Setting off steeply uphill on one of the hottest days of the year doesn't seem a terribly good idea, but it wasn't long before we were looking down on Hayfield, the breeze was welcome and we had a view stretching for miles, with even the tower in Lyme Park visible on the skyline. It wasn't always like this, for it's not long ago that anyone attempting to walk on the moors would have been met and turned back by surly gamekeepers. The Mass Trespass was a major step in getting access to Kinder. But a notable success occurred thirty five years earlier when, in 1897, Hayfield's Snake Path was secured by the newly formed Peak and Northern Footpaths Society. The Society is still alive and well and does a sterling job in checking rights of way, while its handsome iron signposts are a welcome and helpful reassurance that you are on the right route.
LOCATION: Hayfield
START: Sett Valley Trail car park signed from main road, toilets
Grid ref: SK036870 Postcode: SK222EN
DISTANCE: 4 miles
GRADE: Easy with a gentle ascent
TIME: 2.5 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - Dark Peak Landranger 110
REFRESHMENTS: Lantern Pike
EN ROUTE: Little Hayfield, Park Hall, Bank Vale, Clough Mill, River Sett
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News