(S/E) From the front door of The Pack Horse, turn left. Bear right over the River Sett and keep left of the church up the main village street (Church Street).
(1) At the top of Church Street, turn left and left again into Valley Road. Follow the road, keeping left towards the river (but not crossing it) whenever there is a choice. After a row of terraced houses on the right, keep left along the no-through road. Keep left again at a fork below a high stone retaining wall on your right. Descend to the river and after the last houses follow the riverside path, ignoring a footbridge.
(2) At a fork, turn right away from the river (not between the gateposts) to a gate and climb through woodland beyond, with a campsite to your left.
Just before the trees end on the left, at a crossroads of paths, turn sharp right onto a signposted footpath that angles up through the wood.
(3) At the top turn left, staying within the trees, with a stone wall on your right. Eventually you leave the trees, but continue along the wall to meet a crossing path. Carry straight on (South-East) to a ladder stile over a crossing wall.
(4) The path now follows the wall above the steep rough-pastured slopes of the Sett Valley, with wide views to Kinder Scout. At a bend in the wall, a fine view of the ridge ahead is revealed, and the path continues along the wall above a couple of rocky undulations before dropping to the Pennine Bridleway.
(5) Continue ahead to another ladder stile and then bear right through a gap in an old wall. After a further wall, a rough path winds steeply up towards the top of Mount Famine, which has a couple of false summits (a flatter but less well-used path bypasses the high point to the left).
(6) Once you finally reach the top, marked by some jutting rocks, continue ahead to a stile, then descend to meet the Pennine Bridleway, an obvious track in a col. If you’re feeling really energetic, you can continue to the cairn at the top of South Head, returning the same way.
(7) Turn right along the Pennine Bridleway track, which gradually descends with a wall on the left and through a gate. After more gates, at a junction with another track, bear right.
At a crossing of tracks, the Pennine Bridleway departs to the right, but we carry straight on (North - North-West). Eventually the track bends left to meet Highgate Road but a narrow, sunken path continues ahead for a short distance before also joining the road.
(8) Follow Highgate Road downhill for three-quarters of a mile, back to Hayfield village. (1) Retrace your earlier steps down Church Street and over the bridge, bearing left back to The Pack Horse. (S/E)
