Whaley Bridge

WHALEY BRIDGE, CROMFORD AND HIGH PEAK RAILWAY LINE (DISUSED), TAXAL NICK, WINDGATHER ROCKS, FERNILEE RESERVOIR, HOO MOOR, KNIPE FARM, GOYT VALLEY, THE SHADY OAK AT FERNILEE, ELNOR LANE FARM, SHALL CROSS, SHALLCROSS INCLINE GREENWAY AND THE COCK AT WHALEY BRIDGE

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry and sunny.

A Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, John Jones, Jock Rooney with Tips, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

B walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job and Ken Sparrow.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), Tom Cunliffe (wounded knee), George Dearsley (back in Turkey), Geoff Spurrell (immobile left leg)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Road next to The Cock at Whaley Bridge.

Starting time: 9.37am. Finishing time: 2.10pm.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the opposite must apply. For on a bright sunny day, George Whaites had a large crowd for his birthday bash. A round for 11 people is stiff at the best of times, but at £3-40 a pint in The Shady Oak, George had also chosen an expensive venue for his celebration. We can only thank him for his largesse, wish him many happy returns and point out that the alternative to growing old is even less acceptable.

Although the morning began crisply enough, the initial climb towards Windgather Rocks was sufficiently steep to see many hats, scarves, gloves and sweaters discarded at an early stage. Visibility was clear and we enjoyed splendid views over the Goyt Valley.

This was a traditional walk along familiar paths, but a minor diversion led us to a new route from the edge of Fernilee Reservoir to The Shady Oak. Whether by good luck or good management we were able to admire a new perspective of some old and well-loved scenery.

After passing the front of The Cock on our left, we turned left across a stream and up a bank which led us to the disused track of the Cromford and High Peak Railway. Here we turned right and followed a route once used by trains bringing minerals down from the nearby hills.

Just before the start of the Shallcross Incline Greenway ahead, we turned right at a wooden public footpath sign (9mins) and went to the right of a playground to descend Mevril Road. At the end of this road we crossed the main road (14mins) and started to climb a gravel track. This led us across a footbridge over the River Goyt  (19mins) and a steep ascent took us past a graveyard to St James’ Church, Taxal on our right.

Although the building is mainly Victorian, Christian worship has taken place in the Taxal area for 800 years. There are strong historical links with the Jodrell  family, wealthy merchants from Goostrey.  John William Jodrell, of Yeardsley Hall, sold 2,064 acres of land at Taxal Valley to businessman Samuel Grimshawe in 1835. This included The Cat and Fiddle.

There was a boundary dispute, however, when the neighbouring Earl of Derby claimed the pub was on his land. A hearing before The Master Extraordinary in Chancery decided in the Grimshawes favour. Samuel went on to supervise the building or Errwood Hall.

At the T-junction to the left of the church (23mins) we turned left for 40 yards and then went right over a stone step stile by a sign pointing to Kettleshulme and Taxal Edge. After a steady climb we reached a lane and turned left (33mins). After 100 yards we turned right at a sign for Windgather Rocks (35mins). Another steady climb brought us to the drystone wall at Taxal Nick (43mins).

We turned left before reaching the ladder stile and took a dog-leg left and right to follow the path to the right of a wood (53mins). Another steady climb brought us to Windgather Rocks (59mins), where we gazed over the unmistakable sight of Bowstones atop the hillside over the valley.

Turning left along the ridge, we reached the sheltered sheep fold (66mins) where we paused for pies and port. Ere long three buzzards were circling overhead and your diarist observed that they had spotted Lawrie. He then regaled us with a story of mystery and suspense involving the discovery in an Exeter valley of the corpses of 17 buzzards.

Ornithologists were baffled by this scene of massacre. But before former Superintendent Ross could even metaphorically tape off the crime scene let alone interview any suspects, Lawrie delivered his denouement.

In a manner that would have had Agatha Christie spinning in her grave and without any red herrings, he revealed that a pair of peregrine falcons with a nest nearby had gone on a killing spree. In a series of pre-emptive strikes, they had carried out air raids on the unsuspecting buzzards who scarcely knew what hit them as they were dive-bombed by a merciless set of stoops.

The falcons, recognising a perceived threat to their nestlings, were captured on film as they continued their carnage without so much as an ASBO from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The laws of nature, ruthless in tooth and claw, apply.

