Furness Vale

FURNESS VALE, DIPPING STONES, LYME PARK, MONKHOUSE MEMORIAL, BOWSTONES, LYME HALL, LYME CAGE, THE DANDY COCK AT DISLEY, PEAK FOREST CANAL, FURNESS VALE MARINA AND THE SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Light drizzle, cloud and sunshine.

Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, John Laverick and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkish yachting hols), Peter Beal (narrow-boating), George Dearsley (prolonged Turkish hols), Ken Sparrow (golden wedding anniversary cruise).

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Soldier Dick pub at Furness Vale.

Starting time: 9.33am. Finishing time: 2.13pm.

It is less than three months since we walked the best part of this route, but the two pubs with a phallic connection proved so popular we were happy to make a speedy return. On this occasion we missed out visits to the Dipping Stones and the Murder Stone, having seen them so recently.

The time thus saved did not, however, persuade anyone other than your leader and diarist to scale the heights of Bowstones. This was a missed opportunity, having climbed so far, because despite the constant threat of rain, visibility was excellent and a spectacular panoramic view was available.

But we must never forget the Golden Rules of the Wednesday Wanderers. Rule 1: There are no rules. Rule 2: See Rule 1.

So the four who eschewed the views from Bowstones arrived five minutes earlier for a livener at the Dandy Cock. In a dilemma between vistas and ale, I fear the demon drink wins every time.

From the car park of The Soldier Dick we turned right along the A6 for 80 yards before turning right again at The Imperial Palace Chinese restaurant into Yeardsley Lane. This was the start of a gradual but unrelenting climb for the next 75 minutes.

At the end of the lane a path continued forward which we followed, swinging right at the entrance to a caravan park and going through a farm gate by the side of stables (15mins). A steady climb brought us to a road (32mins).

There had been an attempt at drizzle to dampen our spirits, but the donning of your diarist’s “magic pants” had once again proved effective against the rain.

On our last visit we had turned right here for 400 yards before reaching on our right “The Murder Stone.” This marks the spot where, in the early 19th Century, a merchant had been battered to death by three murderers. Two were captured – one in Macclesfield and the other boarding a ship at Liverpool.

The man held in Macclesfield hanged himself in his cell – presumably to escape being convicted, sentenced and, er, hanged. The man arrested in Liverpool pleaded not guilty on the ground that he was out for a stroll with two strangers when they suddenly attacked a man without warning, stole his money and ran away.

He took a share of the loot because he feared they might kill him too. The jury did not accept this story and he was hanged judicially. The third man seems to have got away with murder.

Instead of turning right to visit the scene again, we turned left and after some 80 yards we turned right at a green footpath sign. We reached a stile on our right 50 yards short of The Dipping Stones. Legend has it that during the Plague which gripped Britain in the 17th Century, villagers bought goods by leaving their money in holes which had been gouged out of the rock and filled with vinegar as a disinfectant.

We crossed the stile (38mins) and headed right in the direction of Lyme Park. Nature lovers may be interested to know we saw a pretty display of blue harebells on the ground and an aerial display by a hovering kestrel.

As we reached a gravel path, three of the party opted to turn right in the direction of the former Moorside Inn, now a home for disadvantaged children, while their leader and Lawrie turned left for 20 yards and then right just in front of a cattle-grid.

This proved to be an arrow-straight route to Lyme Park, crossing a stream by a footbridge, following a footpath sign across a road and crossing a stone step stile to enter Lyme Park (72mins).  Here the leader and Lawrie stopped within the acceptable parameters of Pietime for a mid-morning break, while those who had gone the wrong way took an early Pietime break elsewhere.

We shall say no more about it (See Rule 1). After re-uniting we immediately split up when four of the group decided not to go with their leader to Bowstones. It was but a short journey, walking away from the Lantern Wood in Lyme Park and keeping a drystone wall on my left.

I passed the Monkhouse memorial (77mins) and crossed a ladder stile on my left (82mins) to reach Bowstones Farm on the left and The Bowstones just beyond. The latter are ancient relics, even older than The Wednesday Wanderers, which have some connection with Lyme Hall.

After admiring the panoramic view, your diarist retraced his footsteps back to the ladder stile, then continued straight ahead downhill (86mins).  This path led to a gate into woods (96mins). As I approached a gate to leave the woods, Lyme Hall appeared to my right.

After leaving the woods (99mins) I swung right downhill. Another gate (105mins) brought me to the car park which I crossed to the left of the kiosk and started climbing steeply uphill. This brought me to the path which leads left uphill to Lyme Cage.

After reaching the Cage (116mins), from where gamekeepers once kept their eyes on the deer herds and incarcerated any poachers, I carried on downhill to the entrance hut (130mins). Here I turned right, leaving the park and entering Red Lane. This took me up then down past St Mary’s Church on the right to emerge at the crossroads controlled by traffic lights in Disley (142mins).

After turning right along the A6 for 100 yards, I crossed the road to enter The Dandy Cock (144mins) for an emotional reunion with my followers. The cask mild at £2-65 was in excellent form, and we were amused to see Tom served with a mug of chips. We were further amused when Colin greedily snatched one from the top of the pile and burned his mouth. The biter bit, so to speak.

Resuming we left the pub, turning right out of the front door and immediately right again down a road past a row of terraced houses.  We walked under a rail bridge (145mins) and turned left into Sherbrooke Road (147mins). By walking to the left of a house called Waters Edge, we reach a footpath on the bank of the Peak Forest Canal (151mins).

We turned right, with the canal on our left before using Bridge 26 to cross to the opposite bank (156mins). At a bench just beyond the bridge we paused for lunch (157mins).

Continuing with the canal now on our right, we passed the Swizzels Matlow factory in New Mills on our left (175mins), with its nostalgic smell of “Love Hearts” and “Parma Violets.”  Further on we passed the Furness Vale Marina (195mins) before exiting the canal at Bridge 31.

As we turned right (199mins) we met the three B walkers, who had reached this point from the opposite direction. We went over the railway crossing and turned right at the A6, crossing the road and returning to our cars to de-boot (202mins).

The Soldier Dick had three different cask ales on offer at £2-80, all of which were deemed to be in fine fettle.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am from The Old Hall at Whitehough, Chinley. Colin will lead us to The Roebuck at Chapel-en-le-Frith, which we expect to reach by 12.15pm, before returning to The Old Hall at around 2.20pm.

Happy wandering.