Above: Two stone hunting cabins high on Combs Edge – one of them hides a clue!
Click for a pdf with stage-by-stage details of the route including photos and a map, as well as links to car parks and public transport. A walking app GPX file is also available.
Length: 11.5mls | Av. time: 5.35hrs | Ascent: 2175ft
Start: The Street car park | Google Map
Walk description, map & GPX | Download
An 11.5-mile circular walk from The Street car park, beside the dam between the two reservoirs. With over 2,000ft of climbing, it’s one of the toughest walks in the series.
This is the second of two walks following Joe Brown’s Numbers, an orienteering challenge created in the late 1960s by one of the UK’s most respected climbers, when he worked at the nearby White Hall Outdoor Centre.
Joe designed it as one route, starting from White Hall, but it’s almost impossible to complete in a day if you’re searching for the clues. So I’ve split it in two – this northern half, and a southern half of 8.4 miles (walk 29), both starting from The Street.
Some of the clues can be very difficult to find and decipher, and a couple are wrong – one by quite a distance. So the pdf includes a crib sheet to help in an emergency. See also Navigating Joe Brown’s Numbers.
Castle Naze and Combs Edge
The route heads north beside the Goyt, crossing the river by a small footbridge near Knipe Farm, then passes the former Shady Oak pub, now converted into houses, and follows an old Roman road towards Combs. The Beehive pub in Combs is just a short detour, and well worth a visit.
It climbs to Castle Naze, an Iron Age fort with stunning views and a perfect spot for a breather (see also walk 24). The narrow, often muddy path along Combs Edge then leads to two stone shooting huts, one of which hides a clue.
An indistinct and often boggy path drops down to the ruins of a stone barn, where the original carved clue has vanished and been replaced by a small metal plate. Take care not to go beyond the barn, as it’s on private land.
The return passes White Hall and Hanging Rock – a large stone on the horizon with another clue – before dropping down to the main road and back past Fernilee Reservoir to the car park.
Click for a pdf with stage-by-stage details of the route including photos and a map, as well as links to car parks and public transport. A walking app GPX file is also available.
Route photos
Stages 1-6 of the route. Click any to enlarge and scroll through.
Relive video
Click to play and use the expand option to view in full-screen. More Goyt Valley Relives.
