Sunday 17 August 2014

Offerton Moor

Karen decided to spend another day at home working in the garden and I set off to park by Leadmill bridge near Hathersage. As I was arriving there was a heavy shower so I waited in the car for a short while until it finished then got my boots on and set off past The Plough and after walking along a minor road soon arrived at the footpath which dropped down through a small wood to arrive at a small bridge.
The bridge led to a field and I walked up the sloping field to reach the drive for Hog Hall and again, I followed this uphill to the minor road where I turned right to walk along the tarmaced lane leading to Tor Farm.
I was wearing a Rab Vapour-rise Alpine Light jacket and when a light rain shower started I wasn't too bothered. But the rain shower turned to a heavy shower so I pause at the gate on the lane to get a Rab Bergen Jacket and Marmot Precip overtrousers on. This would be repeated several times as the weather changed from sun to showers.
The route led to Hazleford and then Stoke Ford and from there uphill through woods to a minor road to the opposite side onto a farm track belonging to Oaks Farm..
Again there was another shower but this soon passed and I continued onwards along the track until arriving at a footpath leading to the left to soon pass the farmhouse and then onto Offerton Moor.
Once on the open moor, the wind was much stronger and soon there was a fair amount of rain despite it still being sunny! Presumably the rain was being blown by the wind from clouds a bit further away.
When I reached a section of ruined dry-stone wall near the footbridge crossing the stream of Siney Sitch, I sat beside it to get a bit of shelter from the wind and ate a flapjack.
After crossing the rest of the moor and dropping down a bracken-lined sunken path, I reached the minor road by Offerton Hall and followed this until I reached a stile leading to footpath leading down to Callow Farm, then through the farmyard through a gate and down a field to a gate into a wood.

The path wended through the wood to a gate onto a track and then along the track to Mount Pleasant Farm. Here I followed the footpath through fields then climbed over a stone stile in a large dry-stone wall and continued on the path through river-side pasture back to Leadmill Bridge.

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