Rowarth

 August 23, 2023.

LITTLE MILL INN AT ROWARTH, KNARRS FARM, THE MONKS ROAD, HOLLINGWORTH BROOK AT CARR MEADOW, MIDDLE MOOR, TWENTY TREES, THE KINDER LODGE AT HAYFIELD, SETT VALLEY TRAIL, BIRCH VALE RESERVOIR, THORNSETT. HIGH WALLS FARM, ASPENSHAW HALL, ROWARTH

Distance: 9.5 miles.

Difficulty: Moderately easy.

Weather: Early drizzle disappeared then dry but mainly cloudy.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Alan Hart, Jonathan Hart, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Cliff Worthington.

Alternative walker: Jock Rooney with Milly.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (dodgy knee), Alastair Cairns, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Simon Williams (in Edinburgh)

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of the Little Mill Inn at Rowarth, High Peak (SK22 1EB)

Starting time: 9.43am. Finishing time: 2.35pm.

All around the blooming heather

This was billed by our leader Tom as The Purple Heather Walk when he pitched the route last week. He suggested that late August was the ideal time to enjoy the moorland scenery and we were rewarded with a dazzling display by Mother Nature.

There was light drizzle in the air as we assembled but this had disappeared as we sallied forth on a steady climb towards the foothills of the Kinder Plateau. We were soon enjoying dry weather, some blue sky and a few glimpses of sunshine.

We paid visits to two of our favourite pubs. At the first of these, The Kinder Lodge in Hayfield, Jonny marked his birthday with a round of drinks. We wish him many happy returns. At the second hostelry, The Little Mill Inn at Rowarth, the sun had finally broken cover and we enjoyed our pints in the warmth of the beer garden surrounded by exotic breeds of poultry.

There was one blemish to this lovely walk and I feel duty-bound to report the unacceptable behaviour of Tommy Taylor. For several months now he has been showing an increasingly ardent interest in Daisy Cunliffe.

It is not just the fact that Daisy is twice Tommy's age which alarms us. We are not ageist bigots. There is also the size issue and the question of consent. Daisy has made it clear that although she is happy to be friends with Tommy she has no wish to take things further. Her French ancestry means she can be a flirtatious bitch but that is no excuse for Tommy's relentless pursuit.

Being from Italian bloodstock which emanates from a land where bottom-pinching is considered normal, he has to realise that persistently sniffing a ladies' nether regions is not permissible in the UK. So Dean was obliged to spend a large portion of the day dragging his besotted Italian mastiff away from Tom's toy poodle.

Fighting for Daisy's honour Tom was behaving like a distraught dad whose daughter was being courted by a tattooed drug dealer, shouting his favourite phrase with increasing volume as the day progressed. One can only hope that this unrequited romance has a better ending than that of Romeo and Juliet.

Star-crossed lovers Tommy and Daisy

From the car park facing the pub we turned right and after a few yards turned immediately right again at a public footpath sign. This took us along a rocky trail which emerged on a lane where we turned left. After a few yards we turned right at a path which started by the side of a red phone box (5mins)

We were soon crossing three wooden stiles as the path ran alongside a stream. When it reached a junction we turned right and forded the stream by using stepping stones (13mins). We left the path by the side of a wooden gate and headed left uphill. Where this road swung left we walked straight ahead through a metal gate marked with a green footpath sign (29mins)

We crossed a wooden stile and a stone steps stile before another stone step stile brought us out to the left of Knarrs Farm (35mins). We turned left and followed the farm track until it reached a road where we turned right (42mins). This is still known as Monks Road despite the fact that The Dissolution of the Monasteries took place in 1536. The folk of Derbyshire have long memories.

At the end of Monks Road we reached the A623 (46mins), crossed it and went over a wooden stile and turned right to head through The Intakes moorland towards Hollingworth Clough. We crossed the Thomas Boulger Memorial Bridge at Carr Meadow (60mins) and continued to a cairn where we stopped for Pietime (77mins)

Continuing we crossed a wooden footbridge (89mins) and turned right at a junction (90mins). Beyond two metal kissing gates (95and 106mins) we reached the copse known as Twenty Trees on our right (109mins). By now we could see the village of Hayfield below us.

The descent into Hayfield

After crossing a wooden stile (111mins) we reached Kinder Road on the outskirts of Hayfield and turned right (115mins). As we descended the road Tom directed us down an easily-missed narrow path on our left (117mins) where stone steps led us steeply downhill.

It was here that Cliff slipped and snapped one of his poles in half as he fell, grazing his right elbow and falling into a clump of stinging nettles. As Jonny treated Cliff's wounds Tom berated the latter for buying cheap poles.

At the road at the path's end we turned left (118mins) and crossed a wooden footbridge, passing a playground on our right before turning right through a wooden gate (119mins). We walked right across another footbridge (123mins) and crossed a stone step stile on our left to enter Hayfield Cricket Club.

We exited the cricket club grounds via The Royal Hotel car park and turned left at the main road. After passing St Matthew's Church on our right we turned right (127mins) and crossed the A623 at the pedestrian lights before turning left to pass the bus station on our right. At the end of Station Road we turned left and immediately reached The Kinder Lodge on our left (130mins)

Here we were soon joined by Jock as we enjoyed a choice of three excellent cask ales provided by Jonny, celebrating his 42nd birthday and making his first appearance since spring.

Retracing our steps to the bus station we turned left to head for the trestle tables and stopped for lunch (131mins). Resuming we joined the start of The Sett Valley Trail heading west along the trackbed of the former Hayfield-New Mills railway line.

En route we passed Birch Vale Reservoir on our right.

Birch Vale Reservoir

The trail crossed a road and we continued along it until we reached a sign for Thornsett at crossroads (162mins). The path took us through Thornsett Trading Estate and right up stone steps (165mins) before crossing a road and following a cobbled path (166mins)

At a T-junction we turned left uphill (167mins) and then turned left, right, left and right in quick succession at High Walls Farm. We went over a stone step stile at a wooden public footpath sign and entered a field through a gap stile, keeping a drystone wall on our right (170mins)

The view looking back from High Walls Farm

After crossing another stone step stile we entered a field and turned left. We crossed a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (178mins) to cross another field and leave it via a wooden stile.

Our group passed Aspenshaw Hall on our right (183mins) before turning right over a stone step stile marked with a wooden public footpath sign (185mins)

Aspenshaw Hall

We then crossed two similar stiles ((190 and 197mins) to reach a farmyard.

We went through a wooden gate and over a wooden stile to walk through a field. Beyond it we turned left and reached The Little Mill Inn on our left (206mins) where we enjoyed pints of Little Mill cask bitter. By now the sun was shining and we quaffed them in the beer garden outside.

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from Tom Brads Croft car park next to the Canal Basin at Whaley Bridge (SK23 7LX). We will head up through Taxal to Windgather Rocks before walking through Dunge Valley for a livener at The Swan at Kettleshulme (SK23 7QU) around 12.20pm. We aim to head back past Todd Brook Reservoir for the option of a pint at The Cock in Whaley Bridge (SK23 7JE) around 2.40pm.

Happy wandering !