High Lane

HIGH LANE, DISLEY GOLF COURSE, SWEET WATER MILL, TURF LEA, PEAK FOREST CANAL, BARLOW WOOD, GOYT VALLEY, ROMAN LAKES, BOTTOM HALL, LINNET CLOUGH SCOUT CAMP, COLD WALL FARM, THE FOX AT BROOK BOTTOM, GOYT WAY, STRINES STATION, STRINES HALL, DOVE HOLES FARM, WYBERSLEY HALL FARM, AND HORSESHOE AT HIGH LANE

Distance: 9 Miles.

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate.

Weather: Dry, Cloudy and Mild.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Chris Corps with Fergus and Finola, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

B Walkers: Tony Job, Geoff Spurrell and Mike Walton.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (supervising flooding repairs), Nigel Crank (in Portugal), George Dearsley (w*^king), John Laverick (proper poorly), Jock Rooney (Isle of Man tax exile) and Ken Sparrow (domestic duties).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting Point: Outside the Davison residence at 11, Carr Brow, High Lane, Disley.

Starting Time: 9.31am. Finishing Time: 2pm.

The Wednesday Wanderers welcomed a debutant walker to their fold for this local walk and she proved to be a real bitch. Finola Corps, a cute, short-haired dachshund puppy, is the foster sister of Fergus Corps who introduced her to his hiking chums at the start.

Finola is shy, apparently in the habit of running away at the sight of strangers, but she kept up with the pace. Indeed it was Fergus who let the family side down when he disappeared to follow the scent of a badger. It seems he is genetically programmed to do this as dachshunds were bred to find and dig out badger setts.

Fergus and Finoa (pic by Colin Davison)

Julian made a welcome return to the ranks with news that his efforts to avoid landing a job had come under threat. After interview, he had survived a cull of 25 candidates to reach a short-list of five. We wish him luck.

It was also remarked that Mickey was still missing because of the flooding damage to his home two months ago. Sympathy was expressed until it was revealed that the seeping water had damaged his Porsche, that fortunately he owned another house and that the mishap took place while he was holidaying on his yacht. The general view then was that it must have been an act of God.

From Colin’s house we turned left uphill until we reached a path on our left leading into Disley Golf Course (4mins). We passed a tee and turned left at a green public footpath sign (9mins) which took us out of the course via a wooden stile. Beyond it was the remains of Sweet Water Mill on our right and a ventilation chimney ahead (15mins).

Instead of crossing a wooden stile and turning right along a designated path, our leader chose to guide us to the right of the drystone wall to the corner of the field, where we then stepped over a fence to join the legal footpath. No explanation for this bizarre behaviour was offered.

The path brought us to a lane where we turned left (20mins), passing Turf Lea on our left. We turned right at a green footpath sign (21mins) and walked through a gap stile by the side of gate to head downhill. This took us to the Peak Forest Canal which we crossed by a swing bridge and turned left, with the canal now on our left (25mins).

We left the towpath to turn right at a green footpath sign marked Cown Edge (29mins), and crossed four stiles in quick succession to reach a road on our right (33mins). We turned left and then right (36mins) to head down a public bridleway through Barlow Wood. Our group reached the River Goyt and turned left before crossing Roman Bridge, the classic hump-backed packhorse bridge (39mins).

Tom leads the way  (pic by Colin Davison)

Exiting Barlow Wood, we turned left towards Roman Lakes. We reached the lakes on our right (48mins), and turned right at the end of Lakes Road (53mins) to discover that Bottoms Hall on our right was for sale. 

Offers are invited for this six-bedroomed Georgian building, constructed by industrialist Samuel Oldknow in 1790 to house apprentices who worked in his nearby mill (long since demolished).

Beyond the hall was an ironic sign advising “Satnav Victims Turn Here.” We passed Old Hall Farm on our right (54mins) and headed up a rocky path. Before long Fergus was in hunting mode and the scent of a badger and natural instinct proved stronger than the commands of owner Chris or the plaintive crying of his foster sister Finola.

For five minutes Chris played “chase me” with Fergus until he emerged, muddied but unbowed, with the shameless miscreant in his arms. The dogs continued their journey on a joint lead.

We reached a footpath crossroads and turned left towards Gun Road, Cown Edge and Charlesworth (69mins). This took us past Linnet Clough Scout Hut, home of the Greater Manchester East Scouts, and left at a yellow arrow indicating a path to the right of an assault course. We continued to follow yellow arrows which led us over a stream and uphill.

Our party reached a farm building and turned right (75mins). We then turned left over a stream (76mins) and emerged at The Barn, where we turned right uphill (79mins). At a public footpath sign we turned right (81mins) and crossed a wooden stile into a field. A gap stile brought us to the start of Whetmorhurst Lane (86mins), where we stopped for Pietime.

