Trespass Trail 2 - Hague Bar
2. As the path emerges to a more grassy area, you will see a cast iron milestone (SJ991852) commemorating the opening of the 225-mile Midshires Way, which links the Transpennine Trail at Stockport with the Ridgeway in Buckinghamshire. The milestone was unveiled by Benny Rothman (1911-2002), leader of the 1932 Mass Trespass, in 1994.
Continue walking by the river, which is now the county and regional boundary with Cheshire and the North West, on the opposite bank. After passing between the river and a small pond, you leave the grassed flood plain through a kissing gate and, shortly afterwards take the steps to your right, climbing through a small wooded area to the car park and picnic/play area at Hague Bar.
Cross the car park, walk up Waterside Road and, after crossing the B6101 Hague Bar Road, climb the steep tarmac track heading north towards Brookbottom.
When the track meets Brookbottom Road, divert left for the delightfully-unspoilt Fox Inn, otherwise cross onto the stone track which rises up to Shaw Marsh with New Mills Golf Course to your right.
At the clubhouse (SJ 994865), turn left on to Castle Edge Road, again heading to the north. At a three-way junction where the tarmac runs out, take the stone track to the right which descends to Mellor Road, with the oak and birch woodland of Broadhurst Edge Nature Reserve, managed by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, to your left.
Turn right into Mellor Road, taking care on this fast stretch of highway and, after 50 yards or so, take the track which goes off sharply to the left running level in a northerly direction. The views of the valley open up with the heights of Lantern Pike and Kinder Scout to the east. When the track reaches Briargrove Road, walk a few yards up the road to the left then take the lower of the two footpaths going off to the right, just to the west of Briargrove Farm.
The path continues heading generally north over ground which can be quite marshy in places. In spring and summer, this area attracts ground-nesting birds, and you have a good chance of seeing lapwing, snipe and curlew as well as the occasional short-eared owl. The path bends east of north as it approaches the Children’s Inn at Rowarth (SK 005893).
