Hayfield - Rushup Edge - Edale - Hayfield

Denis Drury

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Hayfield - South Head - Rushup Edge - Edale - Jacob's Ladder - Hayfield

This is a circular walk from the Peak District village of Hayfield. The route follows part of the Pennine Bridleway before crossing Rushup Edge, with stunning views of Mam Tor and the Edale Valley. Descending into Edale, there is opportunity for refreshment before climbing Jacob's Ladder to return to Hayfield.

This is a relatively long walk over varied terrain but the route is fairly easy to follow. Typical walking time to Edale is 3.5 to four hours and back to Hayfield 2.5 to three hours, including refreshment and photo stops.

If starting in the morning, Edale is a good place to stop for lunch. There are two pubs, The Rambler Hotel and the Nag's Head, plus a cafe at the side of the railway station. The newly built Moorland Visitors Centre with its green roof and waterfall feature is well worth a visit if time permits. The Pennine Way starts in Edale just by the Nag's Head and this walk follows it for approximately three miles on the return to Hayfield.

For those not wanting to do the full route, it is possible to take the train from Edale to New Mills, then either catch a bus or walk along the Sett Valley Trail back to the starting point. The walk back takes less than an hour and is all flat, easy walking.

England - Central England - Derbyshire - Peak District

Features

Ancient Monument, Birds, Cafe, Church, Great Views, Hills or Fells, Moor, National Trust, Pub, Public Transport, Toilets, Wildlife

04/09/2017 - Roger Denison

A beautiful day for a walk (2 Sept 2017) with some splendid scenery, more than a match for our usual Yorkshire Dales walks. The only problem we had was it turned into a 22 mile strenuous walk rather than the 15.6 miles advertised. For those familiar with this area don't read any further just accept it is a very enjoyable walk. The 1st issue related to WM4.The first sentence is rather ambiguous suggesting in my mind that we should "head off through a gate to the right". This took us off the bridleway on a descent that we had to reclimb a half mile or so later. So my annotated note now says keep left on the bridleway ignoring all gates to the right! All was well and very enjoyable until WM12. The ascent of Jacob's Ladder was exhilerating to say the least. The note says "Continue onwards as you reach the top". The top in my mind is the trig point on the top of the rock which the path unerringly took us to. There is then only one path but no gate, no sign and no monument. We continued to walk on this ridge path looking for the signs and eventually met a couple coming the other way. They said we were 4.8 miles from Hayfield continuing the way we were headed around the distant reservoir and roughly the same distance if we turned back. We continued and circled what turned out to be Kinder reservoir arriving back at Hayfield 10 hours after we started, although 1.5 hours was spent enjoying the views, the Ramblers Inn at Edale and the pop up barn cafe at Upper Booth. Could the description from WM12 be improved to prevent other walkers going the long way back?

14/05/2014 - Norman Brannick

Completed this walk on the 14th May 2014. It was a bright sunny day which made it more enjoyable, panoramic views at every turn. Edale is a beautiful little Village with a fine pub ( The Nags Head) arrived as they were opening for lunches at 12noon. Then it was on to Jacobs Ladder before descending back into to Hayfield. Excellent walk with no issues. A great day of walking. Please pass on my thanks to Denis Drury for this walk.

13/07/2010 - Mervyn Ward

Enjoyable walk, done on a pleasant July day. Much tougher when the wind is up. Two potentially misleading areas 1. At top of 1st climb we went thro gate and lost height only to have to climb back up to the original path 1 mile later. 2. At top of Jacobs ladder, bear left thro a cleft rather than following new flag path up to summit.