Hayfield, Peak District

DISTANCE 20.6km (12.8 miles) CLIMBING 730m (2,395ft) TIME 1hr to 2hrs

Start/ inish Sett Valley Trail car park (grid ref SK 035/869, postcode SK22 2ES) Route summary A great little igure-of-eight route with some fun technical riding and steep hillsides, with refreshments and a bail-out option halfway round

Head left, out the bottom of the car park, and follow the Sett Valley Trail to a road. Go right on this, over a bridge. Turn right on the Pennine Bridleway, uphill. Go left on the road, uphill. Turn right, onto a wide restricted byway. Continue past the buildings, then keep right at the first fork and left at the next. Join a rocky downhill to a road. Bear left at the Little Mill Inn. Turn right, to and (ahead) through Rowarth. Bear o! right on a bridleway, descending and crossing a ford. Climb up the lane on the other side, then go right on the Pennine Bridleway. Follow this right, then keep straight ahead across some fields and through the gates around Lantern Pike. Descend to the road and cross it (right, then left) to rejoin the track from earlier. Go left at the road. Continue to a T-junction by The Grouse pub and turn right. As you’re leaving the village, turn left at a wide junction, onto Oven Hill Road. Pass the quarry and bear left for a long tarmac climb. After Piece Farm, go left at the track crossing (before the road on the right), onto a bridleway. Continue up onto the moors, following the wall line. At the next track crossing, turn left along the wall. Keep ahead/left after the gate. After 500m, bear right onto a faint bridleway dropping over the edge of the hill. If you meet a wall on your right, you’ve gone too far (but you can go right here to rejoin the route). Turn right at the T-junction, downhill, into the trees and past a farm. Cross a stream, then climb to and cross a road (onto what looks like a driveway). Go right at the T-junction, then left, o! the road and onto a bridleway, opposite a lone house. Keep ahead/right, then take a sharp left. Bearing right, follow the signposts across the field and down into the woods. Follow the technical descent down to a bridleway T-junction. Turn left, and continue following this track as it becomes a road. Keep bearing right at the junctions, back into Hayfield. Turn left just before the church, on a narrow lane. Cross the road to get back to the car park.