Ashford-in-the-Water

March 26, 2025

 

ASHFORD-IN-THE-WATER

 

 

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN ASHFORD, VICARAGE LANE, PENNYUNK LANE, MONSAL HEAD, MONSAL DALE, WHITE LODGE ON A6, DEEP DALE, COCK AND PULLET IN SHELDON, KIRK DALE, ASHFORD ARMS

 

 

Distance: 8 miles​Total ascent/descent: 1,300t

 

Difficulty: Easy

 

Weather: Largely sunny. Warm.

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, Russell Spencer, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington

 

Apologies: Steve Brearley (away), Jim Riley (builders in), Mark Gibby, Dean Taylor (new bathrooms),Tom Cunliffe (seeing knee consultant), Mark Enright (w*^king), Clive Rothel (electricians), Greg Owens, Alastair Cairns (in Eden Valley)  

 

Alternate walker: Kieran and Jock Rooney with Milly. Non-walking drinker: Alan Hart

 

Leader: Beal​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Outside Holy Trinity Church, Ashford-in-the-Water near Bakewell

 

Starting time: 9.55am​Finishing time: 2.23pm

 

 

For the second Wednesday in succession the Wanderers were greeted by brilliant sunny and dry weather on this trip through two of the White Peak’s more scenic dales.

 

Seven of us gathered outside Holy Trinity Church and walked up Vicarage Lane before shortly taking a signed footpath on the left to Monsal Head. This narrow path went up stone steps with houses on the right before emerging in to an open field.

 

A path bought us to a gate and wall stile leading to the broad track of Pennyunk Lane, where we turned left and followed it past a farmhouse conversion where work seems to have been under way for several years. Shortly after this the surfaced track gave way to rougher ground and we continued until turning sharp right up a narrowing path between drystone walls.

 

This eventually turned sharp left and then right again at another sign pointing us towards Monsal Head.  Through a series of gates we reached the steep drop in to Monsal Dale at a copse of trees and turned right, following a narrow path that in places needed some care to negotiate.  A short way in to the walk along the edge we caught up with Jock and Kieran, with Milly, who were doing a walk from Ashford to Monsal Head and then to Little Longstone before heading back to the village, to join us later at the Cock and Pullet in Sheldon.

Shortly before reaching Monsal Head and the pub of the same name the path dropped down a series of steep limestone steps to come to a junction where we turneddown left at a sign pointing us to Monsal Weir. Below us we could see walkers on the Headstone Viaduct, part of the Monsal Trail, an eight-and-a-half mile route along the trackbed of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland junction railway, built in 1863 to link Manchester and London. It closed in 1968, opened as a trail in 1981, and more recently in 2011 six former tunnels were reopened and lit during the day to make them accessible to walkers and cyclists.

 

This quite gently sloping path dropped the few hundred feet to emerge at the large weir where we swung left to soon come to a metal bridge taking us right over the River Wye, one of the country’s purest rivers containing large quantities of brown and rainbow trout. In a large meadow on the north side of the river a pile of logs made for convenient seating for pietime, an hour and six minutes in to the walk.

 

Resuming, we followed the path upstream alongside this picturesque river for just under a mile until fording a stream to reach stone steps and a stile to bring us to the A6, which we crossed to reach the Peak Park’s White Lodge car park. We crossed this to reach a path signed for our destination of DeepDale and Taddington.

 

The path rose gently before reaching a stone stile, accessed by either wading through a stream or scrambling up the bank to the right. Beyond this we continued along the path to reach a small limestone outcrop, where there was a junction of paths. We ignored the signed to the left for Ashford and Sheldon, and followed the sign to the right for Deep Dale.

 

This peaceful nature reserve comes under the auspices of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and is renowned for its profusion of wildflowers in the spring, although we sadly must have been a few weeks early.

 

We followed the path up the dale, rocky at first but becoming more grassy, for a mile before reaching a sign marking the upper boundary of the nature reserve. We went through a gate to the right and immediately left over a steep stone stile. Had we continued up the dale here a track and paths would have brought us to the village of Monyash after around 2 miles.

 

Instead we exited the dale up a grassy path ahead of us. This was very steep but mercifully short and dispatched in a little over five minutes to reach a wall stile. Ahead of us was a gentle stroll through a succession of grassy fields to reach a minor road above the village of Sheldon. Certain members of our party urged a diversion on us to avoid the last field because of a herd of cows, which on closer inspection turned out to be a lone horse, and we instead reached the road by climbing over a locked gate.

