Beneath the cliffs of Bolehill Quarry, with its cloak of silver birch and bracken, millstones lie stacked in rows like tins on a supermarket shelf. Awaiting shoppers that will never come, these huge stones were carved by hand from the solid rock, but in the 19th century the business collapsed. Millers preferred the new harder-wearing French stones and suddenly British ones were worthless. Now rock climbers swarm on the gritstone cliffs, surely a pastime the old quarry men could never have envisaged.
LOCATION: 2 miles south of Hathersage
START: Grindleford Station off B6521, parking, toilets
Grid ref: SK251788 Postcode: S32 2HY
DISTANCE: 3.5 miles
GRADE: Moderate
TIME: 2 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - White Peak & Dark Peak
NOTE: Padley Chapel open Sun & Wed
REFRESHMENTS: Grindleford Station Cafe
EN ROUTE: Totley Tunnel, Millstone Edge
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News