Wildboarclough

CLOUGH HOUSE CAR PARK AT WILDBOARCLOUGH, THREE SHIRES HEAD, PANNIER POOL, BACK CLOUGH, DANE BOWER, CAT AND FIDDLE, CUMBERLAND BROOK AND STANLEY ARMS AT BOTTOM OF THE OVEN

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry, mostly warm with cloud, gentle breeze and some sunny spells.

A walkers: Mickey Barrett, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Phil Welsh and George Whaites.

Apologies: Peter Beal (narrow-boating), George Dearsley (prolonged Turkish hols), Geoff Spurrell (hols).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Clough House free car park at Wildboarclough.

Starting time: 9.45am. Finishing time: 1.58pm.

Phil Welsh made a welcome return to the fold after a long absence caused by that four-letter word beginning with w. He brought our numbers up to a magnificent seven as Lawrie led us through some spectacular scenery in three different counties.

Colin also returned with the full version of the dramatic fall which put him in hospital last week. He not only survived the tumble from a ladder but also a visit to Stepping Hill Hospital where he was treated for lacerations to tendons on the back of his left hand.

He bravely shrugged off the pain to drive us down a series of narrow lanes to our starting point, describing his injury as a mere flesh wound and assuring us that he didn’t blub in A and E as he awaited treatment.

Phil is the victim of downsizing at his new company, and we may benefit from his enforced idleness before teams of head-hunters vie for his talents.

Our target was the Cat and Fiddle, second highest inn or pub in England at 1,690 feet (the Tan Hill Inn in Yorkshire being the highest). It is thought the name comes from either “Le Chat Fidele” the faithful cat) or “Catherine la Fidele” (Catherine of Aragon, who stayed faithful to the Roman Catholic Church, despite the reformation led by her husband, Henry VIII). 

It is likely we will never know the answer.

From the car park we headed uphill to reach a green public footpath sign indicating the route to The Cat and Fiddle (1min). At a fork in the footpaths we turned right (17mins) to begin a steady climb. We reached the A54 Congleton-Buxton Road (32mins), crossed it to reach a crash barrier on the far side, and descended a flight of steps marked with a yellow arrow.

Now we were heading downhill, over a stone step stile. Circling above us were lapwings, or green plovers, easily identifiable by their distinctive “peewit” call, which gives them their other nickname. These waders are migrants from North Africa, the Indian sub-continent and China, breeding on cultivated land and laying 3-4 eggs on ground scrape.

They are crested, black and white with a green tint on their backs. They average 12 inches in length with a 30 inch wingspan.

Later on our journey we encountered a curlew, one of the largest British wading birds, with a long, slender down-curved bill and mottled brown plumage. Like the lapwings, curlews are migratory birds and can be found at different times of the year in Europe, Africa, south-east Asia, north and south America and Australasia.

Continuing our journey downhill we followed a yellow arrow to the right, went through a gate and crossed a footbridge over a stream (43mins). This brought us to Three Shire Head (50mins) where leaving Cheshire behind us we had Staffordshire to our right and Derbyshire to our left.

We paused at Pannier Pool, overlooking the River Dane, for pies and port. This was the place in centuries past where traders met to buy and exchange goods, often stolen, which they brought on mules and pack horses carrying panniers.

Continuing we went left into Derbyshire through a gate along a rocky path. We went through a metal  gate  (61mins) and left at a wooden public footpath sign (65mins). We reached a ridge below the skyline from where we could see Shutlingsloe to the left ahead in the distance. On our left on the skyline were The Roaches and below us was Orchard Farm.

As we swung right along the path, the distinctive telecom mast on Croker Hill came briefly into view. After going through a metal gate (73mins) we swung left and Grimshaw Rocks appeared on our left in the distance. We passed Back Clough below on our left (77mins) and went through a metal gate (87mins) to enter Dane Bower.

Piles of millstone grit lay around in abundance from the days many decades ago when this was a working quarry. We crossed a stream (94mins) on our left which was the Infant Dane and passed a grouse butt to climb a steep bank, following a wooden public footpath sign to go left.

We followed a path until we reached a narrower path on our right (101mins) which went steeply uphill to the left of a barbed wire fence. This took us over a wooden stile back to the A54, which we crossed, and went through a metal gate to follow a path across the moor. Another metal gate was passed (121mins) and we emerged opposite The Cat and Fiddle (131mins) for pints of in-form Golden Dragon bitter at £3-20.

The road outside is a magnet for motor-cyclists and an AA survey in 2003 named it as the most dangerous stretch of road in the UK. Fame indeed !

Inside the pub, a sign advised “cash only” which Tom interpreted for us as meaning a pub in financial difficulties. It has certainly changed hands many times in recent years.

On leaving the pub we retraced our footsteps across the moor before turning right at a green public footpath sign marked Cumberland Brook and Wildboarclough (148mins). We stopped for lunch on a broken drystone wall (153mins) and then carried on through a wooden gate next to a stile (165mins).

The path led us to a gated marked “Please close ye gate” (174mins) and we crossed a wooden footbridge (175mins) before retracing our earlier route back to the cars (181mins). From here it was a two-mile drive to The Stanley Arms at Bottom of the Oven for pints of Marstons’ bitter at £3.

Next week’s walk will start from Colin’s house at 11, Carr Brow, High Lane, calling at The Ring O’ Bells, Marple, around 12.30pm and finishing at The Horseshoe, High Lane, around 2.20pm.