 

A short walk to the left brought us to the village of Sheldon and the Cock and Pullet pub, surprisingly busy with diners. We met Jock and Kieran with Milly here and were delighted to receive a surprise visit from Alan, who we knew was due to move in to his new nursing home accommodation today, but it turned out this was not until later in the afternoon.

 

He had been having a domestic sort-out and presented us with a collection of walking books and routes and, mysteriously, a collection of viagra tablets, in what appeared to be, to least to your diarist, an unfeasibly large quantity. But perhaps I don’t get out enough.

 

Books and tablets safely stowed in rucksacks we resumed our walk by turning right out of the pub down the village street. We passed a white cottage on the left at the bottom of the village and immediately took a small gate on the left leading us downhill through fields.

 

We crossed one stile and three-quarters of a mile from leaving Sheldon dropped down a steep path through the final field to come to a footpath alongside the River Wye again. This soon joined a minor road in Kirk Dale, down which we turned left to soon reach the A6, where a roadside pavement to the right soon brought us to Ashford. We crossed the road to enter the village across the historic Sheepwash Bridge. 

 

This was built in the 17th century at a time when as many as 300 pack horses passed this way every week, carrying malt from Derby, my Peak District Companion tells me (that’s a book not a person). There is a stone fold at one end of the bridge where for centuries sheep were driven in to the adjoining field and forced to take a bath because the only exit was in to the river.

 

Ashford was once known for its production of ornamental black marble, samples of which are in the village church and in Chatsworth House. A black marble tablet in the church commemorates Henry Watson, who in 1748 created a quarry at the foot of Kirk Dale to hack out a dark grey limestone which had impurities giving it a black appearance. He founded a factory on the banks of the Wye, which continued in operation until 1905.

 

Across the bridge we soon reached our cars. Your diarist and Mike were the only to walkers to seek further refreshment. We called at the Ashford Arms at the foot of the village, long closed but reopened a year ago, and now converted in to a fine pub and restaurant, but with comfortable public bars as well. Fears of the dreaded £6 pint were soon dispelled as we enjoyed Farmers’ Blonde at £4-80, which we enjoyed in the sunshine in the well-appointed garden.

 

Next week’s walk will start in Mobberley, with a view to meeting up with Alan for a pint at the end. The start will be at 9.40am at Simon’s house, Beechfield, Faulkners Lane, Mobberley WA16 7AL. There is room for six cars in the drive or parking on the road. The house cannot be seen from the road but has two terracotta plant pots outside (this is all sounding a bit country squire-ish). Cliff and Simon will devise a route around Alderley Edge, finishing at the Bull’s Head in Mobberley around 2.30pm.

PS. Late news: Alan Hart confirms his move went as planned and cheerfully refers to his new abode as 'Dunshaggin' - the twilight home for the bewildered'.

 

Happy Wandering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rowarth

 

March 19, 2025

 

ROWARTH

 

VILLAGE CAR PARK IN ROWARTH, KING’S HEAD CLOUGH FARM, PENNINE BRIDLEWAY, KNARRS FARM, MATLEY MOOR, A624 AT HOLLINWORTH HEAD, CARR MEADOW, MIDDLE MOOR, SHOOTING CABIN, TWENTY TREES, KINDER LODGE IN HAYFIELD, GIGGLE-GAGGLE PATH, HARTHILL FARM, ROWARTH

 

 

Distance: 8.5 miles​

Total ascent/descent: 1,500 ft

 

Difficulty: Moderate

 

Weather: Perfect. Sunshine with light cooling breeze

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, Mark Gibby, Hughie Hardiman, Chris Owen, Greg Owens, Clive Rothel, Simon Williams, Chris Worthington

 

Apologies: Steve Brearley (away), Keith Welsh (Cornwall), Jim Riley (vet’s), Russell Spencer (dog sitting), Alastair Cairns (gardening duties), Tom Cunliffe (dodgy knee)

 

Alternate walker: Jock Rooney with Milly. Non-walking drinker: Alan Hart

 

Leader: Beal​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Village car park, Rowarth

 

Starting time: 9.44am​Finishing time: 2.44pm

 

 

We enjoyed perfect walking weather with almost continuous sunshine for this round of the scenic hills above Rowarth and Hayfield. Ten walkers turned out and were able to join Hughie in celebrating his 61st birthday at the Kinder Lodge in Hayfield.