Resuming, we headed up the lane, turning left after 60 yards at a public footpath sign and left again into a muddy field. We headed diagonally left uphill to the corner and exited with a drystone wall now on our right (90mins). We emerged to the left of Cold Wall Farm (95mins) and carried straight on uphill.

Crossing a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow on our right (97mins), we headed diagonally right uphill through a field and emerged via another wooden stile into a lane, where we turned right downhill, passing Postman Patricia on her rounds.

At a wooden public footpath sign (101mins) we turned left across a stone step stile and trudged uphill, crossing a wooden stile (108mins) near the top. We then crossed another wooden stile to reach a stone step stile where we turned right across a field. After crossing another stone step stile we turned right across a field, crossing yet another stone step stile (112mins) and turning left down a road.

By now some Wanderers were wondering whether we were taking part in an attempt to break a stile-crossing record.

We reached a T-junction and turned right along a rocky path (116mins). A wooden stile on our right was not to be resisted (117mins), which brought us to two stone step stiles and a wooden gap stile to the left of a water trough (129mins).

Cheshire countryside  (pic by Colin Davison)

When we arrived at a farmyard our leader endured a shocking experience which brought laughter not only from his comrades, but also from a passing farmhand. As Colin grabbed a metal gate, his rucksack touched an electrified fence behind him and gave him a ten-volt kick. 

For a few comical seconds, Colin thought the gate was wired, rather than the fence behind him, and he was afraid to continue. Some - though not your diarist, heaven forfend - thought it a shame when the farmhand pointed out the source of his problem.

We went through a gap stile (132mins) and followed a yellow arrow downhill. This took us through a wooden gap stile past a farmhouse to reach The Fox at Brook Bottom (141mins) just as its doors were opening at 12.03am – a timing triumph for our leader who usually finds pubs shut.

The Robbies’ cask bitter at £2-85 was deemed to be in excellent form, even by our beer critic Tom. Praise indeed.

Leaving the pub, we aimed for a red phone box and then turned right following a sign for Goyt Way down a rocky path. This brought us to a bridge across the Manchester-Sheffield railway line which we walked underneath to reach the side of Strines Station (156mins). It was suggested by Colin that this station inspired the imagination of Edith Nesbit to write The Railway Children, a novel first published in 1906. She was a known visitor to the area.

It was made into a film in 1970, and one of the scenes in which Jenny Agutter removed her knickers to flag down a train, is said to have inspired Stuart Hall and Jimmy Savile.

We passed an imposing four-bedroomed house called Brookwood, on sale for £450,000, on our right and Strines Hall on our left. Just beyond the hall, on our right, we were surprised to see that the millpond (158mins), with a dovecote at its centre, had been drained and a bulldozer was atop mud which had once been water.

Our group crossed the River Goyt (160mins) and found a convenient wooden table in a field on our left (162mins) where we stopped for lunch. Continuing, we walked uphill and crossed Strines Road (167mins) to head up a track. This brought us to a lane (174mins), which we crossed to take a path to the right of a house called Greenhills.

We crossed two more wooden stiles and headed for The Macclesfield Canal (177mins). We crossed another wooden stile and turned left following a yellow arrow (181mins). Crossing a stone step stile we turned left (184mins) and passed Dove Holes Farm on our left. We then passed Wybersley Hall Farm on our right (192mins) and reached a T-junction (193mins).

A right turn down Carr Brow took us back to our cars (197mins), where we de-booted and drove to The Horseshoe, High Lane. Here, again, the Robbies’ bitter was in fine form at £2-85 a pint.

B Walkers' diary

Walkers: Tony, Geoff, Wally        Apologies:  Ken (family lunch)

Route: Disley (Rams head) - Red Lane - Green Lane - Wings (private, possibly approved) School - Whaley Moor - Furness Vale (Soldier Dick).

We managed to keep just below the clouds, though it was a close thing approaching the Murder Stone on Buxton Old Road. No severe gradients, but several awkward styles. Average walking spped 1.78 mph.

Excellent beer at the Soldier Dick for £2.70 a pint, then onto the Horseshoe to join the remaining A men.

Next week: Meet A6 car park (Rising Sun), 9.45am, 199 bus to Newtown, bus(es) to Hayfield, walk eventually to Lantern Pike, then Macclesfield bus back to Newtown, and 199 to start.

Next week’s A walk will start at 9.40am from The Lantern Pike, Little Hayfield. Upon leading the walkers on what he described as “a magical mystery tour,” Tom will be buying drinks to celebrate the 61^st anniversary of his birth when they return at about 2.20pm. Plates of chips have also been promised by the birthday boy landlord.