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Contents :: WHITE PEAK WAY :: Day 2


		INTRODUCTION
		DAY 1
		DAY 2
		DAY 3
		DAY 4

THE WHITE PEAK WAY IS THE SOUTHERN EXTENSION OF THE PENNINE WAY

NATIONAL TRAIL GUIDES UK

Day 2 :: Across Country :: Hartington to Monsal Head :: 12 miles

We set off today from the centre of Hartington and walked northwards out of the village and turned left into Hyde Lane. We followed the lane past Hartington Church and then about half a mile uphill, we passed a sign on our left pointing to Bank Top Farm. About 400 metres further on, where the road bent to the right, just passed a farm, there was another footpath sign, which pointed the way over fields to our left. This was the route we took, although we were a little uncertain at first as to whether we had found the correct footpath.

It was a field of rough pasture with a number of horses in it. We walked quickly across the short field to a stone stile over a stone wall and entered into a much larger field which offered good views over the Dove Valley, in the direction of its source. We quickly crossed this short field also, and entered a larger field which we crossed diagonally, heading towards Madge Dale and the valley ridge top .



Hartington Church		First field from Hyde Lane

There was no clearly defined path here, but just a glaze on the grass showing were other walkers had trod. We crossed a wall stile and walked towards a group of oddly shaped trees. Madge Dale could only be seen as a thickly wooded area dropping downwards sharply towards the farm below, Bank Top Farm. There were many trees dotted all around us in the fields, and many of them were in full bloom. The air was alive with the scents of aromatic flowers and birds where chattering continuously.

We entered a farm track and followed it a short way, leaving it were it curved to the left, and took a gateway into the field opposite the curve, where we bore right, walking along the boundary wall. We were on the valley ridge, walking along it above the Dove valley through successive fields of sheep. We walked in this direction for a considerable time until we could see the summit of a large hill forward and to the right of us. This was Carder Low, although the Low itself was further over on the right (about 400 yards) and covered by trees.

At a wall boundary we turned right and ventured across access land with no defined path, on a route that took us to the right of Carder Low summit and the left of the Low itself, mostly following a boundary wall. This was an area of rough pasture, and the stalks of grass were tall and wet and irritating my bare legs. We were now aiming for the lane we had originally been walking on, but nearer to the farm known as Vincent House Farm.



View towards Pilsbury		Madge Dale



Carder Low		Nearing Vincent House Farm

This area had many warning signs relating to disused mine shafts connected with the National Coal Board. We saw many of them, some being fenced off, and others with no fencing. We passed many stiles and fields, but kept our direction towards the now visible road below. We found a well camouflaged stile over a stone wall to the road and turned left. To our right we could see down into Long Dale and the road that passes along it. This road would shortly merge with ours.

At length our roads merged and Vincent House Farm came into view. Our path led through it but at least 4 warning signs, temporarily affixed to the drive into the farm, put us off proceeding. There was a warning against guard dogs, lambing season, busy farm traffic and one other similar. It was very intimidating and the way around by road was not that much further. We decided to take a detour around, and wondered how many other people did likewise.



Long Dale		Vincent House Farm

We walked along the road skirting the farm until reaching a junction with a minor road taking us to the other side of the farm and to the track where it meets the track through Darley Farm, on the opposite side of the road. We passed through a stile through a wall and into the grounds of Darley Farm and were immediately met by a barking collie dog who kept threatening us but being all bark and no bite (fortunately). We soon found the track out of the farm and took this, keeping to the left of a stone wall, which we followed to another stone step stile at the far corner of the field.

The stile was on the most elevated part of the field and we were more than surprised to see that it was completely covered in cow swill, just in the corner by the stile, so that it was impossible to cross to the stile without walking through it. We wondered at how unusual this was given that it was the only part of the field so covered, and given that it should normally have been the driest part of the field, it being the most elevated and there being no streams around.

We braved the swill and crossed the stile finding, on the other side, a series of steps rising up the steep embankment of the Tissington Trail, a disused railway now converted to a bridleway and popular cycle trail. We crossed to it and straight over. Ahead of us lay Moscow Farm, which we needed to pass through to reach the A515 on the other side, and which we would need to cross.



Cow Swill obstructive the footpath at Moscow Farm		Electric wires abutting stile at Moscow Farm



Less obvious electric wires abutting stile at Moscow Farm		Moscow Farm

Passing over the Tissington Trail we reached the stone boundary wall bordering Moscow Farm, passed into a field and onto another stile, and climbed the stile to cross the wall. To our horror the corner of the field was covered in cow swill, this time much deeper and wetter than that of Darley Farm, and again, only in this corner of the field. It was so deep that it covered several of the stone steps of the stile, and was completely impassible without some considerable discomfort.