 

We were also delighted to welcome Alan, who joined us at the midway pub for a pint. Despite his gloomy prognosis from Christie Hospital, he remains admirably positive and of course is keeping us entertained with reminiscences from his colourful journalistic career. We continue to wish him all the best.

 

A slight damper was put on Hughie’s birthday drinks by the always smiling and jovial barman (I think not) at the Kinder Lodge. On our last visit he begrudgingly served teas to those of our members who were not drinking beer. This time they were met with a blank refusal – “this is a bloody pub”. 

 

We gathered in the village car park in the small but pleasant village of Rowarth. We turned right and soon after reaching houses took a lane to the right down towards a ford over a stream.

 

We cut left on to a path following the stream and emerged on to a track where we swung right over a stream ford to reach the bottom of a surfaced road. This climbed quite steeply past Kings Clough Head House and Farm before we turned right up a track signed fo the Pennine Bridleway. This is a 205-mile-long route running between Middleton Top in the White Peak of Derbyshire to Ravenstonedale in Cumbria. It has been specifically designed for horse riders.

 

We soon turned left through a gate on to open heather moorland and climbed gently to reach a gate back on to the road. At a ramshackle building here we went right through a gate in to a field, where we climbed to a stone stile at the top. A path led from here for a short distance before skirting Knarrs Farm to reach a track leading to the Monks’ Road.

 

The road is named after the Cistercian monks of 12thcentury Basingwerk Abbey in North Wales who would travel along it to collect rents from their lands around Glossop and Charlesworth, granted to them by Henry ll.

 

We turned right along this road for around a quarter of a mile before reaching its junction with the busy A624 Buxton to Glossop road at Hollingworth Head. Immediately opposite us was a stile on to open moorland, which we crossed the road to reach.

 

Straight ahead here was an uphill track that would have brought us to Mill Hill, one of the outlying hills of Kinder Scout. Instead we turned right on a downhill path running parallel with the road. This passed a small quarry operated by a local farmer for his drystone walling and went through a gate to drop down to a bridge across the stream of Hollingworth Clough at Carr Meadow.

 

We crossed the bridge and climbed a path at the other side through heather. This was once a narrow path but has now become a popular mountain bike route and has widened dramatically.  

 

At a large cairn on the crest of the climb we paused for pietime in the sunshine with splendid views all round. Continuing, the path dropped to a stony ford over a small stream and climbed up a stone flight to continue across Middle Moor. Soon the distinctive white shooting cabin came into view on our left. This landmark can be seen for miles in many directions.

 

Just after the shooting cabin we reached the Snake Path, the route between Hayfield and the former Snake Inn on the Snake Pass road between Glossop and Sheffield.

 

This path was opened to walkers in 1897 and was one of the few rights-of-way on the private lands of Kinder Scout, owned by the Dukes of Devonshire and now part of the National Trust Kinder estate. A short distance to our left, down beyond the Kinder reservoir was the scene of the famous 1932 Kinder Trespass, where walkers clashed with gamekeepers in a protest that was to do a great deal to further the cause of access to the countryside and later the foundation of the National Parks.

 

We followed the path through a gate leading in to fields, and then downhill past the landmark of a copse of beeches called Twenty Trees to reach Kinder Road in the village of Hayfield. We turned right here downhill and crossed the A624 in the centre of the village to come to the Kinder Lodge, one sadly of a dwindling number of hostelries in the vicinity.

 

Here we were joined by Jock, who had completed a walk on the Sett Valley Trail, and Alan, who enjoyed a well-deserved pint after his latest visit to Christie’s.

 

We left with the friendly barman waving us on our way (no, he didn’t) and turned right and immediately right again in to the village car park. Ahead of us a road led in to a new estate (home of our chum Dean) which we took before soon turning right at a sign for the Calico Trail and the Old School Field. We crossed the infant River Sett and climbed through the field – commonly called the May Queen Field locally – to reach Swallow House Lane.

