Around Hathersage guided by Mollie

We have a vague plan for a walk and meet at the car park in the centre of Hathersage. It takes a while to sort out the parking, the option to pay by card is great....but the connection considerably less so, meaning digging out all our loose change.
We leave the cars and head out, turn left and down the hill under the railway bridge. Soon we turn onto a footpath on the left.

 The footpath takes us along a lane that is more of a driveway at the side of the river. We pass through a gate and pass a couple of farmers erecting some pens for sheep, then another gate takes us into the edge of the woodland.

We have a rough idea of where we are going, and know that the map isn't going to be a huge amount of help due to the myriad paths here.

We spot the uphill path we need and take it, stooping under a few low branches as we climb.

We follow on in what we hope is the right direction, and eventually cross over the railway line by a high bridge, feeling smug that we have succeeded this far.

We veer off to the right and make our way across rough grazing and through thin copses of trees, Padley chapel the next on our route.

We don't stop at the chapel this time, but continue on to the left hand path that leads up between the lovely houses here, then through the gate at the top into Padley Wood.

Here again we are into the 'vague idea' of where we are going. We walk uphill and find another path that doubles back on the one we are on, still climbing though. We take it and eventually reach a gate at the top. Once through we pause to get our bearings and Mollie is greeted enthusiastically by three children out with their parents for a walk. When they leave the refrain of "can we have a dog, please" continues until we are out of earshot.

The gate has brought us out onto the moor across from the Surprise View and Mother Cap in the distance. We turn left and skirt the woods to a wall then head towards the road.

Clambering over another stile we find a lovely sunny spot to have lunch where we can admire the view as a low flying plane crosses in front of us.

Despite the sun it isn't the warmest of days so we soon pack up and are on our way, making it up as we go along now. We know we are heading in roughly the right direction - sort of towards Hathersage again. The views are glorious and it is almost a shame to have to be walking back.

Yet again it is a mix of paths here, and as we seem to be approaching the road we veer left and Mollie takes over. Admittedly the map isn't a huge amount of use to us, though we know we aren't actually lost, but we carry on with Mollie trotting happily in front.

We pass some farm buildings, then as we start to go down the long drive Mollie pulls us onto a narrow muddy path away from the drive. Well, she is in charge. We follow her and the  steep path widens out into a broad swathe that takes us under the railway line.

Clearly the girl knows exactly where she is heading as trots happily in front, negotiating the criss-cross of paths in this part of the woods. And sure enough, we arrive back at the gate that we orginally came through into the woods in the first place. Mollie gets extra biscuits for being so smart, then it is a steady and short walk retracing our steps back to Hathersage. 

Thanks to Mollie, today's walk has been excellent.