We continued our journey in the direction of Pym Chair, but a minor diversion to the left took us on a modest short cut to the road leading down to Errwood and Fernilee reservoirs (81mins). With the road across the dam almost in sight we turned left at a wooden public footpath sign marked Hoo Moor and Fernilee (103mins)

 After going through a gate we entered a restricted byway on our right (125mins), turning right at a wooden public footpath sign (130mins) and left over a wooden stile (134mins). A track carpeted with pine needles led us down a copse which brought us to a lane where we turned right.

By descending left we were able to cross a stile marked with a yellow arrow and turn left to go round Knipe Farm, following a path between an electrified fence. This brought us to a wooden footbridge over a stream and then a stone footbridge over the Goyt (144mins). From the bridge on the other side of the river we headed for a large tree. On reaching it we carried on to a wooden stile (151mins). We crossed this and went uphill to another wooden stile.

After crossing this we continued uphill to a gate leading into a farmyard with stables on our left. Opposite the entrance to the farm (155mins) was The Shady Oak at Fernilee, where the three B walkers were already enjoying their pints of Hobgoblin on the eve of Halloween. This dark, smooth cask bitter went down a treat – especially the first free pint courtesy of George.

On leaving the pub we turned right out of the front door and immediately right uphill. We crossed a road (157mins) and headed up a gravel track until we reached a lane (161mins) , where we turned left downhill. This took us past Elnor Lane Farm before we stopped for lunch (164mins) near Lee Head View at a plinth surrounded by a stone wall. 

There were various guesses as to whether it might have once been a birdbath or a sundial before we discovered it was “The Shall Cross”, origins unknown.

Continuing, we turned left into Shallcross Road (168mins) and right at the end of the houses on to Shallcross Incline Greenway (170mins). At its end we reached Cromford Court flats (177mins)  and retraced our footsteps back to the cars (182mins). In The Cock we enjoyed pints of Robbies’ cask bitter for £2-80.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30pm from Brabyns Park car park, Marple Bridge. It is anticipated that walkers will reach The Hare and Hounds at Werneth Low around 12.30pm, returning to Marple Bridge and drinks at The Norfolk Arms about 2.30pm.

This year’s Christmas walk, starting with mince pies and mulled wine at Colin’s house at 11, Carr Brow, High Lane, will be held on December 17, ending with lunch at the nearby Dog and Partridge.

    

Bollington

BOLLINGTON AND ENVIRONS

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Mainly Cloudy

A walkers: Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, George Dearsley, Alan Hart.

Apologies: Jock Rooney (diving supervisor in Columbia), George Whaites.(domestic duties), Tom Cunliffe (dodgy knee)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Dearsley

Starting point: Main car park in Bollington

Starting time: 9.27 am. Finishing time: 1.57pm.

This “old faithful” walk appeared to challenge Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, in that we seemed to go up and up and never come down.

Nevertheless, we were blessed with mild weather and good camaraderie, so the physics can be overlooked.

We began from the main car park in Bollington, stopping momentarily for walkers to buy the traditional “orgasmic” pies from F Smith’s on the main road.

We turned right into Ingersley Road and followed the sign to “Pott Shrigley”, which is actually Spuley Lane.

We then turned right at Hedge Row.

The path rises past what was formerly a pub called the Cheshire Hunt. Just past this building we went left through a gate.

This took us over a small, centuries old stone bridge and through a gate which was signed ”Jodrell’s Level”.

We then began a steep climb, the one that caused your diarist’s pal Jamie Philp to pull up and retire on his Wednesday Wanderers’ debut last year.

We reached a wall and here the track levels out a little.

Although the Wanderers have passed this way many times, Colin pointed out a carved wooden mole on the left of the path that at least three of us had never noticed before.

Mole

 We went through a gate and turned immediately right following a dry stone wall to our right.

A debate began about where exactly was Andrew’s Knob. This has nothing to do with Fergie and the Royal Family but refers to an escarpment.

Lawrie confidently gestured to a hill in the distance and confirmed it as the aforementioned Knob. Minutes later he was pointing at a contour around 180 degrees in the opposite direction, attesting with equal gravity that this indeed was the Knob.

Knob-spotting over, we proceeded on the path and turned right, crossing a stile and finding ourselves on a road.

We turned right again.

This brought us to a main road, the Whaley Bridge to Macclesfield Road

We turned right and then left over a stile sign posted the “permissive path”.

On the first occasion we walked this path the visibility was worse than a 50s London pea-souper fog.

