9 brave / desperate / foolhardy / (insert own description here) people met in light rain and unpromising conditions at the carpark near Rowsley playing fields. No correct that, definitely a foolhardy 8 considering the organiser’s ability later on. Setting off in the rain we plodded up the hill to Congreave and through the woods toward the 9 Ladies stones circle, intending to by-pass this and visit on the way back. However, the apparently correct path more directly to the Corkstone petered out. After exploring the forest for a while, we decided to go to the 9 Ladies on a more obvious path and then on to the Corkstone for lunch, returning via the edge path which passes the Earl Grey (or Reform) Tower, and at times muddy paths back to the cars. Thanks for putting up with another attempt to lose everyone in the wilds of Derbyshire. About 7 miles.
PS, if anyone is thinking of buying a new GPS with the routable paths etc. in the UK national parks, be warned, the routes don’t always work properly even if entirely on roads or paths shown on the 1 inch map wholly within a national park.