Eyam

 WED. 30th. Eyam. Leader J Rooney, Support team Sean Rooney & Martin Evans.

Apologies for absence: K. Rooney ( Airborne bound for sunny Bahrain ) and the Weather Wimps unanimous !

Route: Eyam, Abney, The Barrel, Foolow, Eyam.

Distance 8+ miles.

On arrival at the car park it had just started to rain so Martin, Sean and myself decided to wait a further 10 mins in case of late arrivals because I couldn't believe we were the only ones. At the end of the 10 mins the rain had eased of to a very light spasmodic drizzle which petered out completely as we walked the couple of hundred metres up the the minor lane to turn left just after Beech Hurst YHA to begin the steep stepped ascent of the wooded escarpment towards Bole Hill, and this was the last of the rain we saw for almost all of the rest of the walk ! Breaking out into the open pastures we crossed a minor lane and took the path over Bole hill, Ladywash Mine and Sir William Hill. At this point there were a few scattered snow flakes for a couple of mins and then the wind dropped the overcast broke up and that was it for the next couple of hours. The path lead us over the moor before descending to Abney Clough and the footbridges of Stoke Ford. Here we were overtaken by two walkers who turned out to be the only others we met in the whole of the walk. ( One of them turned out to be a friend of the family and used to be my doctor ! ) Crossing the steam we continued steadily uphill eventually emerging onto the road at the village of Abney. Turning left through the village for a couple of hundred metres we turned left again off the road at Ash House Farm then over the fields to Cockey Farm before descending down into the valley of Bretton Clough and across to climb the steep stepped ascent to Nether Bretton thence right along a minor lane to emerge at the Barrel pub. Turning right we followed the lane down hill to the picturesque village of Foolow arriving at the door of the pub Red Bull ( One of my favourites ) at 1300 only to find that it was not opening until 1500. At this point..just to rub it in...it started to rain so we continued on unrefreshed. Happily, after a few minutes the rain ceased and we finished the walk crossing the many fields back into Eyam. Sean and I found ourselves back in J. D's to round off the trip where we enjoyed a couple of pints at the very reasonable price of £1.40 to £2.10. Happy wandering.

Ps. My thanks to Martin for gearing his pace down to mine, I can remember how frustrating it can be.