Weather: Glorious sunshine
Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, George
Dearsley, Jock Rooney plus Tips and George Whaites.
B Walkers: Tony Job and Ken Sparrow
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 Clough House,
Wildboarclough
Starting Time: 9.50am. Finishing Time:
2.05pm.
Today’s departure was delayed by the late
arrival of your diarist who had foolishly not allotted more than 30 minutes to
travel from Little Hayfield.
Fortunately the Wanderers had only just set
off when your scribe arrived and a shrill whistle temporarily halted their
climb up the hill from the car park at Clough House.
We soon found ourselves on the road some
had already driven leading to Wildboarclough. Legend has it that the village was the place where the last wild boar in England was
killed, although that seems rather fanciful. At the
first junction we followed the left fork, with a sign to Buxton, turning left
onto moorland at a sign which read Three Shires Head.
Our route afforded an excellent view of
Shutlingsloe, (first picture) sometimes described as the 'Matterhorn of Cheshire',
and the third highest peak in the county (Shining Tor being the
highest and Whetstone Ridge
second highest) with an elevation of 506 m (1,660 ft), and commanding
excellent views over Cheshire.
Shutlingsloe
Stony path
We soon crossed the A54 (22 minutes) and negotiated a gate which eventually led onto a metalled road past Cut Thorn House, at which point we turned left onto a long and rather stony path (picture two).
Pie Time
Soon the River Dane could be seen on
our right. It was now clear that the spine of our walk was to be part of
the Dane Valley Way. The DVW proper extends from the River Wye and Pavilion
Gardens in Buxton to the confluence of the River Dane with the River Wheelock
at Middlewich - a measured distance 40.6 miles. We traveled only a fraction of
that. But it provided some breathtaking scenery.
We stopped for an early snack at 10.20 am (30 minutes) on
a picturesque stone bridge above water splashed rocks, Panniers Pool, an ideal
picnic area, where Mr Davison proceeded (picture three) to do his rendition of
Mario Balotelli’s famous argument with his football bib. This indeed was Three Shires Head, a point where four packhorse routes
meet. Back in the 19th century, Three Shires Head was a place where
lawbreakers or coiners evaded capture by crossing into a neighbouring county as
in those times it was only possible for police to act within their own county
limits. The local settlement of Flash
takes its name from the trading in counterfeit money by these coiners, the word
flash
being associated as dishonest or not of genuine quality i.e. flash
men (thieves), flash
money (counterfeit currency) or flashy (not as good as it looks.) This was also
said to be the setting for illegal prize fights and cock fighting as the
perpetrators of such crimes could escape and soon disappear in this wild and
rocky scenery.
We set off again at 10.55am, following the route of the
stream.
A party of teenagers was on a field trip
and apparently sketching the landscape as we passed by, turning left to climb
up a very steep hill to a stone chimney and beyond to cross the A54 once again,
picking up a path directly opposite which sported a sign to the Cat and Fiddle,
which we reached at 11.52am (122 minutes).
We turned left at the pub and within a few
hundred yards picked up a path to the right at a large sign marked “Woodlands
For Sale”. We passed Torgate Farm on the left and what looked like a herd of
llamas on the right but which may have been deer. Talking of dear, the Marston’s
Pedigree at the Stanley Arms which we reached at 12.25pm was £3, although the
bitter was £2.80 as was the Jennings.
Already in situ were B Wallkers Tony,
Laurie and Ken who had walked from Clough House car park, via Clough Brook to
Broughsplace and eventually to Tolgate Farm and Brook House Farm.
We left the pub at 1.18pm, had a brief
lunch stop at 1.35pm and were back at the car park at 2.05. The outing ended
with a visit to the Old Kings Head at Gurnett where Banks was £2.70, Bombardier
£2.80 and Old Speckled Hen £2.90.
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