It was too much of a coincidence that both fields adjoining the Tissington Trail had this obstruction in precisely the same place, and it was obvious to us that it was deliberate. But this was not all. As I attempted to cross, keeping my feet as tight to the adjoining boundary wall as possible, I put my hand out to support myself on a wire fence on top of the wall. I received a very considerable shock, as it was electrified and there was no warning of this whatsoever, the shock making me recoil into the swill. An older person could have been very severely injured by this, and I at once decided that enough was enough and the farmer who had placed these obstructions on this footpath would feel the weight of the law.

We quickly completed our walk through this farm, following the field boundary to the farm itself. We left via a stile at the corner of a field where there was a stile taking us onto the A515. Looking back we saw a couple of hikers approaching the farm from its drive, en route to the cow swill stile, and wondered how they would fare.



Duck Pond in Moneyash		Cottage in Moneyash

We crossed the very busy road, turned left and almost immediately followed a sign to a stile into a field and headed towards Moneyash. We followed the wall boundary to the end of the field, but found difficulty locating the stile we knew should be there, to allow access to the next field. We eventually found it, almost completely covered in nettles. I was wearing shorts so received quite a few stings from this. We then walked knee deep in long grass through another field until reaching a stile to join the minor road into Moneyash.

We walked about a mile along this road before entering Moneyash. In the village centre there was a very attractive duck pond, filled with duck weed. Moneyash was a very pretty village and there were many attractive cottages, many of which had wonderfully landscaped gardens.

We continued through the centre of the village and straight out on Chapel Road, which went in a northerly direction. We followed the road uphill and then downhill to a junction. We took the road on the right and almost immediately crossed over a stile on our left which took us on a precisely north direction on our compass. We walked over a short grass field to another stile and crossed into the next field and then into the next, and here we stopped for a sandwich.



Heading to the copse for a right turn beyond the farm		Field on High Low

Some distance ahead of us we could see a large copse of trees. Our map showed us we would walk along this copse, to the left of it. We passed over successive field stiles until reaching and passing (on our right) a farm. We continued to the right hand edge of the copse and turned to follow its border north, noting the trees on the horizon ahead of us forming the Hard Rake Plantations. We would pass just to the left of the trees. This area was known as High Low, being the top of a limestone plateau.

We passed through several wildflower meadows containing buttercups, marguerites and other varieties of wild flowers and then crossed to a narrow field track providing access to Hard Rake, a nature reserve sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund. We followed the track, enclosed by stone walls on each side, for about half a mile to a minor road, which we crossed to a lane on the opposite side. We were excited about this as it provided access to Deep Dale, and at last we would be walking in the Dales again.



Lane providing access to Deep Dale		Deep Dale

We followed the lane downhill until at the foot of the hill there was a stile leading beside a stone wall on our right. We took this and walked along the wall towards Deep Dale. As the path descended the sides of the dale rose on each side. The dale was in the most part dry, save that near the bottom of the dale a shallow stream ran alongside us, on the far side of the boundary wall that we were following.

Flowering trees were dotted all around us as we walked deeper into the dale. The smooth grassy path soon changed to a narrow, stony one as the dale narrowed, and a woodland emerged on our left. As we neared the bottom of Deep Dale the dale bottom narrowed considerably and the trees began hemming us in. The path turned to the right and took us from the dale and onto open pasture above Taddington Wood.

We followed the path around as it turned to a narrow gravel track and then at a footpath junction we turned left and wound downhill, crossing a stile at the bottom and following what we guessed to be a path on the other side. This soon turned into a proper path that took us to the car park at Taddington Wood. We crossed over this, over a stile at the far end and crossed the A6 which ran below.



Monsal Dale		Carol at the weir on the River Wye

On the other side of the A6 was a gap in the wall and the path to Monsal Dale. We walked the path to a small series of stepping stones over a slight stream and to a wooden step stile and entered Monsal Dale, under a leafy canopy. We then followed a stony track through the wood, catching glimpses of the River Wye which meandered below us and to our right.

As we left the woodland a most majestic view of Monsal Dale appeared, as the huge horseshoe shaped wooded bend of the dale swept to the right ahead of us, and a meander of the River Wye followed. We continued forward, in and out of the wood, and often following the banks of the Wye as it ran through open grassland.

We stopped to take photographs of each other at a weir.



Roy at the weir on the River Wye		Viaduct at the Monsal Trail

Continuing on we saw ahead of us the viaduct forming part of the Monsal Trail. Our path led to this and onto it. We would then have to climb to the top of the dale to reach our car which we had left in the car park at Monsal Head. As we reached the viaduct we found a steep muddy track to the left of it which took us onto the viaduct. There was a wonderful view from here of the path we had just taken along the River Wye.



Look down and back along the River Wye in Monsal Dale		View over Monsal Dale from Monsal Head

Turning right on the Monsal Trail and walking over the viaduct we turned left at a very narrow signposted track just before reaching a bricked up tunnel. The path climbed steeply uphill through dense woodland. When it emerged from the woodland there was a terrific view over Monsal Dale. We finished the day by eating at the pub overlooking Monsal Dale.

Day 1

Day 3

Author - Roy McKee