Length: 20.0 km (12.4 mi) [shorter walk possible, see
below]
Ascent/Descent: 488m
Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours
Toughness: 6 out of 10
From the east (Sheffield): take the 09.14 Manchester Piccadilly stopping
service via the Hope Valley (Dore & Totley 09.21, Grindleford 09.29),
arriving Hathersage at 09.32.
From the west (Manchester Piccadilly): take the 07.45 or 09.31 Sheffield stopping service via the Hope Valley, arriving Hathersage
at 08.44 and 10.31 respectively.
Return trains: xx.32/33/34 to Manchester; xx.42/43/44 to Sheffield.
“Centred
on Hathersage, an attractive village in the Hope Valley, this route leads
through some outstandingly beautiful scenery and passes along the cliffs of the
Stanage Edge as well as over the distictive Higger Tor and the ancient iron-age
hill fort of Carl Wark on Burbage Moor and down the spectacular wooded Padley
Gorge.
You walk from the station through Hathersage village and ascend gradually to
Stanage Edge through the Hood Brook valley, a tributary of the Derwent River,
not without first diverting past the village church and also passing through
the Camp Green medieval ringworks. You also pass Brontë Cottage and North Lees
Hall, places inspirational for Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’.
From the southerly end of Stanage Edge continue across the plateaus of Higger
Tor and Carl Wark (both descents from the plateaus involve some light
scrambling) and across the Burbage Brook valley and Burbage Moor to lunch at
The Fox House Inn.
From lunch the route is less challenging, as you meander through the landscaped
Longshaw Estate on a choice of routes and down through the very atmospheric
deep and narrow Padley Gorge following the Burbage Brook with its tumbling
waterfalls in ancient woodland. Upper Padley has the Grindleford Station Café
and a historic chapel in a gatehouse to offer before you join the Derwent River
and follow it through quiet pastures and past bluebell woods back to
Hathersage.”
Walk
Options:
A
Variation near the start follows the Hood Brook through
attractive woods rather than going past North Lees Hall (certainly recommended
in bluebell season).
Buses 271/272 to Sheffield or Bamford stations (6 buses per
day, Mon-Sat only) leave from the lunch stop The Fox House Inn.
Bus
Lines 65/65A Buxton to Sheffield (broadly two-hourly) enable
various shorter versions. Stops are passed at a couple of points around lunch
(Fox House Inn & Longshaw Estate), and on the B6521 at the end of the
stretch through the Padley Gorge, before dropping to Grindleford Station.
A Variation right after lunch avoids the busy parts of the Longshaw
Estate and routes through a wood down to the Burbage Brook directly.
A Finish at Grindleford Station (one stop closer to Sheffield) results
in a 14.4 km/8.9 mi walk with 416/406m ascent/descent and is rated 5/10.
A Shortcut near the end, en route to the Derwent River, cuts 900m.
Tea: Grindleford Station Café (5.7 km/3.5 mi from the end), plus numerous options in Hathersage, check
the webpage or the pdf.
For walk directions, map, height profile, photos
and gpx/kml files click here.t=swc.319
8 comments:
To the walk poster I will be starting the walk from Coggers Lane and meet the group at St Michael Church instead of Hathersage station.
I have booked a table for 4 at the Fox Hous Inn for 12.45 one for me 3 available first come first served
9.14 train cancelled, next one is 11.14. So we will take buses from Sheffield Interchange to Hathersage. Line 257 leaves at 9.00, arrives 9.45. Them hourly thereafter. There may be others... Let's try for the 9.00
Bad research. 257 not running Sundays. 271 at 10.05 next best option, seemingly
The Sheffield contingent are now walking the start of SWC 266 instead to The Fox House Inn. See you there
One walks all the way, the others cut out 4 km by bus, so we should arrive at about the same time as the Hathersage group.
Of the 21 on yesterday's walk, 1 went home, the 2 who had sat out the walk joined today, and we also had 2 new arrivals (1 of those only missed yesterday's walk due to her early morning train being very delayed), so there were n=24 on the walk.
The Sheffield contingent (8 of us) had to be inventive after the 9.14 was cancelled (see previous comments) and we enjoyed the anemones, celandines and wild garlic in the Porter Brook Valley, with the bluebells also there but not in flower yet. 5 of us had a drink stop at The Norfolk Arms in Ringinglow, and we also booked a table for the Fox Inn while there. We arrived at The Fox before the Hathersage contingent trickled in. Most of those had sandwiches and moved on before the 5 + 4 lunchers got going again. After the gorgeous Padley Gorge (mossy old trees, a bubbly brook, sun appled, a dipper on a boulder in the brook doing - well - some dipping), some went into the café at Grindleford station, while some also took advantage of the trains and buses from there to finish the walk early.
The reason for posting this on a Sunday is the Padley Chapel, a rather lovely historic building that is only open on summer Sundays and most everyone spent some time inside.
On along the Derwent to Hathersage, some with urgency to get to the Pool before it closed, others happy to turn left to the Plough before finishing the route.
W=mostly-overcast-with-a-cold-wind
There was a shower but it passed while we were in The Fox Inn...
Oh, and 1 of the Sheffield contingent, from the Fox Inn walked back along Stanage Edge, reversing the morning route we would have walked if it wasn't for the cancelled train
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