EAST CHESHIRE RAMBLERS
AFTER two setbacks at the beginning of the day, 13 East Cheshire Ramblers set off for our walk from New Mills Central Station in glorious weather.
Because of industrial action, our planned walk had to be cancelled, so this walk came into being.
We set off and descended steeply to the Millennium Walkway.
This structure is a 160m long walkway that links New Mills, the Torrs and the Riverside Park and, as its name suggests, it was built as part of the Millennium celebrations. Unfortunately, this was closed because of safety issues so we had to retrace our steps and find an alternative descent to The Torrs. From here, we followed the River Goyt to Gowhole and then crossed field paths to arrive at Shedyard Clough.
Staying with field paths we continued to reach Ollersett Moor crowned with its radio aerial which acts as a navigation point. Reaching the tower itself, we continued on the access road and began our descent into Hayfield.
The first written record of Hayfield is to be found in the Doomsday Book when it was called ‘Hedfeld’ and was a natural clearing in the vast forest at the foot of the Kinder Scout.
It became a mill village from the 17th century onwards and is famous as the birth place and childhood home of Arthur Lowe (Captain Mainwaring in Classic ‘Dad’s Army’) whose home is marked by a blue plaque.
Our route continued along the Snake Path, with an area locally known as Twenty Trees to the west of us. However, during high winds, some of these trees have recently been destroyed.
After crossing Middle Moor and the Glossop Road near to the former Grouse Inn, we continued alongside Matley Moor to arrive at the bottom of Lantern Pike.
From this point there was a choice of ascending the Pike or contouring round the edge.
The day was so good that we all chose the former and were rewarded with fine views of the route we had already taken.
Continuing along the Pennine Bridleway, we arrived at the Sett Valley Trail.
This follows a former railway line through outstanding countryside and forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail between Hayfield and Birch Vale.
At the end of this we were able to reach our car park very easily.