Bollington

BOLLINGTON, INGERSLEY VALE, THE VIRGINS’ PATH, FLAGG COTTAGE, OLD HALL, THE PLEASANCE, HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, RAINOW, PEDLEY FOLD FARM, THORNSETT FARM, LAMALOAD RESERVOIR, YEARNSLOW FARM, CLEWS HEAD FARM, HAZEL TREES FARM, LOWER HOUSE, THE ROBIN HOOD AT RAINOW, KERRIDGE RIDGE, WHITE NANCY, THE DOG AND PARTRIDGE AT BOLLINGTON

Distance: Ten miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Mixture of blue skies, sunshine, cloud and showers.

Walkers: Colin Davison, Alan Hart and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Ken Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.

Non-walking drinkers: Frank Dudley and John Eckersley.

Apologies: Peter Beal (Greek island hols), George Dearsley (working), Lawrie Fairman (Greek island hols), John Laverick (Lake District hols), Jock Rooney (North Sea diving).

Leader: Hart. Driver: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free car park opposite The Spinners Arms at Bollington.

Starting time: 9.33am. Finishing time: 2.33pm.

Tony Job made a welcome return to the Wednesday Wanderers after a cortisone injection eased his hip problem and enabled him to join the B walkers. It is always a pleasure to see our colleagues come back from injury and after a year’s absence Tony proved he is still a long way from the glue factory.

Meanwhile the A walkers, under the freestyle* leadership of your diarist, came within half a mile of a successful outing. Sadly the two followers went missing at this late stage, due to synchronised calls of nature, and your diarist’s application for a leader’s badge is once more in abeyance.

We were told to expect showers during the course of the day, and they duly came along. The most persistent of these occurred while we were safely inside the shelter of The Robin Hood at Rainow, whose tills benefited from our prolonged stay.

 The object of the A walk was to seek an alternative route to a well-travelled and popular journey from Bolly incorporating The Robin Hood.

After a visit to the orgasmic pie shop of F.Smith, a bakery where you step back in time to the era of The Grove Family and Dixon of Dock Green, we headed uphill as the first shower of the day caused a stop for the donning of waterproofs. This proved a fortuitous pause as a customer had retrieved one of George’s poles, left behind in the pie shop, and kindly returned it.

We turned right into Church Street and left at The Crown pub into Ingersley Vale, with its millpond on the right. We walked past the derelict mill, currently being converted into flats, to our left and reached the waterfall opposite Waulkmill Farm (22mins).

After pausing to admire the view we continued on to the recently re-flagged Virgins’ Path. For the uninitiated, this was the route from Rainow to Bollington where brides-to-be had to walk at a time when Rainow had no churches. Friendly farmers laid flagstones so the white dresses of the virgin brides did not become besmirched with mud as they walked through two miles of fields.

This route took us past the back of Flagg Cottage (37mins) and to the left of Old Hall, where a sign warned walkers that failure to shut and fasten the gate would result in a penalty “not exceeding 40 shillings.”

We turned left out of Sugar Lane and reached The Pleasance (42mins), a small remembrance garden with a bench, where we sat to eat our hot meat and potato pies, which were once hailed as “orgasmic” by our recently rejuvenated colleague, Mr Job.

Continuing after an eight-minute pause, we turned right at the main road, passing Holy Trinity Church and the National School, built in 1842, on our left. The school, created by a minister of religion, is up for sale. At Pedley Cottage we turned left to follow a public footpath sign and passed Pedley Fold Farm on our left (47mins).

Ignoring a footpath marked with a yellow arrow which plunged steeply downhill to our right we carried straight on, passing Thornsett Farm on our left, crossing a bridge over a stream and turning left off the farm track at a path marked with three yellow arrows (59mins).

This led us to the left of a farm and through a field leading to a metal gate, which led in turn to a tarmac road. We followed this left until we reached the base of United Utilities at Lamaload Reservoir (81mins). We turned right just before the gate and followed a path which led to two alternative paths over wooden stiles marked with yellow arrows. We took the left path and kept left to follow a public footpath sign marked Yearslow and Rainow (84mins).

