Chinley Churn

I rather like the name, Chinley Churn. It has the same connotations for me as Candlewick Green and Trumpton. The mist had blown off its top by the time I got up there. I found the area to be rather flat and crisscrossed with stone walls. I followed the eastern edge of the moor which was mostly a rocky outcrop. There had been extensive quarrying for slate along the edge, with some of it underground. Its heyday had been during the industrial revolution (1800-1850), although it had still been worked up until around 1930. Remnants of buildings can still be seen. The area must have looked very different during its working days. It looked desolate now.

Chinley Churn trig point is on private farmland, jealously protected with a barbed stone wall. I could just see the top of the trig point from the path which was good enough for me to tick it as my first Ethel of the day.

Eccles Pike

I could see Eccles Pike from Chinley Churn. It was just across the valley. I'd be worrying about my route across there since the valley bottom serviced a river, a railway line and a dual carriageway. In the end, I needn't have worried at all. I did go a bit wayward in the Chinley Park Nature Reserve, but apart from that, crossing all three barriers didn't present a problem. There was a delightful view of a weir when crossing the bridge over the river. On the other side of the dual carriageway, I picked up a lane that went past Eccles House. This had an impressive castle-like stone gate at the entrance to its driveway.

Eccles Pike is on a small area of open access National Trust land. I rejoiced in the feeling that I could go anywhere I wanted, and so ignored all the tracks and headed straight up to the summit. Even a few gorse bushes didn't distract me from my mission and within a short time I was stood on my second Ethel of the day. Eccles Pike had a large floor based toposcope on its top. I'm not that familiar with the surrounding area and it was useful to locate some of the hills I still wanted to do. I could see Toddbrook Reservoir in the valley beyond. This made headline news in 2019 when concrete slabs on its spillway were dislodged due to high volumes of water and the residents of Whaley Bridge had to be evacuated. 400 tonnes of aggregate were dropped by Chinooks onto the damaged area. Itall looked a bit Heath Robinson, but it stabilised the situation.

Somebody had kindly brought a wooden seat up to the top and I took advantage of it to have my lunch. It was a strong wind, and I could see some rain being blown towards me from the northwest. 'Aye, aye,' I thought,' my anoraks going to be on before long.'

Valley Walking To Mount Famine

I was halfway down Eccles Pike before the rain cloud caught up with me. It followed me up to the dual carriageway, over the river and along Chinley's High Street. It wasn't until I'd crossed the railway line, before it got bored and floated away to bother the people in Bakewell. I followed a rough track that took me across the valley towards my last Ethel of the day, Mount Famine. The sun was out now and suddenly the world was a lot brighter and cheerful. I made good progress through fields and along farmer's tracks. The open fells beckoned me upwards. A lot of the day had been spent looking at my map and route finding. I was looking forward to getting to the open moor of Mount Famine and having a bit more freedom. Just as I stepped into the open access land, another raincloud flew in and opened its undercarriages. My anorak was back on again. I followed a barbed wire fence to the top of Mount Famine - the open access is not quite as open access as it could be. A woman jogged towards me. I'd last seen her running along a rainy Chinley high street. It's a small world.

Return To Hayfield

As I stood on the top of Mount Famine a rainbow formed between me and Kinder Scout. It was a precursor of some more sun and soon my anorak was off again. South Head, another Ethel, is only a stone's throw from here and could easily be included on this walk with a quick out-and-back. I'd already ticked this peak, and Mount Famine too, on another walk, Kinder Famine Trespass, and so I felt justified in not climbing up to South Head today. There is steep section just below the summit of Mount Famine and my knees groaned in unison. It was all downhill from here though and so I wasn't too bothered. I could see other walkers making their way back to Hayfield in the valley below. Eventually my path merged with theirs and the world felt suddenly more populated.

Back at the car, I noticed that the walkers I'd talked to this morning, had not returned yet. I hoped they'd had as good a day as mine. The interesting quarry crags of Chinley Churn, the wonderful views from Eccles Pike and the delightful surrounding valleys had been beyond my expectations for the walk.