Paul Lydon: Abney Moor from Bradwell

After stopping off at the Outside café at Calver Crossroads to find there was no room for us to have breakfast as it was already full and still people queuing at the counter, we tried their other shop at Hathersage which was more successful.

Afterwards we drove to the village of Bradwell and parked near the bottom of Bradwell Dale then walked to a footpath which left the road near the village church and headed north-east across fields towards the village of Brough.

We crossed an old defensive ditch system called Grey Ditch. On top of the mound running parallel with the ditch, I could see a shiny surface with various colours as the sunlight glancing off was refracted. It looked like frozen condensation but it was nowhere near freezing. What could it be?

On closer inspection, we found it was a large patch of spider web with droplets of condensation which was giving rise to the light display.

Shortly afterwards, we also discovered a curious feature on the field boundary which was the remains of two parallel tunnels around a metre and a bit high made of stone which appeared to by like dry stone walling. One of the tunnels was still intact for a few tens of metres while the other had lost its roof for most of its length. I have no idea what the original purpose was of this curious man-made feature. Possibly the remnants of the by-gone lead mining industry?

The path led to a minor road at Brough where we turned right and then right again a short distance away to follow a tarmaced lane rising uphill. This then became a rough vehicle track after a gate and we continued along the rough track with excellent views across the Hope Valley opening out. It had been quite cool earlier on but now, especially with the sun, it was quite warm and we were able to walk comfortably in just shirts.

We paused at a a pair of stiles with two paths leading off in different directions for a hot drink. One was signposted “Bradwell” but the other only had a Public Footpath sign and didn't seem to be on the map.

Afterwards, we continued on the rough track for a while which ran along the side of a deep valley, we left the track at another footpath to cross Abney Moor. We could see gliders taking off and flying from the nearby Hucklow Edge and stopped for a few minutes watching then being launched into the air by being pulled by a long steel cable which was then released while the end of the cable fell to the ground with a small red parachute slowing it down a bit.

After passing the farmhouse at Abney Grange, we dropped down the quite steep side of Abney Brook, then climbed the opposite just as steep side after crossing a wooden footbridge and soon we walked down a minor road leading into Foolow.

There is a roadside well where we stopped before on a different walk and we stopped again here for another hot drink perching on a couple of large stone slabs which were part of the wall which surrounded the well. There was a small squeeze stile from the road through which a few stone steps dropped down to the large pool of water in the well. Since the rest of the well was surrounded by walling, this well was obviously not meant for livestock. We were watched by a small group of cattle in the field on the opposite side of the road.

We could see quite a few cars parked on the edge above by The Barrel pub at Bretton – obviously a good spot for views.

Continuing along the road into the village of Foolow, we walked past he village duck pond which had a small group of white Aylesbury ducks and also another smaller well similar to the roadside one we had passed earlier.

Passing the pond, we immediately turned right down a narrow walled path with stone chippings on the ground leading between houses which brought us to Silly Dale. To begin with, we walked along the floor of this small dale with the strange name and as we did so, I spotted a bird which had landed in a nearby small tree. At first I thought it might be a Thrush but as it took off again, Karen pointed out that it was too big to be a Thrush but might have been a Mistle Thrush which is a bit larger. Then as the bird flew across to the opposite side of the dale, we could see quite clearly that it had a very short tail which is when Karen realised it was actually a Little Owl.

We reached a dead end at a drystone wall running across the dale and realised we should have crossed to the other side and continued past the dale instead of walking along it. It was only a couple of hundred metres so we hadn't gone too far out of our way.

We retraced our route back to where we had entered the top of the dale, and this time followed the finger post pointing the way which was along the side of the dale on the other side.

We soon reached a lane leading to Grindlow (Silly Dale is only a few hundred metres long) and then down a minor road into Great Hucklow.

Following down the main road in the village until just past the pub, we turned right and then straight onwards down a narrow track and soon afterwards, onto a public right of way through some fields.

We passed Nether Water and Quarter Farms, at one point passing a herd of cattle with a bull. The bull was making loud grunting noises but wasn't the slightest bit interested in us, just one of the cows. From yet another field, we passed through a stile onto a road back in the village of Bradwell very close to where we had started.

We could hear water flowing very nearby and after leaning over a wall we could see the water emerging from some sort of conduit into a stream flowing away from us. This must be the resurgence from Bagshawe Cavern which is located further uphill in Bradwell.