Bollington

BOLLINGTON, RAINOW

Distance: 8.5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy

Weather: Cloudy with some rain

Walkers: Colin Davison, Alan Hart, Phil Welsh, George Dearsley, Nigel Crank, Chris Corps, Julian Ross, Steve Courtney, Peter Beal, John Laverick, Lawrie Fairman, Tom Cunliffe

Apologies: George Whaites (returning from his Spanish holidays), Mickey Barrett (mopping a flooded house), Jock Rooney (w*r^ing in the Black Sea)

B walkers: Tony Job, Peter Morrall, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton

Leader: Fairman (with usurping by Davison)  Diarist: Dearsley

Starting point: Public car park opposite the Spinners in Bollington.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 1.23pm

After last week’s carnage, this was a more sedate walk.  A “white handbag” walk as Mr Cunliffe eloquently described it.

We welcomed a new debutant, Steve Courtney, a friend of Mr Ross, and we hope he joins us on a regular basis.

Mr Fairman was back from his trip lecturing on a cruise ship. He had meticulously prepared a detailed talk, supported by Powerpoint slides, of a series of stopovers in the Mediterranean.

Unfortunately, he was allocated a voyage to Norway.

The walk was also notable for a sign outside a house which read “never mind the dog beware of the wife”.

We set off from the car park opposite the Spinners in Bollington at 9.30am, turned left, making the obligatory stop at F Smith’s wonderful pie shop.

Suitably stocked with piping hot sustenance, we continued along the main road and then took a right turn, passing the Viceroy Indian restaurant on our left.

At a Y junction we took the road to the left, with a signpost showing “to Pott Shrigley”. This turned out to be Spuley lane.

We turned right at the newly refurbished house with its immaculately erected dry stone wall and after about 150 yards we swung left. Our route took us over a little bridge and then we began a steep climb, passing not one but two duck ponds on our right.

At the second pond we went through a gate on the right and crossed a well-defined path which cut our own route at 90 degrees.

White Nancy was to our right but shrouded in cloud or mist.

           Mr Fairman and Mr Beal indulge in that rather foreign practice, pre-walk preparation

                                                    The interior of F Smith’s marvellous pie shop in Bollington.

At 10.05 am we reached the top of the hill and an unusual “hot Pie Time” was declared.

Mr Welsh had scoffed his F Smith’s pie on the move so could not enjoy the luxury afforded to some of the other Wanderers as they bit into the delicious crust and tasted the succulent gravy, meat and potato.

The unbridled pleasure - as is often the way of it -  was limited to just three minutes and we were on the move again.

We walked down to a metalled road, over a cattle grid and straight on, over a stile.

Negotiating a 5-bar gate we turned right onto another metalled road and past Brink Farm Cottage. (10.29am).

At a T-junction we crossed the road and went straight on, heading up a hill.

We swung right and then left following a sign which said “permissive footpath” but there were no hippies, free love, Country Joe and the Fish or any sign of the spirit of Max Yasgur.

On offer was a steep climb for five minutes and then a turn to the right at the top of the hill, reached at 10.45am. Mr Welsh celebrated by opening a huge golfing umbrella.

To be fair, a fine rain had begun to fall, rather ahead of the weathermen’s schedule.

We must not make light of the landowner who has generously made this new route available, despite it not being a public right of way.

The East Cheshire Ramblers seem to have played an integral part in getting the new Permissive Footpath opened. But there is little information on its history.

In better weather it would have afforded spectacular views – we were told – of Birmingham and the Welsh hills.

In the event it afforded what appeared to be views of a giant slate grey tarpaulin. As my photograph shows.

                                 The breathtaking views afforded by the new “permissive path” we negotiated

But were we downhearted?   Well, yes.

We went over one stile and then a second on the left.

At 11.03am “official” Pie Time was declared.

With Mr Cunliffe keeping the sort of eye on his watch more akin to Sir Alex Ferguson, we were off again at 11.10am.

At 11.20am a certain amount of confusion ensued as we took a diagonal path across a field full of cattle and sheep, which seemed to have more sense of their location than many Wanderers.

                                                                        Real Pie Time

The rain grew heavier and Mr Welsh’s umbrella more enviable.

We went over two more stiles, found a track and turned right onto a road. Just past Harcourt Barn we turned right again.

This was Ewrin Lane, which led onto Smith Lane.

We crossed the B5470, entered a field and climbed a wall on the left after 75 yards.

We went through a gate and turned left past Lower House and took a path to the left.

At 12.04pm this brought us to the Robin Hood pub.

All the ale was £3.05 a pint, that was a beer called Endless which ran out, as did the Cumberland.

Black Raven was still available.

We left the pub at 12.55pm, turning left down Stocks Lane and heading to the Virgin’s Path.

At 1.03pm it started to rain again.

Lunch was taken at 1.19pm opposite Waulkmill Farm, looking at the picturesque waterfall on the River Dean. We have been here many times before.

The River Dean flows from Rainow and over this waterfall before passing through Bollington.

                                                                               Luncheon, with a view of the waterfall

                                                                The aforementioned waterfall

We set off at 1.26pm heading to the deserted Ingersley Vale Mill.

Before we got there some Wanderers decided to break away and return to Bollington via White Nancy.

The original Ingersley Vale Mill building was seriously damaged by fire in November 1999. The remains and the preservation of this listed structure are presently a major concern and ideas are proposed in the recent (2002) Kerridge Ridge & Ingersley Vale Heritage & Countryside Project (KRIV).

The mill is located across the narrowest part of the steep sided vale, being only about 150 feet across.

A huge wheel house adjoins the mill . A very narrow lane, clinging to the hillside, passes the mill and provides access to properties further up the vale.

A large number of very poorly constructed 1960s industrial buildings adjoin the mill on both sides up and down the vale.

There is also the remains of older out buildings - behind the mill one looks as though it might have been the Apprentice House that is known to have been built on the site.

A part of the building on the extreme right of the picture is the warehouse built in the 19^th century on the location of much earlier mill workers cottages and the mill manager's house, all now gone.

You can learn more of the mill’s history here.

http://www.happy-valley.org.uk/history/mill-ingersley.htm

We reached the cars at 1.23pm, debooted and headed for the Dog and Partridge.

There we met up with the B Walkers who had started out from Bollington and followed our initial route to the newly renovated house.

They then headed to Little Harrop Farm and from there to the shell of what was once the Highwayman pub.

From there they walked to Blaze Hill and then to the Poachers, before heading to the Robin Hood. It was a distance of around five miles with climbs totalling 650 feet.

Next week’s walk will start at 10 am from the public car park near the allotments at Youlgreave.

We hope to stop at the Flying Childers Inn in Stanton in the Peak.

http://www.flyingchilders.com/section426232.html

The finishing point will be the George in Youlgreave.