Thought I'd take a chance and put a Grindleford reccie suggestion forward, knowing full well that JMC will come along and change it anyway. 
Friday 28th January - 7.30am train from Marple, arrive Grindleford 8.11am. Return train from Grindleford at 12.29pm, arriving back in Marple at 1.06pm. Just over 4 hours for the reccie should be ample and we've done this comfortably before. If things go wrong then we have a couple of pints in Grindleford and get the 2.29pm return. The other option is to get the 9.44am from Marple and get the 2.29pm return. Any other suggestions?
Anything happening about a Christmas Eve run? We normally have a nice leisurely group run around Lyme Park or similar.