Cracken Edge to return to the Navigation.

 

Happy wandering!