Twenty two of our members and one dog met at the village hall in Coal Aston for a walk led by me (Pete H).
After describing the route and pointing out a couple of potential hazards we set off through the Holmesdale estate to the Firthwood Road entrance to the woods. I mentioned to the group that my last four recces through Frith Wood were not entirely successful. On my first recce I pretty much got lost and on another I took a wrong turning. Luckily no one turned back and thankfully we emerged onto Callywhite Lane as planned. At the end of the lane we took the footpath into the woods and followed it to Half Acre Lane where we took the lower boardwalk. It wasn’t long before we reached the high point of the walk, tea and scones courtesy of Lee and Julie who are also members of Dronfield Footpaths. This went down a treat with the group and it was a struggle to drag them away to continue the walk.
The uphill climb to Summerley had a few of our members regretting a second scone but despite some of the paths being a little overgrown we all made it onto Summerley Lower Road which is a flat and quiet country lane. The last section of the walk on the signed footpath from Summerley to Coal Aston increased the stile count but they were safely managed.
Another short track through the estate took us back to our cars at the Village Hall.
A big thank you to Lee and Julie for providing tea and scones and for giving us the opportunity to sit in their lovely garden.