On the second occasion we were buffeted by driving rain.

Now, we could enjoy the views from the path in all their splendour, although one was forever looking down to avoid a proliferation of cow pats, which looked as if someone had slipped a dodgy korma into the local herd’s feed.

View

 At Lawrie’s insistence the quartet stopped for Pie Time at 10.47 am stepping down into a natural hollow off the windswept path.

With no Tom Cunliffe to mither us we enjoyed a full 12 minutes of rest, plus the munificence of port, courtesy of Mr Hart.

Resuming our walk at 10.59am we continued along the ridge before climbing a wall and turning right.

We went down a steep descent for 10 yards and then immediately up again, through a gate and up a sharp incline.

This eventually brought us to Smith Lane.

We crossed a stile on the left and negotiated two more stiles.

We passed a farm on our right with a large solar panel resource.

Solar

Then we went through a five-bar gate and found ourselves back on the Whaley Bridge to Macclesfield road.

We could, of course, simply have carried on to our half way pub, the Robin Hood.

But with customary Wednesday Wanderers’ complications we went right up the side of a house and meandered over two stiles and through several fields before emerging back on the same main road by the church.

Here we turned right and reached the Robin Hood at 12.03pm.

Black Sheep and Doombar were both £3 and on good form.

The B walkers were already at the bar.

Conversation lurched from Hitler to Che Guevara.

Mr Hart revealed that “Che” actually means “listen” and was a nickname the revolutionary was given after calling crowds to order at speeches or rallies.

He is supported in this explanation by Wikipedia. However, Yahoo answers, by contrast, claims "Che"  means mate.

Apparently Che was half Irish and his real name was Ernesto Lynch.

Che

As a youth he was nicknamed “Chancho” (pig) because of his poor bathing habits and the fact that he proudly wore a “weekly shirt” – ie, a shirt he changed once a week.

All through his life people commented on his smelliness (though obviously not to his face once he had the power to execute people on a whim).

I can see you are already contemplating shredding those iconic posters and tee-shirts.

After his execution, a military doctor amputated Che’s hands.

Bolivian army officers transferred Guevara’s body to an undisclosed location and refused to reveal whether his remains had been buried or cremated.

The hands were preserved in formaldehyde to be sent to Buenos Aires for fingerprint identification. (His fingerprints were on file with the Argentine police.) They were later sent to Cuba.

The mood lightened when conversation switched to Diana Dors. (Quite how we went from Cuba to Swindon escapes me).

Miss Dors (real name Diana Fluck) was an actress, who died in 1984 but whose name was recently restored to the newspapers during the Max Clifford sexual misconduct trial when it was disclosed how the PR man attended her regular raunchy parties.

Diana

Dors claimed to have left a large fortune to her son in her will, via a secret code in the possession of her third husband Alan Lake. But after Lake’s suicide, this code was never found, and the whereabouts of the fortune remains to this day a mystery.

We set off from the pub at 1.13pm, taking Stocks Lane and Chapel Lane to reach the Virgin’s Path.

We took lunch at the waterfall at 1.33pm, moving off again at 1.39pm to pass the derelict mill and to reach the cars at 1.57pm.

De-booted we met up again in the Dog and Partridge where 1892 was £2.70 and Unicorn £2.80.

Next week’s walk will start from the Cock in Whaley Bridge at 9.30am. The half way livener will be taken at the Shady Oak, Fernilee at around 12.30pm and there will be further libations at the Cock after around 2.15pm. Sadly your diarist will be back in Turkey.

Happy Wandering.

Whitehough

WHITEHOUGH, BLACK BROOK, LOWER MEADOW FARM, CLOUGH HEAD FARM, SOUTH RIDGE FARM, PHOSIDE FARM, PEEP O’ DAY, CHINLEY HEAD FARM, THE LAMB INN AT BOLE HILL AND WICKEN CLOUGH, VALLEY VIEW FARM, MOSELEY HOUSE FARM, CHINLEY AND THE OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Mainly Cloudy with Sunny Intervals.

A walkers: Peter Beal, Steve Courtney, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman,  Alan Hart, Phil Welsh and George Whaites.

B walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), George Dearsley (w*^king in Leeds), John Laverick (gone fishing), Jock Rooney (diving supervisor in Columbia), Julian Ross (domestic duties).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Old Hall at Whitehough.

Starting time: 9.39am. Finishing time: 1.50pm.

