Topley Pike

 August 9, 2023.

TOPLEY PIKE, WYE VALLEY NATURE RESERVE, MONSAL TRAIL, DEEP DALE, PRIEST WAY, HORSESHOE DALE, SHEPLEY FARM, CHURCH INN AT CHELMORTON, BANK PIT SPRING, FIVE WELLS FARM, TOP YARD BARN, TOPLEY PIKE

Distance: 9-10 miles

Difficulty: Moderate apart from two strenuous climbs up the same hill.

Weather: Warm and sunny with gentle breeze.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams and Cliff Worthington.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Peter Beal, Mark Gibby (in Cardiff), Hughie Hardiman (in France), Jock Rooney (in the Isle of Man), Julian Ross (w*^king)

Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Lay-by on A6 at Topley Pike, south east of Buxton.

Starting time: 9.53am. Finishing time: 2.26pm.

View from starting point across Wye Valley

A lovely summer's day with blue skies, sunshine and a cooling breeze. A picturesque route through the Derbyshire Dales. One of our favourite country pubs. A round of drinks from birthday boy Deano. What could possibly go wrong ?

Where to start ? Tom has previous form for volunteering to lead us on new walks and then getting lost. On this occasion he surpassed all his other miserable failures.

Not only did he go wrong but he insisted on continuing in the wrong direction, ignoring any advice given.

Consequently, after missing a right turn, we went round in a three-mile circle, re-climbed a steep hill and returned to the missed turn-off 91 minutes later.

He means well but performs badly. Several years ago, after he had misled us for 14 miles in a heatwave, I offered to go with him on a reconnaissance of any new walks. My idea was to test the routes, making a note of all the twists and turns, so we could have a written account of the journey before Tom led the Wednesday Wanderers en masse. The offer was ignored.

Since then we have been led over walls, clambered over barbed wire and paddled through calf-high streams. Now this travesty. Your diarist is enthusiastically in favour of attempting new routes. But the Wanderers have a right to know that when they turn up for a hike on Wednesdays they are not taking part in an adventurous experiment.

We can all make mistakes on walks but Tom's seem to be the most spectacular. Can I make a final heartfelt plea for him to carry out a recce before he leads us on a new route in future.

Happily the weather was perfect and the scenery was idyllic. I would have feared for Tom's safety if it had been cold, wet and windy like the week before. He has tried following written instructions and maps to no avail. Now he puts his faith in a phone app. Sometimes, old pal, you have to use your common sense. A compass even.

I apologise for this outburst but some things need to be stated.

From the lay-by on Topley Pike we walked away from Buxton until, just before the lay-by swung right to rejoin the A6 we carried straight on for a few yards and then turned left at a gate leading into the Wye Valley Nature Reserve. We then plunged on a steep downhill path and went over a stone step stile to cross the Monsal Trail and follow a sign for Wormhill (9mins)

Passing the Blackwell Mill cycle hire centre we turned left (12mins) and followed The Monsal Trail with the River Wye on our right.

The Monsal Trail is 8.5 miles long and runs through six tunnels along the former railway line opened in 1863 and closed in 1968. It was reopened as a facility for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders in 1981, running from Topley Pike to Coombs Viaduct through Chee Dale, Millers Dale, Cressbrook, Monsal Dale, Great Longstone, Hassop and Bakewell.

It is one of the prettiest valleys in the country as I hope the photos below will illustrate.

River Wye

Viaduct across the Wye

On reaching the car park at the start of the Monsal Trail we turned left to cross the A6 (26mins) and headed towards the quarry on the opposite side of the road. On the left was a fenced footpath which emerged at the foot of Deep Dale with a path through vegetation which included, to the discomfort of those of us wearing shorts, nettles.

Where the path forked (31mins) we turned right and then left through a wooden gate.

This was the start of a steep climb which ended when we crossed a stone step stile at the summit (41mins)

Looking back we had a view blighted by the quarry workings and machinery. Turning right along a well-trodden path at the edge of the field we crossed a stone step stile (46mins) and continued along a track. We passed a path on our right from which we were to emerge 91 minutes later.

Instead of taking it Tom led us to another track on our right (54mins) which was the start of a three-mile detour in which we completed a circle. During this aberration we stopped for Pietime, walked the wrong way along Priest Way and Horseshoe Dale.

By now we were clearly heading north and another clue came when we passed a sign for Deep Dale and Topley Pike Nature Reserve. When we passed a landmark cave on our right Tom dismissed it as the wrong cave because it was on the “wrong” side of the path.

Entrance to the cave

Your diarist begged to differ but was ignored as he made a swift diversion to photograph the entrance to the cave which he and Tom had visited together with Laurie Fairman some 20 years earlier.

We now took a path on the right which was the start of a steep climb back through a wooden gate to the track we had walked along previously. Because of the time consumed by our detour it was decided we should aim directly for the pub in Chelmorton.

When we reached a road (151mins) we dog-legged left and right towards Shepley Farm, passing it on our left (159mins), This brought us to the village of Chelmorton were we turned left at the road (162mins) and reached The Church Inn on our left (163mins)

Here Dean generously bought a round of various cask ales at £4-40 a pint, ciders and soft drinks to celebrate his 57^th birthday. Many happy returns Deano !

For the final leg of our journey we turned left out of the pub, taking a footpath uphill past Bank Pit Spring, famously known by the miners of yesteryear as “The Illy Willy Water” (166mins)

On reaching a lane (175mins) we dog-legged left and right to head for Five Wells Farm, passing through the farm (180mins), going through a wooden gate and turning left along a farm track (186mins)

An attractive cottage on our right

Just before a wooden gate we went left over a stone step stile (190mins), crossed the A5270 and carried straight on through another field (197mins). We went through a small wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow (200mins)

Instead of leaving this field via a stile in its centre, Tom led us to the left corner where some of us followed him over barbed wire and a wooden gate (206mins). Wiser heads had spotted the stile and used it.

We turned left and followed a sign for Blackwell. At a T-junction we turned left towards Beech Croft Farm (208mins)

After passing Top Yard Barn on our right (209mins) we turned right at a wooden public footpath sign (213mins). By now my appeals for a lunch stop had been ignored and Chris had decided to strike out alone. He is a man for whom the phrase “Less haste: more speed” could have been invented.

Chris later apologised for his premature departure after seeing Tom staring at his phone once too often. It surprised nobody that Chris got lost on the final mile back.

The remaining ten of us went through a metal gate (217mins), through a wooden gate (225mins) and turned left along a well-trodden path. It led us through a wooden gate to the A6 (227mins) where we turned right and returned to the lay-by (230mins)

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am from the road opposite The Ship Inn at Styal (SK9 4JE). We will be aiming to reach The King William in Wilmslow (SK9 1BQ) at about 12.20pm for a livener before returning to The Ship around 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !