Whaley Bridge

WHALEY BRIDGE, TAXAL EDGE, FERNILEE

Distance: Eight Miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry but Misty

Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, George Dearsley, Jock Rooney plus Tips and George Whaites.

B Walkers: Tony Job and Geoff Spurrell.

Non-Walking Drinkers: Laurie Fairman.

Apologies: Alan Hart (Sri Lanka), Laurie Fairman (injured), Phil Critchley (domestic duties)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Dearsley

Starting Point: Car park at The Cock, Whaley Bridge

Starting Time: 9.40am. Finishing Time: 2.22pm.

The pre-walk banter revolved around the purchase by Mr Davison of a new pair of Burma Boots for a cut-price of £104 against the recommended retail price of £180. His new (brown) boots were bought from the Cheadle Heath branch of Go Outdoors,

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/stockport but your diarist wishes to point out that this report has been tainted by no pecuniary advantage for product placement. Mr Davison apparently already has an extensive a range of walking footwear.

Burma boot

Having duly establish himself as the Imelda Marcos of the Wednesday Wanderers the Famous Five set off for an invigorating perambulation. Leaving the car park of the Cock at Whaley Bridge we walked past the pub and took the path to the left which leads through a housing estate (where a funeral was in progress) and eventually across the main road and up a steep path which bisects the large graveyard adjacent to Taxal Church (see picture). 

Mr Rooney informed us that he was once quizzed by police in the vicinity of some public toilets where a gruesome murder of a homosexual had taken place. Such is the integrity of his face and manner that his explanation for being in the bushes near the public convenience (“looking for pine cones” ) passed muster with the member of the constabulary and he was duly eliminated for their inquiries.

Path to Taxal Church

At the end of the steep path past the church we turned left, past Glebe Farm and a few yards further on past the Rectory we took a path to the right marked “Kettleshulme via Taxal Edge”. 

This was to prove a thorough examination of the group’s respiratory systems as we climbed higher and higher. We reached a metalled road (Taxal Moor Road) at the side of a wood and turned left. No more than 50 yards on we took an unmarked trail to the right which led through some land that looked as if it had been the subject of a fire but was possibly the aftermath of some manic Rhododendron clearing.

A further climb took us to Taxal Nick (46 minutes) and we proceeded along Taxal Edge, where the wind proved quite chilly.

Mr Davison observed: “I didn’t know it would be windy on the top”. To which, to general merriment, Mr Rooney wryly countered that an imminent landmark was not called Windgather Rocks for nothing. As every schooboy knows the crag is some 400 metres (1,300 ft) above sea level.

Windgather Rocks

Having taken the above photograph we duly stopped for a snack (70 minutes) in a shelter out of the wind which we believed to have been a sheep pen at one time.

The track took us to a road called The Street. We were in the vicinity of Pym Chair. Local legend has it that a highway man called Pym used to lay in wait to ambush those who used the packhorse route, (at Pym Chair) although another version says Pym was a preacher who gave sermons here. We turned left at a sign which read “Hoo Moor and Fernilee”. This took us on the Midshires Way and through a picturesque wood, Hoo Moor Plantation, above Fernilee Reservoir.

We came out at Oldfield Farm, turning off the Midshires Way and passing Knipe Farm, crossing the River Goyt and up through Folds Lane Farm, which is for sale if you have a spare £1,100,000.

We arrived at the Shady oak pub, (180 minutes) which is the establishment that was closed for refurbishment the last time the Wednesday Wanderers visited. This time, however, the door was open and there was a warm welcome and coldish beer at £2.80 a pint, whether your tipple was the Marston’s bitter or Jennings’ Cross Buttock beer, with a 4.5 ABV, a review of which you can read here.

http://www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk/beers/beer.aspx?cat=sea&bid=10

Almost immediately Mr Fairman appeared waving a bus ticket like Chamberlain back from meeting Hitler and initiating a conversation about the financial advantages of reaching 60.

At 1.10pm the B Walkers Tony Job and Geoff Spurrell arrived. They had vacated the bus at Goyts Road and had walked down to Errwood.

We left the pub at 1.40pm, stopped for a brief snack at 1.50pm and reached the car park at The Cock, Whaley Bridge at 2.22pm

Next week's walk will start at 0940 from the Clough House car park and picnic area 1 mile due north of Wildboarclough. Mid-walk drinks will be taken at the Stanley Arms at Bottom-of-the-Oven around 1230. We will then drive to the Olde Kings Head at Gurnett to arrive at 1415.