Colin led us to pastures new on this undulating walk which contained many a steady gradient but none of the lung-bursting variety. We were also introduced to a pub which had not been visited for many a year and one which we will doubtless grace with our custom again.

Most of the seasoned Wednesday Wanderers were familiar with the general area, but much of the route was unfamiliar. Your diarist certainly cannot recall scribbling “Turn right at the rhinoceros” in previous reports ! This makes recent sightings of a cormorant, a weasel, llamas and alpacas pale to insignificance.

From the car park of The Old Hall we turned right by the main pub entrance and headed downhill crossing a road-bridge across Black Brook to the left of a weir (4mins). We then headed uphill past the entrance to Stephanie Works on our left until we reached a road where we turned left (8mins).

After passing a small pillar box on our right we left the road to our right and went through a gate marked with a yellow arrow (9mins) which took us into a field. At this point there were a magnificent seven of us, later to become eight when Peter joined us at Peep o’ Day.  Our route was now steadily uphill as we went left over a wooden stile (16mins), exited one field by a metal gate and then turned right over a stone step stile (19mins) to the right of a farm.

We clambered over a board stile to the right of a field (21mins) with Lower Meadow Farm below us to our left. We followed a yellow arrow right uphill and left the field through a gate in a drystone wall (26mins). Our group crossed a lane (31mins) and went to the right of a farmyard before going right over a wooden stile (32mins) By heading diagonally left through a field we crossed a stone step stile (34mins) to reach Clough Head Farm.

Going to the right of the farm through a gate (38mins) we reached a paddock containing a tethered life-size wooden rhinoceros. We turned right at the rhino and reached a stony track where we turned left downhill (44mins) We ignored a footpath on our right and passed Moor Lodge before following a wooden public footpath sign on our right (54mins), then crossing first a ladder stile and then a wooden stile (60mins) to march through fields towards a telecom mast.

We reached the state-of-the-art mast, named ironically “Wireless”, and paused for pies and port. Resuming, we headed downhill, through a gate and continued downhill (64mins) until we reached a standing stone with stone steps down to our left (65mins). We followed these to take a path to the left of a barn and to the right of a house at South Ridge Farm (71mins).

Turning right up steps (73mins) we went through a gap stile and followed a green public footpath sign for Peep o’ Day via Phoside. We passed Phoside Farm, built in 1784, and the ruins of a mill (84mins) before following a footpath sign for Peep o’ Day. We reached the former chapel (106mins) and were joined there by Peter, who had made a delayed start because of a visit by friends.

In answer to questions from Steve, Peter recalled how Peep o’ Day had been used by film-makers shooting the Alan Bleasdale TV series G.B.H to depict the embattled home of a schoolteacher played by Michael Palin. Peter prides himself on being a mine of such useless information.

On reaching the road, Colin’s pleas to cross it and head up a small incline leading to a footpath fell on deaf ears as Tom insisted he could see the roof of the pub and began marching right along the main road (108mins) He was soon joined by other rebels and Colin was obliged to follow suit. After passing Chinley Head Farm on our left (115mins) we reached The Lamb Inn on our left (119mins) It proved to be a real find, although its roaring fire was unnecessary on an unseasonably warm day.

This charming hostelry started life in 1769 as three cottages in an area known as Bole Hill and Wicken Clough. By 1830 one of the cottages became a beer house called The Board Inn. The cottages were eventually joined together and a full licence was issued in 1839. The pub changed its name to The Lamb Inn two years later.

One of its former landlords was a celebrated crown green bowler called Noel Burrows, who was licensee from 1988-99. He was a winner of the Waterloo Cup, the bowls equivalent of Wimbledon, and he currently plays for The Wagon and Horses at Handforth, near Wilmslow.

Of the cask beers on offer, most opted for a Cornish brew called Betty Stogs at £2-80 a pint. Tom declared it to be in top form – a tremendous accolade considering The Lamb is only three miles down the road from The Lantern Pike and its beer is 60 pence cheaper.

Leaving The Lamb we crossed the main road and walked a few yards to the left where we eventually found a steep descent to a well-hidden wooden public footpath sign. We followed it with Cracken Edge ahead of us and reached Valley View Farm, where we turned left through a series of gates, with Cracken Edge now to our right.

After stopping at a grassy bank for lunch (139mins) we continued to a road, where we turned left. This took us past Grey Stead, a semi-detached house on our left with magnificent views across the valley. It was for sale and Colin informed us the asking price was £375,000.

