David and Jacinta's Walks- 2025

Chinley and New Allotments (David Solo) Off for a walk on my own today, just to stretch my legs for a shortish walk. As ever, Chinley is convenient and the walk up to New Allotments isn't strenuous. Passing Throstle Bank and onto the bridleway, I passed a ram- this particular breed always looks a bit grumpy. This one didn't take exception to me and kept on grazing. Grumpy ram? The views weren't particularly inspiring over the New Allotments: A grey day at the New Allotments I crossed the Hayfield Road at Peep-O-Day but kept at the lower level, past Maynestone Farm, rather than going up Mount Famine or South Head. They'll be there next year. After crossing back over the Hayfield Road, I actually kept to the right-of-way on the OS map, past Hollands. This is possibly a less boggy path than our usual one and has the benefit of close encounters with a couple of emus, looking extremely bedraggled. To amuse emus on hot summer's nights... All in all, a satisfying Sunday wa...

Chinley to Edale Cross (David Solo) On the basis that I'd be taking it easy for a while and Jacinta wanting to stay at home, I took the opportunity to take a reasonably (but not excessively) long walk. The weather was cold, with the prospect of snow flurries. In the end, there were only a few snowflakes as I started up Chinley Churn. Chilly sheep below Higher Hills Farm I crossed the Chinley-Hayfield road at Peep-O-Day and, at the brow of the hill after the quarry, I had the choice of a shorter walk up Mount Famine or down to Coldwell Clough and on up to Edale Cross. As I had a reasonable amount of time in hand, I decided on the longer route.  Path across green fields up Coldwell Clough to Edale Cross. Kinder Low and Swine's Back on skyline I stopped at the Edale Cross enclosure where Jacinta and I had lunched  back in June.  After lunch I continued to the gate above Jacob's Ladder and up past the path to Brown Knoll. Pym Chair, The Pyramid and The Wool Sacks from Brown K...

Around the Hills of Hayfield We were aiming for a slightly longer walk on Wednesday and chose a trip around the hills of Hayfield as it seemed to offer a mix of old and new landscapes. Parking in the familiar setting of Bowden Bridge, the route then took us up to the moorland by a different way, to a col on the flanks of Mount Famine. Trackside monolith, South Head and Mount Famine The views were wonderful and the morning mist had cleared from the hill tops. We worked our way down to Peep-O-Day farm and then up to Higher Hills Cottage, admiring the smart new hen house on display at the front of the house. Neither of us had noticed the mouse carved into the gatepost of the cottage before. Higher Hills Cottage gatekeeper We were then taken down to the main road at Birch Vale which provided an excellent chance to nip into one of our favourite haunts, the Sett Valley café. Duly refreshed, we began again, this time to walk up to the route to Lantern Pike. We met one of the local residents w...

 Chinley, The New Allotments and Chinley Churn Kinderlow End,  Swine's Back and Kinder in the mist The weather was due to clear by late morning, but the forecast suggested that the higher parts of The Peak District would be shrouded in cloud for most, if not all, of the day. With that in mind, we left home relatively late and stopped for a top-up coffee at The Green Lane Social. Nice coffee, and Jacinta spotted a Cadburys Snack Shortbread- for the first time in a very long time! We then went up Hollins Lane and then Over Hill Road, where we spotted and heard a couple of common buzzards, and turned up the bridleway at Throstle Bank. We stopped for a further snack above the New Allotments. As this path is usually very quiet, we were very surprised to meet lots of other walkers and the occasional mountain biker. Rather than go over the ridge and past Higher Hills Cottage, we continued to Foxholes Clough and towards Peep-O-Day, stopping just past Far Phoside to have our lunch. Whe...

Sett Valley Café and Chinley Churn As we have done for the past two years, we had a "Celebration Breakfast" at the Sett Valley Café- an enjoyable indulgence as ever! Breakfast portraits! We had left our choice of walking route pretty fluid but, in the end we decided to walk up towards New Allotments and see how we felt from that point. Looking back to Lantern Pike The cloud base was pretty low, but we could see the dusting of snow on Kinder Low. Kinder Low (with snow) in the distance We were going pretty well, so we decided to go the whole way down to the Throstle Bank farm and return via Cracken Edge and Peep o Day. Striding out above New Allotments Even though there was a very chilly breeze from time to time, we had a thoroughly enjoyable walk of 7.8 miles with 450m ascent.

Chinley and Mount Famine We felt like a longer walk today, but time was a little limited so we went to Chinley- the old faithful. The Green Lane Social Café was open, so we enjoyed a coffee before parking up in Stubbins Lane and setting off along Maynestone Road. We took the steep path up to Cracken Edge- although the weather was warmer, it was clear that it was still frosty at the higher levels. Frost on the Chinley Churn quarries Frost on barbed wire We crossed the road at Peep-O-Day and followed the steep path up the side of Mount Famine. Nearing the top of Mount Famine; Kinder in the misty background Jacinta braved the prow for the annual photo, after which we stopped for lunch in the lee of a handy wall. Jacinta and South Head The rest of the walk was more or less downhill all the way (except for a slight sting in the tail), passing a flock of sheep enjoying a meal of hay in the quarry below Bradshaw Fields. A walk of 5½ miles with 440m ascent.