WHALEY BRIDGE, THROSTLEDALE, SILK HILL
FARM, BUGSWORTH BASIN, BRIERLEY GREEN, COTE BANK, CHINLEY CHURN, PEEP O DAY,
VORPOSTEN FARM, THE ALDERS FARM, CHINLEY, THE OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH, PEAK
FOREST TRAMWAY, THE PEAK FOREST CANAL, WHALEY BRIDGE BASIN AND THE COCK AT
WHALEY BRIDGE
Distance: 11 miles.
Difficulty: Strenuous start; easy finish.
Weather: Blue skies and sunshine.
Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Lawrie Fairman,
Malcolm Halley, Alan Hart, Julian Ross, John Laverick and George Whaites.
B walkers: Tony Job, Pete Morrall, Ken
Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.
Apologies: Micky Barrett (driving son to
Oxford), Peter Beal (cruising Norwegian fjords), George Dearsley (w*^king),
Jock Rooney (w*^king in South Africa).
Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Car park of The Cock,
Whaley Bridge.
Starting time: 9.33am. Finishing time:
2.25pm.
A beautiful sunny day, magnificent Peak
District scenery and stimulating, intelligent conversation. What more could a
man want? And in the words of Meatloaf: two out of three ain’t bad.
The cold wind which had blighted some dry
sunny days of late finally lost its bite, so we started the merry month of May
with perfect walking conditions. Visibility was excellent as well so we were
rewarded for our gruelling gradual ascent of Chinley Churn with some stunning
views of the surrounding landscape.
From the car park we turned right towards
Whaley Bridge town centre and then immediately right after the railway bridge
to head up to the disused Cromford and High Peak railway line, where we turned
left. We then turned right up Bings Lane (3mins) and right again at a narrow
passage on our right marked with an easily-missed public footpath sign (4mins).
We reached a road and turned left uphill
(6mins), heading left at a stone step stile marked with a wooden public
footpath sign (11mins). This led us via two ladder stiles through Throstledale.
After crossing a stone step stile (19mins) we entered a field, keeping a
drystone wall to our left.
Exiting the field in its left corner, we
turned right up a lane (23mins) passing Silk Hill Farm on our left. We went
through the village of Bugsworth and crossed the roadbridge over the A6
(28mins) and passed a sundial on our left which had not been advanced to
British Summer Time. Ahead was Bugsworth Canal Basin.
Buggy Basin, as it is known locally, is the
head of navigation of the Peak Forest Canal. It was the largest and busiest
inland port in Britain’s narrow canal system, and the only one to survive
intact. As reported in last month’s diary, the 14-mile long Peak Forest Canal
from Dukinfield to Bugsworth was engineered by Benjamin Outram.
Construction of the six-mile Peak Forest
Tramway in 1795-6 linked the basin to the limestone and gritstone quarries
which littered the area. Bugsworth thrived commercially until railway
technology superseded canals.
We crossed to the far side of the basin and
walked to the left of The Navigation Inn, a 200-year-old pub once owned by
actress Pat Phoenix, before she became a soap legend as Coronation Street sex
symbol Elsie Tanner.
After passing Buxworth Primary School on
our right and Buxworth Basin Station on our left we reached cottages at
Brierley Green where we turned left at a public footpath sign (37mins). Taking
the right fork in the well-trodden path, we aimed for the Union Flag flying
from Cote Bank.
As we neared the drystone wall ahead, your
diarist pointed out a stone step stile which he had the temerity to suggest
might be the best route. This suggestion was dismissed by our leader and
derided by Tom, who reminded your scribe of his abysmal failings as a walk
leader.
Ten minutes later, after taking advice from
a woman hanging out her washing, Lawrie returned to the stone step stile and
the correct route. Opposite the stone step stile was a wooden stile which led towards
the flagpole in the garden of Cote Bank. We then ascended a flight of steps
(56mins).
We went through a gate and turned right
downhill (65mins) for 100 yards before turning left over a wooden stile at a
public footpath sign (67mins). This was the start of a steady climb up Chinley
Churn and its much-quarried promontory, Cracken Edge. After being diverted to
the summit by a path closure following erosion, we paused for pies near the
peak (87mins).
Our reward after the climb was well worth the
effort.
Stunning views
Continuing, we passed a bench dedicated to
Shirley Fidler (102mins) and had our attention drawn by our leader to the sight
of a wheatear. These tiny songbirds, weighing less than an ounce, fly nearly
20,000 miles each year as they migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to their Arctic
breeding grounds.
Moments later we saw another spectacular
flier – an A380 Airbus, currently the world’s largest passenger plane which
began service in 2007. This huge plane, of which 101 models are now flying,
typically carries 525 passengers in first, business and economy, but is capable
of carrying 853 passengers in economy only.
We left Chinley Churn by a gate (112mins)
and headed gradually downhill to the impressive house called Peep o Day. The
building was once used as a place of worship. It may be interesting to note
that the Peep o Day Boys was a secret Protestant organisation active in Ireland
in the 1780s and 1790s, which is believed to be the precursor of The Orange
Order. They gained their name through their habit of calling on opponents at
the first crack of dawn.
After reaching the road (123mins) we turned
left for 100 yards before turning right at a public bridleway (126mins). We
headed uphill and then turned right (129mins) to follow a wooden public
footpath sign marked South Head.
We passed to the right of Vorposten Farm,
which translates from German to The Outpost (141mins), and carried straight on
until we reached a main road (159mins). After crossing the road and a wooden
stile on the far side we kept going, passing The Alder Farm (169mins) and going
through a tunnel beneath the Buxton-Manchester railway line (176mins).
Our group emerged at the end of Alders Lane
and turned right (177mins) passing the Turnpike Chapel on our right on our way
to Green Lane (181mins) where we turned left. We carried straight on following
the sign for Whitehough and reached the Old Hall (189mins).
It was warm enough to sit outside with our
pints of Marstons’ cask bitter in good form at a bargain £2-60 (Could we ever
have imagined calling a £2-60 pint a bargain ? Ed).
Resuming, we walked downhill until we
reached the route of the Peak Forest Tramway (192mins) and turned left. After
stopping for lunch at a bridge over a stream on our right (202mins) we carried
on and once again reached Buggy Basin. This time we passed the Navigation Inn
on our right (213mins) and continued along the towpath with the Whaley Bridge
branch of the canal on our left.
Using footbridge 37, we crossed to the
other bank (225mins) and proceeded to Whaley Bridge Basin (234mins). By
carrying straight on ahead, we passed Tom Brads Croft car park and rejoined the
disused Cromford and High Peak railway route, passing Bings Road on our left
and The Shepherd’s Arms on our right.
Retracing our footsteps we dropped back to
the main road by the side of the railway bridge, turned left and reached our
cars (240mins).
We were joined in The Cock belatedly by the
B-teamers, who had missed their bus from Tunstead Milton. They had caught a bus
originally at Torkington Park to Doveholes, from where they had walked through
Martinside and passed Eaves Hall on their way to The Roebuck at
Chapel-en-le-Frith. After pints of Tetleys and Black Sheep at £2-70, they had
arrived at Tunstead Milton via Lydgate, a journey totalling just under six
miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment