Description as per April ’13
The car park by Snailbeach Village Hall is a brilliant place to park up for a Sunday stroll providing you don’t mind a bit of hill work. As up you will have to go, but then the options are endless. ‘Lets get to the car park and see which way the wind blows….’ I said to one of my walking buddies and I left the actual route up to him.
So we crossed the road and went through the kissing gate (saves walking on the road) through the spoil heaps and mining remnants and through a similar gate at the top end. Then we turned immediately right along the mine workings where the old rails can still be traced in the ground. On the way back take a while to explore them, they are very interesting and even open to the public on certain days of the year.
We followed the track through the now open arch of the old railway line (the bridge having been removed to prevent the local kids playing on it). The track has houses on either side but have a look on the left as there are many creatures to be discovered in the garden wall. Eventually the track only has houses on the right (you basically walk round the back of them) as it skirts the steep tree covered hillside. Then it veers left following the contours of the hill and trough another little gate you enter Crowsnest Dingle. 
The track is a full-on farm yard for a little while with abandoned as well as working machinery, sheep and mud, plenty of mud. Eventually as you follow the valley up and after a few gates you get onto the hill.
You will pass an idillic cottage where it looks time has stood still on your left (my sort of dreamy place).
Onwards and upwards following the fence line and at the end of the fence, hang right following the stream (well a boggy, reedy, marshy sort of stream) to the top. You will be rewarded with stunning views; behind you with the butt cheeks of Pontesford and Earls Hill, off to the right Corndon and Stapeley and straight ahead of you the rocky outcrops of the Stiperstones.
Turn left and follow this path until you join the main track which leads across the Stiperstones Ridge, leaving the enclosures of Blakemoorflat on your left. You will come to two gates, ignore the first on (on the right) and take the left one (a little further along) into a lovely stretch of old banked lane. You will then see Blakemoorgate Cottages on the left. These recently restored cottages show what life was like for the squatting miners and as with the mine works at the start of this walk, they are open to the public on certain days. (Pictured the 2013 dates).
After a nosy round follow the path across the large field through the gate in the gap in the strip of trees. Following the path you start to descend through an area called The Hollies (for its very old holly trees) with Eastridge Wood straight ahead rising up on the other side of the valley. You will see the top of Lords Hill chimney on your left. Here you can go various ways, if you want to go further, turn right through the farm yard (Upper Vessons Farm) and out onto the Habbeley road. Maybe you fancy Earls Hill or a pint in Mytton Arms in Habberley.
To complete my 3.5 mile stroll, hang left and follow the track down past Lords Hill/Snailbeach Baptist Church with its old graveyard behind. Through the gate and you will join the road which leads you down into Snailbeach and back to the car park.
Locate Snailbeach Village Hall on a map and see where you can go or have a look at the route described above on this map.
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