Rowarth

 November 13, 2024.

ROWARTH, KINGS CLOUGH HEAD FARM, KNARRS FARM, MONKS ROAD, CARR MEADOW, MIDDLE MOOR, SHOOTING CABIN, TWENTY TREES, THE KINDER LODGE AT HAYFIELD, CALICO TRAIL, CARNIVAL FIELD, GIGGLE GAGGLE WAY, BLACKSHAW FARM, THE LITTLE MILL INN AT ROWARTH

Distance: 9.5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry with early mist clearing.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Steve Brearley, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross, Andy White with Berta, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.

Alternative walker: Mike Cassini.

Apologies: Alastair Cairns and Tom Cunliffe (domestic duties), Chris Owen (gout), Keith Welsh (waiting for electrician)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free public car park at Rowarth, near Mellor, Peak District.

Starting time: 9.55am. Finishing time: 2.38pm.

We welcomed another new boy and his canine friend to the ranks of the Wednesday Wanderers for this walk. Andy White is from Brighton and there is no getting away from the fact that he is a southerner. However, he more than makes up for that deficiency because he spent most of his working life as a pub landlord.

His three-year-old bitch Berta also has a colourful background. She was the only survivor of a litter found next to the bodies of her mother and siblings in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The mother had been poisoned and her litter were still being weaned and became infected. Berta recovered and was brought as a rescue dog in a crate to England. What a lucky girl !

Andy and Berta

Once again Peter had the poisoned chalice of leadership thrust upon him at the last minute when Tom, who had suggested the walk, was unable to attend because of family illness. We wish Stella, her sister Lynn and Lynn's husband Steve well.

Fortunately, the area covered was where Peter exercised during his fell-running days and he had no trouble creating a suitable route.

It was another week of early mist which gradually disappeared as the day wore on, so the walk was more a source of healthy exercise and camaraderie than spectacular views.

Although we assembled in the car park of The Little Mill Inn at 9.40am as planned it was decided to relocate to the free public car park nearby in case some walkers decided not to buy drinks at the end of the journey. From the car park, we headed towards the row of houses in the centre of Rowarth and followed the public footpath by the side of a red phone box. This led to a wooden stile which we crossed and went over a lane to follow the path, fording a stream and emerging at a fork in a road (10mins)

We took the left fork, and after passing Kings Clough Head Farm on our left we turned right at a wooden public footpath sign towards Lantern Pike (20mins). Turning left through a wooden five-barred gate (24mins) we followed the path through a field and exited it by another wooden gate before turning immediately right at a metal gate (31mins)

The path then took us uphill until, after passing Knarrs Farm on the right of a drystone wall, we crossed a stone step stile with the farm on our right and turned left along a gravel path (39mins). We turned right into Monks Road (44mins) and continued until we reached the A624 Glossop to Chapel Road (51mins)

Opposite was a wooden stile which we crossed and followed the path on our right which led us to the footbridge at Carr Meadow where we paused for Pietime (64mins). We continued across Middle Moor passing a cairn until we saw the distinctive white shooting cabin emerging through the mist on our left. Just beyond us was a crossroads (97mins) where we turned right. This path took us through a metal kissing gate and past the landmark Twenty Trees on our right.

Twenty Trees (of which there are 19)

Following the path through gates and stiles we reached Kinder Road and turned right (125mins) heading downhill into Hayfield. En-route we passed a small white house on our left which was once Hayfield Grammar School.

The old Hayfield Grammar School

The school was founded in 1604 and built in 1719. Further along Kinder Road on our right was a site of more modern history. A plaque showed this was the terrace where actor Arthur Lowe was born and raised.

After a mundane career in rep he finally achieved fame as shopkeeper Leonard Swindley in Coronation Street. He then earned even greater celebrity as Captain Mainwaring, the pompous bank manager, in the Second World War sitcom Dad's Army. Ironically Lowe is probably least known for winning a BAFTA as best supporting actor in the movie O Lucky Man. The star-studded cast included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Ralph Richardson and Rachel Roberts.

Hayfield's famous son

In Hayfield centre we crossed left over the River Sett and turned right immediately after St Matthew's Church to cross the A624 at the pelican lights. We then turned left with the bus terminus and start of the Sett Valley Trail on our right. At the main road, we turned left and The Kinder Lodge was on our left (134mins)

Mike, who had walked to the pub from Birch Vale as part of his recovery programme, was awaiting us. The barman was suitably affronted when he had to break off from pulling pints to pouring tea.

On leaving the pub we re-traced our footsteps past the terminus now on our left and followed a sign for The Calico Trail on our right (137mins). This took us across the River Sett and into the Carnival Field.

The Sett, which started its life as River Kinder

Exiting the field we turned left uphill and turned right into Bank Vale Road (142mins). Passing Swallow Bank Farm on our right we reached the start of the Giggle Gaggle Path (147mins)

This was so named because of the local girls, who formed a laughter-filled crocodile as they went to and from their work at Clough Mill, Little Hayfield.

We reached a crossroads of well-trodden paths (167mins) where we turned right and then carried straight on through gates and stiles, passing The Lantern Pike hill on our left as we proceeded towards Blackshaw Farm. At a junction we followed a sign for Monks Road (173mins)

This brought us to a concreted lane (186mins) and over a stream before we went left at a wooden stile (193mins) to retrace our earlier steps back to The Little Mill Inn (202mins) for pints of their own cask bitter.

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the free Bollington Recreation Ground car park on Adlington Road, Bollington (SK10 5JT). We will be going over Kerridge and up to Walker Barn before arriving at The Robin Hood in Church Lane, Rainow (SK10 5XE) at about 12.30pm. We aim to return to our cars around 2.20pm with the option of a final quencher at The Vale on Adlington Road (SK10 5JT)

Happy wandering !