Axe Edge to Chrome Hill & High Edge U3A 20/10/2016, 09:39:17

About trip

DISTANCE:7.8 miles (12.6km).
MINIMUM TIME:4 hrs.
ASCENT:1,499ft (457m).
DIFFICULTY:Medium.
PATHS:Some paths are indistinct and can be muddy after rain.
START/FINISH:Grid reference: SK034697. 
PARKING:Lay-by beside A53 at Axe Edge. 
DIRECTION:Anticlockwise

1. From the lay-by, cross the main road to the lane opposite.   At the first right-hand bend turn left through the 5-bar gate on the right.   Follow the track down past the front of a small house.   Walk across the slope and pass through a small gate.   Go forward until you come to the standing stone of a gate.   Turn sharp left down, passing a small building on its right hand side.   Go over a stile and across a small bridge onto a path through the garden of Fairthorn Farm and over a stile.   Past the house swing right on the drive up to the road at Thirkelow Rocks. 

2. Turn right along the road for around 200yds (183m), then take the farm track on the right to Thirkelow Farm, which nestles under the outcrop of Thirkelow Rocks.   Go through the yard and a small gate and take the right fork that leads into the clough. 

3. Where the track ends, veer slightly right and down to the waymarker posts highlighting a duckboard bridge and the continuing route towards Booth Farm. 

4. Nearing the farm, bear left over a stone-step stile and further stiles, keeping the buildings on your right, to a lane.   Go left, then fork right through a gate for Stoop Farm.   At a pair of gates, cross a stile by the left one.   Initially follow a fence, then curve left to a wall stile.   Carry on through a gate to intersect a track.   Cross and walk on with the top wall on your left towards Chrome Hill. 

5. Go through a couple of gates and over a broken wall; the path curves sharply right and steeply down to a stile.   Carry on to a gate, then climb left to the ridge, following the path over Chrome Hill and down to the lane beneath Parkhouse Hill. 

6. Turn left along the lane, passing Dowall Hall on your right (towards Greensides).   Continue on the lane passing the entrance to Stoops Farm on your left and High Edge on you right.   Continue on the lane and bear left at the junction where the Buxton (high Edge) Speedway track is (also signed Earl Sterndale right). 

7. Continue along the lane as it swings right then left to the junction for Thirkelow Rocks.     Go over the cattle grid and turn left over another cattle grid.   Take the right hand lane leading to Fairthorn Farm. 

8. Turn left at the house, crossing the yard to a gap leading down through the garden of Fairthorn Farm to a small bridge and a stile on the far side.   Immediately turn left on the upward path towards a small building and pass it on its left hand side.   Go forward until you come to the standing stone of a gate.     Turn sharp right up on to path leading to a small gate just before the house.   Walk across the slope and in front of the small house on to a track. 

9. At the end of the track pass through a gate and turn right onto the lane.   Walk up the lane on the road.    At the top of the lane cross the main road to the lay-by.