Derbyshire Wayfarer

Hayfield  1  Pilsley Community  2

Hope Valley Amateur League  – A Division

Admission / Programme - No / No

My plan on the way back from Devon was to go to Frome Town, but common sense prevailed, we agreed it was probably better to get back to the Shire early doors, and I could find something a little more local to float my footballing boat.

The 6.45am departure from the cottage was a smart move, and even with a breakfast stop we were pulling onto the drive at 11am and unloading the car. Frome will have to wait until next season, I had uncovered a Plan B that was going to lead to a champagne moment!

I’ve given Steve so much grief over the years about the Hope Valley League, but moving into the weekend I was sat in a place whereby I was only one venue away from completing it myself. If someone had said that to me four years ago I would have laughed them out of the room, but a combination of factors that are detailed in a previous blog (The 19^th Hole), has seen me arrive at this point.

Hayfield then, well, I have been to Hayfield, they play in the village and I saw them in a game in 2021 against New Tupton Ivanhoe, but it turns out, despite what the league website says, that they play at Chapel-en-le-Frith Leisure Centre, only because the ground in Hayfield doesn’t actually have any changing facilities!

The trouble with the Hope Valley League though is the lack of information available, which given it’s status is not surprising to be fair. I did have a look for a handbook online but couldn’t find one, and neither clubs social media accounts updated on the precise venue of the game, so I decided to take a gamble with a back up of Glossop North End if I needed it.

So, I left Dawlish at 6.45am, and at 1pm I was pulling into a car park in the High Peak to watch a Hope Valley League game, I wonder how many people have travelled that kind of distance to watch a game in this league? I’m sure they have, but for the time being, I’m claiming that record!

I didn’t need the Glossop back up, once in the car park I could see that the nets were up, the corner flags were out and players were arriving, so with a game on and the weather all looking find it was time to find a pub.

Now, pubs in Chapel-en-le-Frith, I have to say this is flashback territory as far as I’m concerned. Back in my early twenties when I was back from University and still living with the folks, I would occasionally have days out with some of my mates from Alfreton doing what the ‘Derbyshire Wayfarer’.

In short, you could buy a ticket that would allow you to travel by any bus or train in Derbyshire, but it would also allow you to travel by train to Sheffield and then get the line out to the Hope Valley, so that’s what we would do.

On one particular December day we headed out and basically did a pub crawl that took in New Mills, Whaley Bridge, Buxton and one or two other places that I can’t recall, but I do recall being in Chapel at teatime, and one of my mates had an obsession with Robinsons pubs, so we had to find one. We were struggling, and also very drunk, but, my mate took it upon himself tom ask a woman who was looking in a shop window where the nearest Robinsons pub was.

“I have no idea, and don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink?”

It wasn’t the most helpful of replies, but I recall in the end we found one, but it didn’t end well!

So, having not set foot in a pub in Chapel since that day, I was hoping I wasn’t on any banned lists.

I found a pub ten minutes walk away, and yes, it was a ‘Robbo’s House’, no alarms went off when I walked in so it was a quick pint before heading back to the Leisure Centre for the game.

So, lets spend a moment or two describing a football ground located at a Leisure Centre then…..ok, I’ve kind of done it! It’s a pitch, adjacent to a car park, with a large building set in one corner that also serves the purpose of a school. But, joking aside, it isn’t an unattractive venue, the pitch looked to be in good nick and if you wanted a bit of elevated hard standing, the area in the corner by the buildings was a prime spot.

The game pitched the hosts who were sat outside of the promotion places but comfortably in the higher reaches of the table, against the Clay Cross based visitors who were battling for a promotion spot along with the reserve sides of Chapel Town (from Chapel-en-le-Frith) and Furness Vale.

It was quite an entertaining encounter on a chilly afternoon, and fairly even, but it was the visitors who went away with the three points on the back of a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Leo Bowdler and Shane Marriott, while the hosts goal came courtesy of Josh Barlow.

So that was it, a marathon days driving was almost over as I pointed the trusty steed back in a Southerly direction from North Derbyshire. It was also a celebratory moment as well, never in a millions years did I think I’d have cracked the Hope Valley.

It just means now I’m going to have to stay on top of it, but I think I’ll leave the research to Steve, it seems to be something he’s well versed in. And to think, I could have been on my way back from Frome, not realising just what I’d missed out on.

Derbyshire Wayfarer anyone?