 

We turned left and at a large pair of gates marking the entrance to the former owner’s house at Slack’s paper mill, turned right down a lane. This soon brought us to some houses, from which the locally-named Giggle-gaggle path crossed a stream and climbed in the direction of Little Hayfield. At a track junction we bore left uphill past houses and crossed a stile where the path narrowed before coming to another stile.

 

Here we followed the edge of the wood to emerge on open moorland with Lantern Pike above us on our left. We climbed a short rise and bore right along a wide grassy track to reach a gate with a five-way sign above it. We followed the track signed Pennine Bridleway and Monks Road for a short distance before turning left towards a house entrance and immediately right over a path across two stiles.

 

The path reached another large stone stile and brought us to Harthill Farm, where we crossed the farmyard to take a track downhill towards the ford we had encountered at the start of our walk. We retraced our steps to our cars nearby. Your diarist was alone in seeking a further refreshment at the nearby splendid Little Mill Inn, but was not offended.

 

Next week’s walk will start at 9.50am from Ashford-in-the-Water on the A6 south of Buxton. There is parking on the road near the church or in the village car park (free with donations) just round the corner. We will walk towards Monsal Head, then drop in to Monsal Dale before heading for Deepdale and climbing to Sheldon for refreshment at the Cock and Pullet. Further refreshments will be available at the Bull’s Head in Ashford.

 

Happy Wandering!

 

 

Hayfield

 

March 12, 2025

 

HAYFIELD

 

 

KINDER ROAD, HAYFIELD, NEAR SPORTSMAN INN, THEN KINDER ROAD, HAYFIELD VILLAGE, SETT VALLEY TRAIL, BIRCH VALE, MORLANDS ROAD, OLLERSETT MOOR, BIG STONE, CRACKEN EDGE, MAYNESTONE ROAD, MONK’S MEADOWS FARM,LAMB INN AT CHINLEY HEAD, VORPOSTEN FARM, PENNINE BRIDLEWAY, DRAGON’S BACK RIDGE, ELLE BANK WOODS, SPORTSMAN INN

 

Distance: ​9 miles​Ascent/descent:  1,750ft

 

Difiiculty: Moderate to hard with one long climb

 

Weather: Mainly dry with a little sun. One sharp hail shower

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Steve Brearley, Mike Cassini, Julian Ross, Russell Spencer

 

Alternate walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly

 

Apologies: Clive Rothel (building work at home), Mark Enwright (teaching), Alastair Cairns, Mark Gibby, Greg Owens, Jim Riley, Simon Williams (all unspecified), Chris Owen (away)

 

Leader: Beal​​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Kinder Road, Hayfield, next to Sportsman Inn

 

Starting time: 9.42am       Finishing time: 2.30pm

 

 

Today’s route was decided after a particular request from Julian that it should take in the Dragon’s Back, the undulating ridge dropping from the height of Mount Famine to the woods of Elle Bank above Hayfield.

 

A substantial list of apologists still left us with six walkers who gathered on the road near the Sportsman Inn above Hayfield village.

 

It was a largely clear day for a walk with some rewarding views, except for a quite violent hail shower that struck just as we were leaving the refreshment stop at one of the our favourite watering holes, the Lamb Inn, on the roadside of the A624 Glossop to Hayfield road above Chinley.

 

Our walkers for the day assembled promptly and we turned down Kinder Road in to Hayfield village, passing the row of terraced cottages bearing a blue plaque dedicated to Arthur Lowe, the celebrated Coronation Street and later Dad’s Army actor who was a native of the village.

 

We passed the sad sight of the deserted former Royal Hotel in the village centre. This is on the market after its owners, an offshore-based property company allegedly levered out its former long-standing tenants.

 

A local group backed by the Parish Council has had it declared a community asset and two offers to buy it have reportedly been made but apparently remain unacknowledged by the owners, a company with a track record for this sort of thing.

 

We walked past the church and crossed the A624 to come in to the car park in the former yard of Hayfield rail station, the terminus of a branch line from Manchester and New Mills that closed in 1970.

 

In the 1920s and 30s trains would carry more than 5,000 people every weekend from the textile mills of Manchester in to the village, to walk the moors as an escape from the smog of the city.

