Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today myself and Angela visited Hayfield in the Peak District, enjoying a 8-mile circular walk during which we visited Lantern Pike. We had some lovely views and met very few people along the way.

We set off from Manchester at early o’clock to avoid rush hour traffic. After finding parking we were soon crossing a bridge across the River Sett.

We had a steep climb through the village eventually reaching a track leading to Snake Path. A sign reminded us that we are fortunate that we could walk the land we would be walking today because, at one time, landowners prohibited it. The action taken by those protesters changed the course of history.

Looking back as we ascended we could see mist enveloping the valley below. The track became stony so we had to watch where we placed our feet, and after a brief steep uphill walk, we entered open moorland.

In the distance we could see Mam Tor and I wondered how many people would be stood on top today- quite a few I would imagine. We stopped fairly often, taking time to look around, soaking up the beauty.

We came to a junction, close to some huts used for shooting parties on private land, and took the path towards Glossop. The other direction would have taken us to Edale via Jacobs Ladder.

A nice wooden causeway made it easy to cross what would have been a very boggy section.

The path meandered across the moorland and we could see that we were getting nearer to Lantern Pike.

We joined the Pennine Bridleway.

Arriving at Lantern Pike we had a steep ascent to reach a topograph at the summit.

Rewarded at the top by great views we met the first person of our walk who was also taking in the view. It was a steep descent and I nearly slipped a couple of times on the loose stones.

A stone tree-lined track then descended into the valley.

We passed some colourful orange and yellow plants along the way.

We followed the path of the dismantled railway back into Hayfield. Passing by a reservoir (built originally to feed the mill) we stopped at a bench for a break, which was rudely interrupted by a swarm of green fly! There were walkers and cyclists out and about.

Angela liked a flowering Azealia in the churchyard.

We crossed over the River Sett once again.

On the way back to the car we passed a blue plaque recording that Arthur Lowe (famous for his role as Captain Mainwaring in ‘Dad’s Army’ -a classic British comedy) had been born in this terrace.

We had both enjoyed the day out walking.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