We then passed Moseley House Farm on our left and reached the war memorial on our right to the fallen from Chinley, Bugsworth and Brownside. Our octet turned left across the Hope Valley railway line to enter Chinley. At the sign for Whitehouse we carried straight on and soon came to The Old Hall (164mins) for pints of Marstons cask bitter at £2-90.

Next week’s walk will start from the free public car park opposite The Spinners Arms in Bollington at 9.25am. After calling at the orgasmic pie shop we intend to scale White Nancy and follow Kerridge Ridge to Rainow, then heading for Lamaload Reservoir. We will return to Rainow, calling at The Robin Hood for a livener at 12.20pm, before returning to Bollington for further refreshment in The Dog and Partridge about 2.20pm.

Colin has offered to drive, calling at your diarist’s house at 9am with the possibility of picking up two other passengers.

Rushton Spencer

RUSHTON, CHURNET VALLEY RAILWAY LINE (DISUSED), RAVENSCLOUGH FARM, DRAKE’S WELL, BOSLEY CLOUD, TIMBERSBROOK OLD CHAPEL, COACH AND HORSES AT TIMBERSBROOK, OVERTON HALL, FLOWERY FIELDS FARM, GREEN MEADOWS FARM, BLACKWOOD HALL FARM, RUSHTON PARISH CHURCH, THE KNOT INN AT RUSHTON

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Cloudy but dry until last 15minutes.

A walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart and George Whaites.

B Walkers: George Fraser, Tony Job, Ken Sparrow and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), Steve Courtney (professional sailing), George Dearsley (w*^king), Jock Rooney (diving in Columbia), Julian Ross (refurbishing house to let), Phil Welsh (wife poorly)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Public car park behind car park of The Knot Inn at Rushton, Staffs.

Starting time: 9.52am. Finishing time: 2.46pm.

Despite heavy rain on the Monday and Tuesday with forecasts of further showers, we escaped unscathed once again as the weather gods smiled down on The Wednesday Wanderers. Indeed if we had finished on time at 2.30pm we would have avoided the rain entirely. 

Unfortunately the walk was longer than anticipated and a light shower started when we were just half a mile from journey’s end.

Happily your diarist’s simple device of donning a waterproof jacket was enough to reduce what threatened to be an untimely downpour into the lightest of drizzle. We were all safely back home by the time the heavens opened with a vengeance later in the afternoon.

Our starting point near the Knot Inn on the disused North Staffordshire Railway Line at Rushton was the source of two interesting pieces of history.

The Stafford knot is a three-looped knot which is the traditional symbol of the county of Staffordshire and its county town, Stafford. It is described as a “particular representation of the simple overhand knot, the most basic knot of all” (which your diarist was brought up to call “a granny knot” because even infirm old ladies could tie it)

It was the badge of the de Stafford family. Legend has it that three felons who committed a crime together were due to be executed at Stafford Gaol. They argued about who should be hanged first so the executioner solved the problem by using this knot to hang all three simultaneously.

The Stafford knot was the badge of the 38^th (1^st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot in which Sir Thomas Brisbane served. When the city in Queensland, Australia, was named after him, the Stafford knot was incorporated six times in the city’s flag.

When the North Staffordshire Railway opened the Churnet Valley Line in 1849 it was known locally as “The Knotty.” The railway ran for 27 miles passing 14 stations from North Rode in Cheshire to Uttoxeter in east Staffordshire. The area was important within the mineral industry for iron, copper, limestone and sandstone which were quarried extensively.

With its lake at Rudyard and its steep-sides, Churnet Valley was marketed as a tourist attraction and became known as “Little Switzerland.” The silver-tongued spin doctors were unable, however, to save the line from The Beeching Axe in 1964 and it closed completely in 1988 before a preservation society managed to rescue a small central section near Rudyard Lake.

From the free car park we walked past the Knot Inn car park on our right and passed the former Rushton Station, built in 1844 and now a private house, on our left before crossing the road and following a yellow arrow to walk towards Cheshire along the disused line.

As the route ahead became overgrown, a yellow arrow pointed left (13mins) and we crossed a wooden stile to proceed straight ahead across a field to another wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow. As we walked on through a large field the River Dane appeared on our right. We crossed a footbridge (24mins) which crossed a stream feeding the river and headed left up a flight of steps.