 

The former railway line now forms the Sett Valley Trail, a 2.5 mile scenic route for walkers and cyclists between Hayfield and New Mills. We followed the track for a mile to the village of Birch Vale, where we took a short path uphill on the left to emerge on the Hayfield to New Mills road, which we crossed to reach the foot of Morlands Road. On the right was the former pub of The Grouse, which closed five years ago and is now two houses.

 

Ahead of us was a climb of two miles and an ascent of almost 900 feet. We set off up a fairly steep rise between houses and soon reached the open hillside with a TV and communications relay mast on our right. The surfaced track ended and we emerged through a gate on to open moorland where the path continued upwards towards the heights of Ollersett Moor.

 

Now more than an hour in to the walk, we reached a crest in the hill, with a gate in front of us. Here we swung left and shortly reached another gate, which we went through to immediately take a stile over the wire fence on the right. The path dropped down and climbed again to reach the edge of the moor, which we followed for around a quarter of a mile to reach the prominent rocky outcrop known as Big Stone.

 

On our left were commanding views towards Kinder Scout, with the rocky cleft of the Downfall clearly visible. In the other direction were views across the Cheshire Plain towards the hills above Frodsham on the Mersey estuary and behind, the distant outline of the Clwydian Hills in North Wales.

 

We delayed our pietime to reach the shelter of a dip to the left, just before a large stone stile, clearly once used by the quarrymen who used to work the area. We continued after around 15 minutes and followed a narrow path down to join a track that runs below Big Stone, and turned right here towards the cliffs and outcrops of Cracken Edge, all scarred with the marks of the extensive 19th century quarry excavations.

 

Faced with a badly eroded descent on a narrow path, we swung right and then left to follow the line of the edge, before soon reaching a sharp left turn downwards. This took us to another track where we sloped gradually down to the left, dropping down to a large stile in to a field. A gate at the bottom brought us to a flight of stone steps which we descended to the quiet lane of Maynestone Road.

 

We turned left here and a walk of less than 15 minutes brought us to Upper and Lower Lodges, both large houses on the right, just beyond which a small step stile led in to a narrow path between fields and gardens, emerging at the bottom in to a field. We climbed up to a gate and turned left to another gate leading to a track uphill on the left, that soon emerged on to the Hayfield to Chapel-en-le-Frith road with the welcoming site of the Lamb Inn just across the road on our left.

 

Jock and Keiran, having done a canalside walk from nearby Bugsworth Basin, were awaiting us in the small and cosy bar of this always busy pub whose trade is mainly in foodies, thankfully leaving space for drinkers of the good selection of beers, which some of us enjoyed, leaving some of our number to teas.

 

We left at 1.15pm to be greeted by an outbreak of hail that assailed us harder and harder as we climbed, We turned back down the road and immediately took an open gate on the left, through a smaller gate and through a clump of gorse bushes to climb steeply up a field. The track slanted left through heather and climbed less steeply to reach a gate into a grassy path through a field. 

 

A short distance along here we cut left across the field and  swung left again to take a gate diverting us past Vorposten Farm on the left. The hail began to ease now. The track continued through an open field to a cattle grid, where we joined a gravelled track descending downhill to our left.

 

After less than half-a-mile this reached a crossroad of tracks, where we took a gate on the right in to a field, which we crossed to reach another gate leading on to the ridge running down from Mount Famine on our right. To our left was the start of the Dragon’s Back.

 

This is deceptive, in that on the other side of the wall on our left were gentle grass fields, but beneath us was a narrow rocky path across rugged rock scenery, dropping steeply on our right down to the valley floor.

 

We descended the undulating ridge gradually before finally coming to a stile that led in to the woods of Elle Bank, with Hayfield camp site seen below us on the right. We dropped down gradually on the path through the woods, turning sharply right to take a path down to another track that led us to a path slanting uphill to the right to emerge on Kinder Road opposite the Sportsman.

 

Your diarist and Steve entered for a last refreshment, to find Jock and Keiran again waiting, this time with Milly, who would have been banned from the earlier stop at the Lamb.

 

Next week’s walk will start at 9.40am from the car park in Rowarth village, near New Mills. On the road down to the Little Mill pub take take the last turn on the left towards the village and the car park is soon reached on the right. We will walk north towards Matley Moor and descend to Hayfield via Carr Meadow and Twenty Trees. Refreshments will be taken at the  Kinder Lodge in Hayfield before returning to Rowarth by Harthill Farm.

 

Happy Wandering!