Walk from Calver – Thursday 12th March

Seven of us met at Calver crossroads for the planned 8 mile walk, initially starting up Coombs Dale [but rather than taking the usual track along the valley bottom we took a contouring path at a higher level, which gave great views along the dale] before heading up towards Longstone Edge. Route finding then became somewhat challenging on an obviously little-used path through hip-high brambles, but the questioning, doubting looks from some members of the party disappeared when a stile was spotted where it was meant to be. But then we ended up following a path made by cows rather than humans along Longstone Edge [at least the views were stunning] which required a slight detour to get back on-track. Another sink-hole was spotted [apparently the huge one near Foolow has now been filled in] before dropping down to follow the walled Mandrake Lane towards Great Longstone. Now back on familiar paths again, and fortified by lunch, the group headed south to join the Monsal Trail for a short while, before turning north towards Rowland, with a brief stop to purchase some home-made marmalade on display. Then another contouring path over Hassop Common brought us down to Calver, with a walk through the village to avoid walking down the busy Hassop road. Here we passed the three unusual huge stone troughs under a stone arch, which apparently had been the original water supply for Calver in years gone by.
John’s GPS informed us that we had walked 9 miles, taking us 4 and 1/3 hours [no coffee breaks!]
Vanda Boyd