Whitehough

WHITEHOUGH, ECCLES PIKE, BUXWORTH, SILK HALL FARM, BINGS, WHALEY BRIDGE, TODDBROOK RESERVOIR, TAXAL, GOYT VALLEY, THE SHADY OAK AT FERNILEE, TUNSTEAD MILTON, CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH GOLF COURSE, BRADSHAW HALL, LYDGATE FARM , ECCLES PIKE AND THE OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry, warm, mostly cloudy with sunny spells.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Steve Courtney, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, John Jones, Jock Rooney with Tips, George Whaites.

B walkers: John Laverick, Peter Morrall and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Tom Cunliffe (Welsh hols), George Dearsley (Turkish hols), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing), Tony Job (recovering from hip operation), Julian Ross (domestic duties).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: car park of The Old Hall at Whitehough, Chinley, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 9.37am. Finishing time: 2.45pm.

Most of us would know the elite soldiers of the SAS have a motto: Who Dares Wins. They also have a mantra known to them as the six Ps – proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.

On this walk our leader disproved that theory by plotting a route to the wrong destination and then flying by the seat of his pants to reach both our true targets on schedule. This is the second time Colin has mistaken discussion for decision-making. May I remind everyone that because decisions about where we are going are sometimes concluded while people are at the bar or the gents they should consult this diary to confirm their views, which are sometimes befuddled by age or drink.

It is hard to insist you are in the right when written evidence shows otherwise, but Colin tried, bless him.

From the car park of The Old Hall we turned left uphill past The Paper Mill on our left. This used to be The Oddfellows Arms until the landlord of the Old Hall, Daniel Capper, bought and renovated it.  The Old Hall is now substantially a restaurant which serves good cask beer day and night. The Paper Mill is a pub open at night and weekends selling good cask beer and bar snacks. Both are now thriving and show what can be done if you get the formula right.

We crossed a road bridge over the A6 and turned right into Eccles Terrace (5mins). We then followed a wooden public footpath sign until we reached a lane and turned right (9mins). We went to the left of an elaborate gateway to Eccles House. At Buxton Farm we turned left (16mins) to follow a wooden public footpath sign and observed a hunting kestrel.

Our group went over a stone step stile (22mins), crossed a lane (23mins), and crossed a drystone wall by a stone step stile marked with yellow posts (31mins) to reach a quarry (33mins). There followed 12 minutes of inactivity while maps were studied by Colin and Peter and options considered. Eventually (43mins) we went through a wooden gate and walked downhill to a road (44mins), where we turned left into Buxworth village.

We turned left off Western Lane to Silk Hill (47mins) and passed Silk Hill Farm at the top of the hill on our right (52mins). We went through the hamlet of Bings and headed right downhill just past a red phone box at a green public footpath sign (58mins). This took us to Goyt Mills where we turned right over a former Cromford and District Railway bridge (65mins).

After passing the Goyt Valley Medical and Dental Practice, we turned left to reach the road opposite the Jodrell Arms, one of many closed pubs in Whaley Bridge. We headed for the right of the pub, turning left at a green public footpath sign by The Old Coach House to reach the Whaley Bridge railway platform and use a footbridge to cross the Manchester-Buxton line (69mins).

On the far side we left the platform and turned right uphill past The Sacred Heart RC Church on our right. We turned left at a green public footpath sign and paused for pies and port (78mins) overlooking Toddbrook Reservoir.

Resuming, we walked along a gravel path with the reservoir on our right. Just before we reached a skateboard park on our left, we turned right through a gate (82mins). The path took us through some converted farm buildings to reach a modern housing estate (85mins). We exited Reddish Lane, crossed the road and followed a green public footpath sign (90mins).

We crossed a wooden stile and passed Lodgewood Cottages on the left. Colin informed us this was once the site of an approved school. We followed a yellow arrow and the path took us past a former pub, The Chimes at Taxal, which has been de-licensed and converted into a house. Soon after we passed St James Church (98mins) on our left.

Carrying straight ahead we reached a footbridge over the Goyt and crossed it (118mins). Our route then took us uphill and slightly left to reach and cross a wooden stile (126mins). Another uphill climb through a field brought us to a farmyard (129mins). Beyond it, on the far side of the main road, was The Shady Oak at Fernilee (131mins).

We arrived moments after our B team companions, who had reached Whaley Bridge by bus. We persuaded them to join us outside, where we drank pints of Marstons’ cask bitter at £3, admiring the view across Fernilee Reservoir and inhaling fumes from the passing traffic.

Bidding farewell to the B-teamers before continuing our journey, we turned right out of the pub and immediately right uphill. We crossed Elnor Lane (136mins) and continued up a track. This brought us to another lane where we headed right and then swung left (138mins). After a steady climb we reached a stone step stile which we crossed and stopped for lunch (153mins) with a view across the valley and Coombs Reservoir to our right.

Suitably refreshed we headed downhill in the direction of the reservoir. We went over a ladder stile (160mins) to reach a farmhouse. We went left through a gate and then right over a ladder stile (162mins) where we had to run the gauntlet of a herd of Houdini goats.  They are so named because of their defiant ability to escape from the custody of their owners.

The name is based on the exploits of the world-famous escapolgist Harry Houdini (1874-1926) who was born Erik Weisz in Budapest and emigrated to the USA. He graduated from card tricks to escapology, appearing for six months at The Alhambra Theatre in London during a sensational tour of Europe.

He had taken his name from his boyhood hero, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, who claimed he had mastered the art of levitation. Ironically, Houdini later unmasked his near namesake as a liar and a fraud.

We managed to escape the attentions of the Houdini goats via a gate leading to a field. We went through a tunnel below the Manchester-Buxton railway line (168mins) and headed for the right corner of a field, where we were obliged to ford a stream (173mins). Some of us fared better than others.

We headed left beyond the stream and crossed a footbridge (175mins) to fight our way through thick undergrowth and reach the main road from Whaley Bridge to Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is rumoured that members of the legendary Fukawe tribe still live in the chest-high foliage.

We emerged at Haycrust Farm (177mins) in Tunstead Milton. We crossed the road, turned right and after 40 yards went left at a green public footpath sign (181mins). After a series of wooden stiles and finally a stone step stile, we emerged by a pretty cottage. We crossed the drive (188mins) and went over a wooden stiletto enter Chapel-en-le-Frith Golf Club (192mins). After walking alongside a fairway, we exited the course by a wooden gate on our left (195mins). A wooden gate then brought us into the grounds of Bradshaw Hall which appeared on our right (200mins).

Steve was especially impressed with its arched gateway. Who, one wonders, could fail to marvel at its plain spandrels, its deeply-chamfered semi-circular arch and its pair of fluted, shouldered pilasters, with the inscription “1620 Francis Bradshawe” ?

We exited the Bradshaw estate through a gate by Lydgate Farm (211mins) and then proceeded to a gate on our right at the entrance to Eccles Pike (212mins). Instead of following the path we went through a gate on our right and continued to the far corner of the field. Here, instead of crossing a stone step stile, we headed left downhill (218mins).

We went over a stone step stile and left for 20 yards before turning right at a wooden public footpath sign (223mins). We emerged from trees to a road where we turned right before swinging left in the direction of Whitehough. We reached The Old Hall (230mins), de-booted and enjoyed a variety of excellent cask bitters at £2-80 a pint.

Next week’s walk will start outside The George pub in Castleton, Derbyshire, at 9.50am, calling at The Cheshire Cheese in Hope around 12.15pm and finishing at The Cheshire Cheese in Castleton at about 2.20pm. Happy wandering.

The following pictures courtesy of John Jones