After a steep climb we found some suitable rocks on which to sit for our second pietime of the day, on this occasion accompanied by Tia Maria (87mins). We continued uphill, crossing a stone step stile (89mins) and passing Yearnslow Farm on our left (91mins). Pedants will have noticed that the letter “n” has been added to the name. This may be historically accurate or it might be another example of a blundering sign-writer altering the world’s geography.

We left the main track to reach a stone step stile marked with a yellow arrow at the angle of two drystone walls (95mins). We headed to the right of a copse by the side of a pond, through a gate and over a wooden stile (98mins).

Passing Clews Head Farm on our left, we went over a stone step stile and walked to the right of Hazel Trees Farm via an open gate and a stile on our right, reaching a road by crossing a stone step stile. We turned left downhill, then right at a broken footpath sign into a field. As we kept close to a drystone wall on our right, we could see Andrew’s Nob ahead to our left. As an unchivalrous wag once remarked: “It looks more like Fergie’s arse.”

Crossing a ladder stile we reached a road and turned right uphill (108mins). We turned left over a wooden stile into a field and walked left to cross another wooden stile (113mins). We followed a yellow arrow and could now see the village of Rainow below us in the near distance. At this point the second shower of the day fell upon us.

We headed towards Rainow over a series of stiles through fields until we reached a road at Lower House (128mins). We turned left and followed the road which brought us to the rear of The Robin Hood (135mins). The B walkers were already in situ and we learned from the barman that he had found them hanging around outside his pub like four Andy Capps at noon.

They assured us that they had arrived there a minute early after walking from Bolly via The Poachers Arms and Oakenbank Lane route. Their return trip was along The Virgins’ Path which we had taken in the opposite direction earlier.

A brief window of opportunity as one shower ended and another began was missed with pots of Black Sheep cask bitter at £3 a pint still half full. This created another £21 windfall to the pub’s turnover.

When the B walkers turned right to go round the back of Flagg Cottage, we carried on with the cottage on our right until we reached a set of steps leading into a field on our left (145mins). We crossed a stream by a footbridge and headed steeply uphill towards Kerridge Ridge, which we reached by a metal gate (156mins). We turned right and had a magnificent view of the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate to our left. Beyond we could see Alderley Edge, Fiddlers Ferry and, in the far distance, the Cambrian Hills of Wales.

We reached White Nancy (168mins), which had been decorated with the five Olympic rings on one side and a design to mark the Queen’s silver jubilee on the other. We stopped for lunch, to catch our collective breath and admire the views.

Your diarist led the trio downhill, but at some point they both left the path to relieve themselves behind bushes. They thus lost sight of their leader, who had taken a path to the right which emerged at the side of a farm near the bowling green of Tullis Russell Coating (178mins).

 A left turn brought your diarist back past the millpond, The Crown and the pie shop to the car park  (186mins). After de-booting we drove to The Dog and Partridge to join the B walkers and non-walking drinkers in the parlour. The pub must struggle to stay open on Wednesday lunchtimes with little in the way of custom. They were clearly pleased to be patronised by nine thirsty men, drinking Robbies’ cask bitter at a bargain £2-55 and mild at £2-45.

*For those not familiar with freestyle hiking, it involves no maps, a general sense of direction (sometimes misplaced), a spirit of adventure and a huge amount of optimism. It also needs the price of a taxi fare if things go wrong.

Next week’s A walk will start from the car park of The Cock at Whaley Bridge at 9.30am. It is anticipated we will reach The Swan at Kettleshulme around 12.15pm for a livener before returning to The Cock at 2.15pm. The B walkers are hoping to join us at The Swan if the buses run on time. However, with commendable foresight, they have a Plan B which would, if brought into effect, find them having their half-time pint in The Shady Oak at Fernilee.