Plan your walk |
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DISTANCE: 4¼ miles (6.8km) TIME: 2¼ hours START/END: SK114793 Peak Forest TERRAIN: Easy MAPS: |
Park along the Old Dam road. Return to the main road and cross opposite the Devonshire Arms pub and turn right through a small wooden gate near an old iron hand pump. Follow the faint path over a series of fields, using stiles to keep to the route. ¼ mile (400m).
Go through stiles and a wicket gate to the left of Dam Dale Farm. Keep to the left of an old wall along the dale bottom. ¾ mile (1.2km).
Viewpoint. Dam Dale – a typical upland limestone dale where the plant life is more closely related to an alpine environment.
Turn left, uphill, along a walled grassy lane. ¾ mile (1.2km).
Turn left immediately before the road junction. Go through a gate, following the direction of a signpost. There is only a faint path at times but the line can be followed by careful use of stiles and occasional waymarks. ½ mile (800m).
Turn sharp right onto a field track and follow it to the moor lane.
Turn left and continue to the main road. Cross with care and go towards trees to the left of the farm. ¼ mile (400m).
Viewpoint. Peak Forest lies in the hollow below Eldon Hill. Rushup Edge is in the background, marking the division between the southerly limestones and gritstone of the Dark Peak.
Go right through a metal gate at the side of a belt of trees, sheltering Mount Pleasant Farm. Walk along the enclosed grassy lane. ½ mile (800m).
Humps and hollows in the open space at the lane end denote one-time lead mining in the area.
Turn left along the quiet lane and walk down into Old Dam.
Turn left at the T junction and return to the starting point.
The duck pond on the left was a man-made communal watering place for village cattle in the days before piped water reached the surrounding farms.
A notable feature of Peak Forest is Eldon Hole; a 197ft (60m) deep chasm in the side of Eldon Hill to the north of the village. Access from the village is via Eldon Lane, and is about a half-hour walk. It is a favourite of potholers.
