Fox House - Burbage Bridge - Hathersage - Padley Gorge Circular.

Leave the car park past the picnic tables at the back of the Fox House Inn down to and through a gate. Follow the path as it gradually bears right into the Burbage Brook Valley. Keep right as the path ascends up on to the edge and continue left along the top of the rocks. Eventually the path descends a little to cross another path. Keep ahead along the edge of the valley, above the rocks, to reach the road at Burbage Bridge. Follow the road round into the car park.

Go through the gate to the left of the car park then almost immediately take the path on the right. Continue ahead towards Higger Tor climbing the steps to the top, with its great views over Carl Wark (A), the surrounding moors, Stanage Edge, and the Derwent and Hope Valleys.. Here turn right and descend to the road. Cross and go over the stile opposite. Shortly turn left and follow a path as it steeply descends to a stile. Cross and turn right along a track as it continues downhill past a ruined farmhouse and over a bridge before climbing up to a road. Turn left and follow the road downhill, but look our for a gate on your right. Go through gate and follow the track uphill until it bears right and levels out just before Toothill Farm.

Go through a gate on the left and descend diagonally right across two fields before bearing left down to a stile. Cross and follow the path, soon becoming a narrow lane, downhill. Before reaching a cottage go through a kissing gate on the right and follow the path as it bears left to emerge through a gate at the back of Hathersage Parish Church. Turn right on to a lane, shortly turning left through a gate in the churchyard wall. Continue ahead then turn right (at the side of the church) past the cemetery down to Baulk Lane. Turn left then take the next right (Besom Lane) down to the main road (A6187) in the centre of Hathersage (B) and along to the George Hotel.

Cross the main road and enter Station Road (B6001). Immediately before the Little John public house turn right and follow a lane as it continues under a railway viaduct until a gatehouse is reached on the right and the lane bends sharply to the left. Here continue ahead on a field track and then path until you reach the B6001 close to Leadmill Bridge. Cross the road and enter a lane to Harper Lees. Follow the lane along the River Derwent until just before the entrance to Harper Lees. Here turn left and follow a path as it heads uphill underneath the railway and through a gate. Soon turn right and follow the path past Kettle House farm into woodland (Rough Wood). Continue ahead until you leave the wood through a gate. Bear left uphill and after another gate bear right to join a track passing Padley Chapel (C) heading towards Grindleford station.

Just before the station, where the track crosses Burbage Brook, take a path over a stile on the left up into Padley Gorge. Follow the steep path ahead uphill through the wooded gorge and at junction with path ahead, turn left and continue until it emerges onto the B6521. Turn left for a short distance then cross before immediately turning right on to a narrow path which initially parallels the road before turning left into woodland. Follow the path as it winds uphill, keeping left at a fork, to a fence.

Turn left after a gate in this fence into more open land and continue ahead, joining a track which eventually crosses two streams. Soon after the second stream you reach a grassy track through the bracken on the right. Take this diagonal track into trees, which soon becomes ill-defined, keeping straight ahead until you reach a path next to a small lake. Turn right on to this path and follow it round to Longshaw Lodge (D). Continue past the Lodge, its shop and cafe, and go left along the access road. Immediately before the gates (onto the B6521) take a path on the right uphill through trees to emerge on to the A6187. Cross in front of the Fox House Inn and walk round to the car park and the start of the walk.