June 29, 2022
MOUNT FAMINE
SPORTSMAN INN IN KINDER ROAD, HAYFIELD, VALLEY ROAD, ELLE BANK WOODS, ‘DRAGON’S BACK’ RIDGE, FOOT OF SOUTH HEAD, LAMB INN, ASHEN CLOUGH, PEEP O’ DAY, PHOSIDE FARM, KINDER LODGE AT HAYFIELD
Distance: 7 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Sunny intervals, few spots of rain
Walkers: Micky Barrett, Peter Beal, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Cliff Worthington
Alternative walkers: Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Jock Rooney with Milly, Keith Welsh with Mia
Apologies: Alan Hart (hospital duties), Chris Owen, Simon Williams (both medical appointments), Julian Ross (Cornwall), Andy Blease (Anglesey), Alastair Cairns (household duties), Mark Gibby (shielding prior to family wedding), George Dearsley (Turkey)
Leader: Taylor Diarist: Beal
Starting point: Sportsman Inn, Hayfield
Start time: 9.46am Finishing times: Various
Holidays and other commitments reduced our walking band to six, but we enjoyed a splendid relaxing outing,led by Dean, in largely sunny weather in the hills around Hayfield, including the impressive ‘Dragon’s Back’ ridge of Mount Famine.
Frisky and intimidating bands of cattle disrupted our progress twice, once causing Micky to become detached from the group. But otherwise the walk was marked by the nowadays rare phenomenon of all of us walking as a compact group, rather than being strung out over the countryside.
Traffic problems on the A6 delayed our departure for a short time. We left the Sportsman towards Hayfield and soon took a narrow footpath through the drystone wall on the left taking us down to the River Sett. We turned right here along Valley Road before taking another, very overgrown footpath on the left. This emerged at a very smart house where the path bizarrely crossed the immaculate lawn to a gate on the other side.
The path emerged at a track much used by cattle before we took another path on the left that took us through a field to come to a gate at the top of Elle Bank woods. We followed a track along the top of the woods, not marked on the OS maps, which brought us to the start of the Mount Famine ridge. There were extensive views to our left from here of the Sett Valley and the Hayfield camp site immediately below us.
The path wound through trees before emerging on open countryside at the start of the dramatic ridge known locally as the ‘Dragon’s Back’ (35 minutes), which speaks for itself. On the right hand side of the ridge across the wall are gently sloping fields. But on the left far more spectacular scenery looks down steep drops and over to the Kinder Scout plateau.
A short way along the ridge Dean pointed out a plaque commemorating Howard Jones from Hayfield, known as H, who had walked with the Wanderers on a number of occasions. He sadly died at the early age of 59 last year. The brass plaque, describing him as ‘our special friend’, was so hidden in a cleft in the rocks on a precarious slope that no-one could possibly find it without knowing it was there.
We continued along the undulating ridge until descending to a gate on our right which we went through to follow a path to bring us out on a bridleway junction. We turned left here with the bulk of Mount Famine on our left and followed the track uphill.
The name of Mount Famine dates back to the 19th century Enclosure Acts, which basically allowed large landowners to dismantle the existing farming system around villages and allocate land. Hence those given unproductive land such as this would be, were given to attach names such as ‘famine’ and ‘desolation’ to them.
At the top of the track we bore left through two gates and followed the path uphill before reaching a wall stile on the right. We crossed this and dropped steeply downhill to another stile, at the other side of which pietime was declared (89 min).
Resuming, we bore right across a sheepfield towards a gate and descended sharply right, through a clump of gorse bushed that brought us out on the Hayfield to Chapel road just south of the Lamb Inn.
We crossed this and took a track immediately opposite, descending to a farm where we turned right through a gate,along a short grass path and to a gate on the left leading in to a field.
The action started here as a herd of very young cattle (gender unknown) became excited by the presence of Tommy, who was only slight smaller than them. Dean wisely let Tommy off the lead, as the guidance says, prompting much charging about the field from both Tommy and beasts.
The cattle became so excited that one had the effrontery to prod your diarist in the bum. Fortunately none were of the size to case any real harm.
We gained the safety of a gate at the bottom and went through it up an overgrown path to reach Maynestone Road. We turned right here and after a steepish climb came to the converted farmhouse at Peep o’ Day. We went left through a gate and immediately right through a second one to follow a path through fields.
Two gates further on we entered a field with a large number of large cows and several calves. We became very wary here and gave them a wide berth, so much so that Micky’s wide berth took him out of the field and down through the nearby Far Phoside Farm on the main road.
The rest of us carried on to ford the stream at Phoside Farm and followed the track down to the main road where we arrived at exactly the same moment as the errant Micky.
A short walk dwn the main road brought us to the Kinder Lodge, where the Thornbridge Brewery Peveril IPA was excellent. We were joined by Tom, Jock and Keith, and their canine friends. They had completed a quite arduous walk of more than 5 miles from the Sportsman around the Kinder reservoir.. Keith was most generous in supplying drinks to mark his 57th birthday and Micky supplied refreshment to those who had missed his birthday the previous week.
We tarried here and walkers made their own way back to the Sportsman – hence the description of the finishing time as ‘various’.
Next week’s outing will be (a new one, I think) the Mellor Boundary Walk. It’s 10.5 miles but not arduous. Starting from the car park in Brabyn’s Park, Marple Bridge at 9.40am and calling at the Fox, Brookbottom around 12.45pm.
Happy Wandering!
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