A Walk Along Abney Brook

After a light breakfast at home, we joined Keith and Pete for more breakfast in Monyash Cafe and then afterwards left them to their digging while we drove via Eyam to park at a track leading off the road leading from Eyam to Grindleford via Sir William Hill.
We started of up the unmetalled road heading for a footpath which crossed Abney Moor but found that there was a large orienteering event going on and their starting point was the stile we were intending to cross! Never mind – we just decided to continue on our intended route but in reverse and hopefully the orienteering event would be finished when we were on our way back.
We branched off on another track, passing many competitors heading for the start of the orienteering, and passed where most of them had parked in a field with a large tent, trade stands and outside catering vans.
Soon we passed through the drive of a private house at Nether Bretton on a Public Footpath which led us along one side of the house, over a stile and then across a field. After another stile we started on a muddy path with steps which led down to a valley bottom with several other paths which could be seen, along with a number of competitors from the orienteering event heading in different directions while studying small maps which they were carrying. I suppose there were different routes for different competitors!
Anyway, we crossed a stream by using a footbridge and started up the other side of the valley. Luckily today the weather was much nicer with quite a lot of sunny periods, not too windy and no rain. Part way up the other side we had a sit down to have some drinks from our flasks.

We continued on our rout soon reaching the hamlet of Abney. We followed down the road through Abney for a short distance before following another Public Footpath which led us down the Abney Brook valley with some muddy sections to start with but soon the ground became firmer and drier. We stopped near the bottom to sit on a partially ruined and low drystone wall to have our lunch with the Brook flowing beneath us.
After lunch we reached Stoke Ford where we had passed on another recent walk and I took advantage of some long, wet grass to wipe most of the mud from my boots. Karen then noticed the small of mint and found some mint growing in the grass.
We crossed another footbridge and then followed a rising path giving views both back along the Abney Brook valley with the autumnal colours of beech and larch trees, but also Hathersage in the distance. We followed along the top of the valley with views of the orienteering control points on the other side of the valley, then crossed a stile in a drystone wall onto the moorland which we crossed to soon reach the stile we originally intended to use at the start of the walk. As we expected, the orienteering was finished and we crossed the stile back onto the section of unmetalled road and then walked the short distance back to where we had left the car.
Afterwards, we stopped off at Outside at Calver crossroads for a meal and then home.