GRINDLEFORD CAFE to MILLSTONE PUB AT HATHERSAGE

The Cafe at Grindleford station is famous for its enormous mugs of tea and its rude notices (My favourite: Don’t stare at the cooks. It upsets them.) But the cafe was already closed when we set out over the railway by the Totley tunnel (one of the longest railway tunnels in Europe) through Nether Padley and down the path beside the Old Chapel onto the Sheffield-Hathersage Road (the A625).

Totley tunnel

At this point, rather than walking down the main road, we took a marked footpath to the left which obviously hasn’t been used for a while; the bracken was right above our heads and we had to tunnel through it. Very exciting. This path curved around and brought us out lower down on the A625 opposite the Millstone, which has a great range of local beers.

By now it was about eight o’clock, the light was fading fast, huge rainclouds hung overhead, we had no raincoats and no map, and we were determined to find a different path back without facing the bracken tunnel. We found our way back onto the original path and followed another path that branched away from it almost innediately, down through fields past a farm, where the path bends round to the left through a wood. We could hear trains passing on the railway line in the valley below. At this point it started to rain; we found a footpath to the left that led us up steeply alongside a wall back onto the lane to the Old Chapel. It was dark, and we were soaked, by the time we got to the car. Moral: don’t leave it too late before you set out. And take a raincoat. And a map. And a pair of glasses. But it was good fun anyway.

From Wye Valley to Monyash

This lovely walk starts in the White Lodge car park on the A6 a mile west of Ashford in the Water. The footpath goes up from the back of the car park into Deep Dale.

It was a lovely day in August; the car park was packed and the first part of the walk was teeming with people, but at the first cross-roads they miraculously vanished away and most of the time, we had the footpath to ourselves. Ashford-in-the-Water and Monsal Head are very popular beauty spots – but this walk through rolling meadows with horizon-wide views all round is special in a different way. The climb is quite steep at first but soon levels out into a lovely open chalky meadow, full of wild flowers and limestone outcrops. You follow a stream as you cross a number of stiles and cross a small lane. At Hard Rake, slightly off the path to the left, there is a lily pond with a bench beside it – perfect spot for lunch, before the path takes you round to the left of a woody plantation and down into Monyash.

Wild flower meadow

View of Monyash from Hard Rake

Although Monyash is a busy village, with a pretty green and market cross, a splendid café, and a popular pub, it has a couple of little-known delights. One is the old Quaker meeting room and burial ground – you can reach it through a rather derelict wooden five-bar gate on your right as you walk into the village. The other is the village pond, a little way along Rakes Road on your left. Occasionally you get a few locals fishing there, but today there were just half a dozen drowsy ducks, who couldn’t even be bothered to stir themselves for a crust of ciabatta left over from lunch.

The route back to the car park is through Sheldon, a very quiet village, in contrast to Monyash. We were the only people in the pub (the Cock and Bull) where they sell Theakestones and Hartington beers as well as Black Sheep and the usual assortment of lagers.

One reason I wanted to visit Sheldon is that last time I was there I spotted a lovely old Ferguson apparently abandoned under a hedge. When I went to check on it this time, it had gone, but there was an elderly John Deere parked up close to the spot. I asked an old man digging up thistles in a field nearby what had happened to the old blue tractor, and why this other green tractor had appeared, but he looked at me as though I was completely mad, and muttered a reply which I couldn’t understand – maybe just as well.

It was here last time – I have the picture to prove it. But where is it now?

The route back to the car park takes you past a number of abandoned lead mines (you can find out about lead mining in Derbyshire on http://www.pdmhs.com/default.asp). As you get back into Deep Dale the path gets very steep and slippery. Although I knew this, and had come prepared with a walking stick, I still managed to slip on my bum in the mud. It could have had something to do with the half pint of Hartington, so be warned.

Ours was the only car left in the car park by the time we got back, at seven o’clock, muddy, exhausted, bleeding (well, just a little graze) to wind our way back to Sheffield.

Here’s a link to a little piece I wrote about the walk from North Lees Hall to Hathersage for the Guardian. The coach and horses are nothing to do with me. (I wish!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/enjoy-england/authors-favourite-days-out

And another piece about one of my favourite Peak District Pubs, the Barrel Inn at Bretton

“On a cold day, when there’s snow on the ground, there’s nowhere nicer than the Barrel Inn at Bretton, near Eyam in the Peak District. The walk there is lovely, from Stoke Ford up through Bretton Clough, with a steepish climb at the end and a lovely bench halfway up, with a view through the treetops over to Abney, where you can catch your breath and share your snacks with the birds and the occasional mad sheep. And then, another half mile or so up the road, the Barrel Inn is waiting for you with a lovely blazing fire and a few blissed-out dogs slumped in front of it, and a traditional pub menu with massive helpings of everything, and always a selection of local beers. I recommend Green Abbot, but take care! The one problem is, you not only have to remember where you parked your car, you have to walk at least a mile back to it. Of course, you can just drive there, but it’s not nearly so much fun.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/dec/19/christmas-pubs-drink-boxing-day?page=6

Here’s a link to a little piece I wrote about the walk from North Lees Hall to Hathersage for the Guardian. The coach and horses are nothing to do with me. (I wish!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/enjoy-england/authors-favourite-days-out