Area: Derbyshire Peaks, Hathersage
Distance: 9 Miles 14.5 km
Start Location: On road leading to Grindleford Station
OS Sheet: Explorer OL1
Grid Ref: SK 2510 7871
Outline: Train to Hope, Thornhill, Bamford, Hathersage, Hathersage Moor, Grindleford
See route and get GPX file from Every Trail
Route
Catch train from Grindleford to Hope. Leave Hope Station by the footpath heading north towards to Aston, after about 300m take the path right to Thornhill. On reaching the lane head down into Thornhill, turn right then left down a narrow track, follow through to the A6013 in Bamford. Walk south to Saltergate Lane, go up the lane and across the Golf Course to Hurstclough Lane, climbing out of Hurst Clough Wood, bear right to Nether Hurst, then left, heading for Birley Farm. Go down through Cliff Wood across the valley and up the slope to St Michaels Church in Hathersage.
From the Church Lych Gate go downhill then left on the track heading for Carr Head, before there take the path on the right to Thornhill Farm, cross by the farm and down to the road. Walk uphill to the bend and follow the track up the hillside past Callow Bank. Cross the road to Higger Tor, across to Carl Wark and down to Toads Mouth, cross the road and head south through Padley Gorge to Grindleford.
Journey
I don’t know about you but I always feel there is something special in a walk that starts in one place and ends somewhere completely different; even if that was the place you left your car that morning, before catching a lift, train or bus to the star of the walk. Undoubtedly the majority of walks are, by necessity circular, but somehow they don’t you give that feeling of achievement, that sense of completing a journey that a point to point walk delivers.
I found this walk on EveryTrail posted as a walk from Grindleford to Edale by Gazza69. What struck me was that it was all north of the railway and although I had walked three short bits of it, most would be new. As Mrs O-n-G was walking with me I thought a start in Edale and back over Mam Tor would be a bit excessive, it would have to be park at Grindleford, train to Hope and walk back.
I’ve parked at Grindleford Station many times, had a quick bacon cob and mug of tea in the Café before catching the 9:29 train to Hope or Edale and walking back to Grindleford. The routes you can create in this way are numerous with a wide range of distances.
This time I was not allowed the bacon cob, but as Mrs O-n-G wanted to use the toilet I was instructed to buy us a Twix each (to qualify as customers). There were quite a few walkers and cyclists on the train and the ‘train manager’, person selling/collecting tickets had a great line in patter that had everybody smiling.
I must admit I was a bit doubtful about the quality of the walk but once we got the first few fields out the way and we picked up the views of Losehill and Shatton, Abney and Offerton Moors etc. I felt more positive.
The route meanders up and down across the lower slopes along the north side of the Hope Valley, passing below Bamford, across to Hathersage then climbing towards Higger Tor. By the time we got to Hathersage I was really enjoying the ‘undulations’, the wooded areas, the views and the feeling of walking along tracks and byways that may have been in use for hundreds of years.
When we got to Higger Tor the wind was blowing a gale and people were starting to head for their cars. We walked right to the south east corner of the Tor where the green dotted line on the map goes down the pointy bit and we wangled and scrambled our way off the Tor through a 3D maze of rock slabs and jumbled boulders that is the public right of way.
As we left Carl Wark the rain started, with the wind forcing it near horizontal. Going down through the lovely Padely Gorge to Grindleford we met an intermittent stream of under prepared, ill dressed people and children struggling uphill in the wind and pouring rain back to their cars.
Next time I think I’d like to try this walk again the other way Grindleford to Hope.
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