A lesser known walk but just as picturesque as the more popular Peak District routes. This week we set off to Coombs Dale stepping off the beaten paths in search of hidden valleys. Very easy for those just beginning their hiking journey and there is access to a free car park!
Kickoff: Arrive at the car park next to the football field and children’s playground on the approach to Stoney Middleton (S32 4TB), accessible off the A623. The route starts on a bridleway, signposted to Black Harry Gate.
Step 1: Follow this well-made trail for approx. 2 miles, ignoring all footpaths off. The trail winds beneath shady ash trees, at times alongside a stream, and eventually emerges into the beautiful limestone valley of Coombs Dale.
Step 2: Continuing on the path through Coombs Dale, you will eventually reach an obvious crossroads of bridleways at Black Harry Gate. This is where the path meets Black Harry Lane, once an ancient packhorse route over the moors.
Step 3: If you are following the accessible trail, this is where you turn around and retrace your route back to the start. If you are continuing, at the crossroads turn left through a metal gate. After approx. 50 metres turn left again through a further gate, again following the bridleway.
Step 4: This path now leads you back the way you came in, but follows the track along the top of the dale, providing wonderful views across the surrounding landscape.
Step 5: Where the bridleway eventually meets a small lane at a junction with a farm, turn left and follow the lane, ignoring footpaths off. This quiet lane tracks alongside woods. Look out for the Double Dyke on the right, an ancient boundary marker, now a scheduled monument.
Step 6: After passing a farm on the left, look out for a gate in a wooden fence. Turn off the lane and go through this gate, heading down on field paths, passing the farm buildings on your left.
Step 7: Go through a further gate just beyond the farm buildings and follow the path to an obvious fork in the path. Take the right hand fork, and follow the line of the fence around, keeping the fence on your left, ignoring paths off to the right. This path soon heads out into wide grassy fields, now with a stone wall on your right. The views back into Coombs Dale on your left are pretty amazing.
Step 8: Follow this obvious path through a gate. The dry stone wall ends and you again follow the line of a fence to your right. The grassy path eventually starts to drop down and tracks between two dry stone walls, narrowing and becoming rocky underfoot as it passes through arches of hawthorn trees. Again, there are wonderful views to your left and ahead.
Step 9: Just before a wide metal gate, look out for a public footpath sign that goes off to the left. Follow the path across fields, heading for a small wooden gate in a fence directly ahead. Go through the gate and follow the steps beyond, down through pretty woodland.
Step 10: This path eventually rejoins the bridleway that you started on. Turn right on to the bridleway to retrace your steps back to Stoney Middleton and the car park on your left.