Thursday walk 1 Dec 2022 – Report

Thirteen of us assembled at the top of Padley Gorge, in
foggy conditions (the fog never cleared all day), for a
gentle 5.5 mile walk through Padley and Longshaw. After
crossing the footbridge over Burbage Brook we walked up the
sunken lane known as Hollowgate, once a busy route for
packhorses carrying goods across the Peak District.
Turning left before reaching the road, we dropped down to
the track leading through silver birch woods past
Lawrencefield Edge, the trees and the mist making an
atmospheric scene. A descent to Bole Hill Quarry followed,
where we took a coffee break at the ruins of the old
winding drum house standing at the top of a 1 in 3 incline.
When stone for the Howden and Derwent Dams was being
quarried here, early in the twentieth century, the winding
drum was used to lower trucks filled with stone, on rails
laid down the incline, to the railway at the bottom for
onward transport to the dam sites. After our snack we made
our way down the incline and then past Padley Chapel to
Grindleford station. Two of the party left us here. The
rest of us climbed steeply up, at first on stone steps,
through Oak’s Wood. After emerging from the wood we took
the path up to the road near the Grouse Inn, soon for our
lunch break. Another member of the party left us. After
lunch we remaining ten crossed the road and took the track
towards White Edge Lodge, turning off to Wooden Pole. At
one point we stopped to watch a goldcrest. Finally we
reached the track to Longshaw Lodge where eight of us
enjoyed tea, coffee, hot chocolate and snacks. After this
convivial interlude, we returned to the start past the pond
and Granby Barn. Andy & Rosy.