Low Leighton

 September 8, 2021.

LOW LEIGHTON, BIG STONE, PEEP-O-DAY, MOUNT FAMINE, SOUTH

HEAD, COLDWELL CLOUGH, BOWDEN BRIDGE, THE SPORTSMAN AT HAYFIELD, SETT VALLEY TRAIL, BIRCH VALE, OLLERSETT MOOR, LANESIDE ROAD

Distance: 9 miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous.

Weather: Dry, Hot and Sunny.

Walkers: Alastair Cairns, Alan Hart, Chris Owen and Jock Rooney.

Apologies: Peter Beal, Andy Blease (in Anglesey), Tom Cunliffe (caring), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (swollen leg), Hughie Hardiman (domestic duties), John Jones (heart problems), Dean Taylor, Dave Willetts

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: End of Laneside Road, Low Leighton, New Mills.

Starting time: 10.03am. Finishing time: 3 pm.

A heart scare for leader John Jones and a road accident which delayed your diarist provided a challenge to the adaptability of the Wednesday Wanderers for what was always going to be a tough walk in hot, sunny weather.

JJ, recovering from a heart scare which led him to the cardiac unit of Stepping Hill Hospital, was obliged to cry off the day before. I picked up the poisoned chalice of substitute leader only to be delayed in a traffic jam outside Lyme Park after a car swerved off the A6 at Disley and crashed into a lamppost, blocking eastbound traffic.

By the time we had all assembled at the starting point we were already running 23 minutes late but managed to reach the first watering hole at the predicted time by the simple expediency of taking a short cut which lopped a mile off the journey.

This walk, which was last attempted on June 9, is not for the faint-hearted. It involves four prolonged climbs, one of which includes a steep section. But the views are well worth the effort.

Much of the description which follows is cribbed from my diary of June 9, with amendments showing how the extra mile was shed.

From the attractive starting point (above) we followed a green public footpath sign uphill. The path took us through three wooden gates. At the final one (19mins) we reached a wooden footpath sign and carried straight on uphill. We crossed a wooden stile and reached a cluster of boulders, with the largest known rather unimaginatively as Big Stone (27mins)

After admiring the view and gathering our collective breath we started the steep descent from the left of Big Stone. It got gradually easier as we reached a well-trodden path leading down to an even wider path where we headed left as we continued downhill through a wooden gate to reach the house called Peep-o-Day on our left (50mins).

Beyond this we continued for 50 yards to the A624 Glossop-Chapel road and turned left. After another 50 yards we turned right, crossing the road and going up a path with Hayfield View on our left (52mins). We soon dog-legged right and left to continue uphill (58mins) after pausing for pies and port.

A
s we went through two wooden gates, keeping right after the second, we crossed a ladder stile (62mins) and eventually reached the 1,552 summit of Mount Famine.

It is believed Mount Famine was given its name because a number of Enclosure Acts were passed between 1750 and 1850 which allocated common land and moorlands to private landowners. They fenced and leased these fields to tenant farmers. Some of the land was of poor quality for planting or grazing and the families of some farmers went hungry. Their struggles were immortalised in place names like Mount Famine. Other notable examples in the English countryside include Starvation Hill, Famish Acre and Mount Misery.

Continuing our journey from this rocky outcrop we crossed a wooden stile (78mins) and walked down to a gravel track (82mins). We turned left and soon took a path on our right (83mins) going uphill to South Head. We reached its 1,617 feet summit (89mins) which was marked by a cairn.

W
e descended on the far side, reaching a rocky path and turning left (93mins). At a public footpath sign we followed the path towards Hayfield via Coldwell Clough (95mins). After crossing a wooden footbridge we went through a wooden gate to turn left (112mins)

We passed a set of farm buildings (116mins) and carried on until we reached Blackshaws Farm on our right (124mins). The farmhouse, built in 1804, is distinctive because of the sculpture of a stone monkey on its roof. It is believed this was to remind the farmer's son of the responsibility of paying a mortgage (a monkey on his back)

Instead of going right through the farm and heading towards Tunstead House our quartet made a unanimous executive decision to stay on the track and cut the length of our route.

 We proceeded until we reached the road to Tunstead House on our right and turned left following the road downhill and carrying straight ahead at crossroads (126mins). Crossing Bowden Bridge on our right where the River Kinder becomes the River Sett, we turned left (130mins) and walked along Kinder Road until we reached The Sportsman on our right (136mins) Here we enjoyed cask bitter and Amstel lager in the sunny beer garden at £4-10 a pint.

Resuming our journey we crossed the road opposite the pub's main door and followed a public footpath sign directing us down steps to cross a bridge over the Sett. On the far side we turned right and walked into the centre of Hayfield, crossing a road to enter Fishers Bridge (146mins)

We crossed the A624 heading right then left into New Mills Road and passing Kinder Lodge on our right. After the pub we turned right and stopped for lunch at the former Hayfield railway station, now a bus terminus, at the picnic tables on the left provided for the start of The Sett Valley Trail (149mins)

Continuing we followed the track bed of the former New Mills to Hayfield railway line. We left the trail on our left at Birch Vale, crossing the A6015 and heading uphill on a lane to the left of the former pub called The Grouse (168mins). Our fourth relentless climb of the day took us to a wooden gate (183mins) where we turned right on to Ollersett Moor.

After crossing two wooden stiles and a ladder stile (200mins) we reached a lane where we turned left. This brought us to Laneside Road and our cars on the right (209mins)

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from outside The Ship at Styal, where free parking is available on the road opposite. We intend walking through The Bollin Valley, pausing for a bracer in The King William at Wilmslow around 12.20pm, before returning for a final drink in The Ship about 2.30pm.

Happy wandering !