Circular Walk from Hollinsclough

Karen and I did a walk from Hollinsclough, a village in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire. Last time we did the walk it was in winter and a cold and misty day. Today it was luckily warm and sunny unlike the last few days which were wet. We parked in the village of Hollinsclough and followed the road for a short way before following a bridleway through a gate. Last time we had missed the footpath which branched off from the bridleway and dropped into the bottom of the valley so this time we watched out for the footpath and followed it without any problems.
The footpath mostly followed a drystone wall and joined a wide track leading downhill and this was where our route went. We followed the route downwards to a stream crossing where another footpath joined at a ford and old packhorse bridge. We stopped at the bridge for a coffee (from our flasks) and then after studying the map followed the packhorse trail uphill. It was rough going with loose stone and rocks with the occasional stretches of the old cobblestone. We soon found the reason for the loose rock and surface: trial bikes. At a narrow section of the old trail we had to get out of the way as three motor bikes came up the trail and past us.
After the trail we reached a tarmaced lane form a farm and after a quick check of the map, we followed another lane until we came to a grassy footpath. This lead eventually to a farmyard full of old vehicles of one sort or another in different states of decay and once past the farmyard we were again on a grassy track.
Eventually we had good views of Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill, which are remains of coral reefs which once made up the edge of the shallow lagoon in which the limestone rocks were laid down in the early Carboniferous era, 340 million years ago. Following a path through fields and across another farm track we swung around to the right until we were in line with the tooth-shaped Chrome Hill. We stopped for a snack at an old Orpheus dig, Chrome Hill Swallet. Once we had finished, we followed the path which starts following along one side of the Hill and then after a short distance climbs to the top edge. We followed the edge along small ups and downs and after a short coffee break in the lee of a small cliff of limestone, we passed the highest point and started down the other side until we passed the tree and plaque memorial to Bill Etches of Dowell Hall farm which was laid out below at the foot of Dowell Dale.
Soon we were back at the road leading from Dowell Dale and after a couple of hundred metres, we turned off onto a rough track which lead after short distance back to where we started in Hollinsclough.
After a wash and change at home, we drove to Anna's house in Clifton near Ashbourne for a BBQ celebrating Nichola's 21st Birthday.