We met Keith and Pete who were up for three days of digging in Water Icicle (Pete's first visit for months as he has been working in Scotland and had a bad back – Keith has the week off work) at Monyash café with stall holders setting up a small market on the village green opposite. Karen and I drove the short distance to Chelmorton and parked outside the Church Inn named after the church of St. John the Baptist opposite.
Church of St. John the Baptist
A very nice 12th Century church with an unusual weather vane shaped like a locust! Apparently this was in connection with St John the Baptist's stay in the desert existing on honey and locusts.
Locust-shaped Weather Vane
We got our walking boots on and after having a look at the spring which fed the water supply for the village in the past (the peculiarly named Illy Willy stream along which the village was built), we walked a few metres to the start of a bridleway which led us gradually higher and higher above Chelmorton and into a series of fields separated by stiles. Reaching a dirt track we followed a diversion from the triangular route connecting Chelmorton, Taddington and Flagg by walking a couple of kilometres along the track past Five Wells Farm and then carefully crossing a stone stile in the drystone wall which had collapsed, continued across a field then through a small gate into the adjoining field where a Neolithic Chambered Cairn is located.The cairn was once buried under a mound and was exposed by digging in the 19th Century leaving the cairn's limestone slabs standing proud with the remains of the mound surrounding it. Apparently parts of the skeletons of twelve individuals were found there.
Neolithic Chambered Cairn
Returning to the dirt track and back to were we had met it, we continued via a stile into another series of fields passing a covered reservoir at Top Sough with two communications masts and a Trig. Point nearby. From here we followed the rest of the ten stiles involved in crossing the fields to the neighbouring village of Taddington. We followed the route description in the guide book we were following and reached a road after a narrow hedge lined path next to a house named Daybreak Cottage but could see none of the stiles mentioned in the book which was the continuation of the route. We instead followed the road below and the up a path by an old chapel to reach the road above the village which we then followed for a short distance until we met a farm track with a fenced-off pond on the opposite side if the road.
The two of us had a quick look at the pond then sat on a bench beside it for a few minutes before crossing back across the road and then into the field by the farm track. The route brought us through more fields, past a large farmhouse onto a lane. We followed the lane to the right for a short distance, then back into the fields at a stile. Following the route through the fields, we arrived in the village of Flagg.
We had passed the sign for some Tea Rooms when we had driven along the road we were on earlier on our way to Chelmorton, so we decided to walk a bit further up the road past our intended route and have a stop at the Team Rooms for some excellent chocolate tea and a pot of tea!
After the refreshments, we followed the road a bit further, than along a side road to join our intended route at a bend in the road where a path entered more fields at a small gate. Soon we were stopping to strip off jackets as the sun made an appearance and the temperature rose. Following onwards across some more fields we arrived at another road which we followed to a fork and then followed the right-hand choice a short distance back to Chelmorton near where we had started from near the church.
I was wearing Asolo Fugitive boots, Keela trousers, Paramo Fuera Ascent jacket and Osprey Kestrel 38 rucksack
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