(S/E) From the front of The Kinder Lodge, turn right and right again, into Station Road.
(1) Turn left into the car park and, at the far end, join the Sett Valley Trail, following the former branch line from New Mills to Hayfield. Follow the Trail through a gate and past a house on the right by a former level crossing.
(2) Pass above a small reservoir to your right then, when a path crosses, turn right off the Trail (signposted “Lantern Pike 1 mile”). Follow the footpath around the bottom of the reservoir and cross the River Sett.
Climb the grassy bank beyond and head for a gate in the corner of the field (left of a farmhouse). After a narrow, fenced-off section, you reach a wall stile into the farm drive.
Turn left. Walk past some chicken houses on your right, then follow the drive round a sharp right-hand bend (ignoring the descending bridleway straight ahead). Continue along the gently ascending track until you reach Sitch Lane.
Turn right, then immediately left up a no-through road with a Pennine Bridleway sign. Climb steeply to a house, ignoring the turning to Higher Cliffe Farm on your right, and then continue along the bridleway beyond.
(3) Just after a gate, turn left off the main track by a National Trust sign, and climb a narrow path beside a wall. At the top of the slope, turn right along the ridge towards the top of Lantern Pike.
Beyond the topograph at the summit, follow the path ahead that descends through the heather to rejoin the Pennine Bridleway. Follow a short section of walled track left to a gate into open fields.
(4) Head out into the field, then bear right over the brow of the hill to a stile in the bottom corner. The path beyond leads steeply downhill beside a wood, then continues between bilberry-clad walls.
A stile at the end leads into a driveway between two houses. Turn right along the track, ignoring a footpath leading down the grassy slope towards Little Hayfield. Pass another farmhouse and ignore a path off to the right.
(5) At a hairpin bend, continue along the bridleway ahead. At a gate, leave the bridleway to follow a footpath on the left that descends above trees to cross the stream between stone cottages. Follow the metalled lane beyond (Bank Vale Road).
(6) At the junction, turn left past the entrances to Swallow House Crescent on your left, then The Glade and Wood Gardens on your right (opposite Lea Road). Turn right into the May Queen Field (recreation ground) before you reach the bypass overbridge. Walk down to the river and follow the path left (upstream).
(7) At the end of the field, turn right to cross a footbridge over the Sett, just below the remains of the Walk Mill. Follow the fenced path beyond up a flight of steps to emerge in Wood Lane/Station Road. Turn left and walk out past the Sett Valley Trail car park to the main road. (1) Turn left to return to The Kinder Lodge.(S/E)
