Wednesday February 11th

 Eyam to Abney

Celebrating our wedding anniversary with a pleasant breakfast of scrambled eggs at the Village Green cafe in Eyam, set us up for a walk to Abney. At the start Mompesson's Well, named after the vicar of Eyam during the plague, is worth revisiting.

At Mompesson's Well

After this we struck out for open country across Eyam Moor, eventually going downhill to Stoke Ford.

Crossing Eyam Moor with clouds below

Mud was the order of the day as well as disintegrating footbridges, but we crossed Bretton Brook and  towards Abney Clough to reach Abney village itself. David thought that he recognised the place that he camped with the scouts back in 1968. The village of Abney consists of a few houses and this was our first visit together, although it's unlikely that David visited in 1968. We stopped on the way to Nether Bretton to rest and have our lunch on a convenient woodland bench before the muddy ascent to Cockey Farm. Down again to cross the river again and then the walk through the mounds of Bretton Clough were the main features of the next phase of the walk. It was a bit too wet by this time to marvel at the mounds and it was at this point that we diverted to the small road leading to Sir William Hill and the subsequent descent into Eyam village. We agreed that this was a good walk to do again in dryer conditions.

A walk of 7.3 miles with 460m ascent.



Popular posts from this blog

Monday January 12th

Image
Hartington and Three Dales It is a bit of a drive to get there but, as the weather continued to be unreliable, we made the trip to Hartington to repeat a walk we did twice last January . We were the only car in the car park when we set off along the muddy trail towards Beresford Dale. Starting along Beresford Dale Further along Beresford Dale As before, there were few people around; in fact, we encountered far more sheep than humans on our way round the walk.  Communing with the sheep! After entering Wolfscote Dale, with its high limestone walls, we dodged a few showers and continued along, past the very wet bits, stopping for lunch on some convenient stones. The going is very easy on this walk, but it has a nice rhythm to it and the Dales are an impressive sight, even on a dull day in January. On leaving the junction with Biggin Dale, we began our return to Hartington, eventually passing Hartington Hall Youth Hostel which looks an interesting place to stay. A short but therapeutic...
Read more

Saturday January 24th

Image
 Tideswell to Cressbrook After a week of windy weather, Sunday looked calmer and we opted to go to Tideswell to do a new walk. The first section seemed to be a little complicated, but we made our way to the head of Tideswell Dale. Stoical sheep on the way to Tideswell Dale From there the route heads towards the Field Study Centre and after negotiating some cottages, emerges at Litton Mill, notorious in the 19th century for its use of pauper child labour. The mill is in an isolated spot and was never very profitable in comparison with other textile mills nearby. Entering Miller's Dale, the route passes through the Cramside Wood Nature Reserve,  with a pleasant meander along the river Wye. We decided to stop for lunch here, next to a small, derelict water wheel. The remains of a water wheel with a good perch for lunch This lunch break was good preparation as it turned out for the flooded sections of the trail which followed. It was passable, but very wet and muddy, especially to...
Read more

Monday January 26th

Image
 Cave Dale and Mam Tor We had managed to do this walk in the middle of November 2025, when a clear day had provided the right conditions to do the complete route. Monday was a less hospitable day, with low clouds and temperatures. Nonetheless, we started from Castleton and walked up the gorge of Cave Dale, always an impressive sight with Peveril Castle one of the first Norman stone castles in England. Peveril Castle and daring sheep Daring sheep! We ascended to the Limestone Way and then across the fields (with many stiles), towards Windy Knoll. The view towards Mam Nick was somewhat obscured by the mist which was a shame as it is fantastic. Mam Nick making a fleeting appearance Mam Tor being a bit coy We made use of a stone bench at Mam Nick to have our lunch (excellent breadsticks from the weekend) before tackling the walk up to Mam Tor. It was probably the first time that we had been at the top of Mam Tor on our own, which was a reflection of the rather icy conditions at the top...
Read more