We emerged at Ravensclough Farm and turned left (33mins), going left at a wooden public footpath sign (43mins) over a wooden stile. The path led us to a road (54mins) where we turned left uphill. After passing an imposing house called Drake’s Well on our right we turned right at a wooden public footpath sign (59mins) Upon reaching a flight of steep steps on our right (61mins) we paused for pies, port and to gird our collective loins for the final ascent up Bosley Cloud.

Continuing our journey we reached the Trig Point at the peak (69mins) and admired the view eastwards over the Dane Valley and beyond towards Buxton. We took a path to the left of the summit (72mins) which led us through a wood. We followed a yellow arrow to our right (84mins) and right again at another (87mins) before going left at a wooden public footpath sign marked similarly (92mins).

We reached a road and turned left downhill (94mins) At Timberbrook junction we turned right into Weathercock Lane (98mins), passing the Old Chapel, now converted into a home, on our right. Also on our right we spotted a barn containing two white peahens and a little further along was a pond containing a duck-house. One wag suggested it might be the home of an MP who would be claiming it on his expenses.

At a wooden public footpath sign we turned left (104mins) along the Gritstone Trail. We crossed a wooden stile and turned left uphill (118mins). When we reached the end of Brookhouse Lane we turned right (123mins) and reached The Coach and Horses at Timbersbrook (128mins).

The Robbies’ cask bitter at £3-10 was enjoyed by most of those present, although Tom’s discerning palate could only give it 6 out of 10. He is fast becoming the Craig Revel Horwood of beer judges.

Resuming our odyssey, we crossed the road opposite the front door of the pub and turned left uphill, then right into Cherry Lane (134mins). Two llamas bounded across a lawn on our left, and Colin was happy to share with them some apples he had scrumped earlier. But signs not only warned against feeding the pleading animals but also that CCTV cameras would capture anyone ignoring the instruction.

Colin was thus obliged to withdraw his fruit along with his claim that they were alpacas when he saw yet another sign saying “Llamaland.” 

After passing Overton Hall on our left we turned left at a wooden stile just before reaching Common Road on our left (140mins) This led us through a field and over a wooden stile with a path between an overgrown holly hedge on our left and a broken drystone wall on our right. Here we stopped for lunch (147mins)

Resuming we passed Flowery Fields Farm on our left (154mins) At a junction (157mins) we turned right along Pines Lane. At the end of the lane we turned left (162mins) with the distinctive shape of Shutlingsloe ahead in the distance. So there we were in “Little Switzerland” gazing at a peak known ironically as “Cheshire’s Matterhorn.”

We passed Long Edge Farm on our right (164mins) and turned right down some overgrown steps to cross a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (173mins) after a five-minute delay in finding it. This took us through fields to the right of Green Meadows Farm which we exited by another wooden stile (177mins)

On reaching a lane we turned left and then right (185mins) along a road. This took us past Deepdale House on our right (194mins), Blackwood Hall Farm on our left (196mins) and The Old Smithy on our right (203mins) When we reached Dingle Lane on our right (206mins) we turned left. This brought us to Rushton Parish Church on our right (212mins)

The church is now dedicated to St Lawrence The Martyr, but in 1386, when the people of Rushton Spencer applied to the bishop in Leek for permission to hold services in the village, it was called “The Chapel in the Wilderness.” The chapel has a date of 1690 above its east window and 1713 above the south doorway, but a much older timber-framed church, possibly from the 14^th Century, exists within the stone walls.

St Lawrence was martyred in 258 when the Emperor Valerian issued an edict that all Christian bishops, priests and deacons should be put to death immediately. Lawrence was roasted alive on a gridiron – a hideous form of death by barbecue.

We walked through the churchyard, passing the church on our left and dropped downhill to a bridge over the disused Churnet Valley Line. After crossing the bridge we turned right and looped right back under it (222mins), to reach our cars (225mins).

Inside the Knot Inn we joined the B-teamers who had walked from Rushton to the Wincle Brewery, sampling pints of Sir Philip at £2-90 before returning along the Gritstone Trail, a journey of between six and seven miles.

The Robbies’ cask bitter in the Knot was £3-40, served by new licensees Mark and Vicky Eastwood, who took over the pub two days earlier.

Next week’s walk will start from the car park of The Old Hall at Whitehough, near Chinley, at 9.35am, featuring a climb over Chinley Churn to Peep-a-Day, and stopping for a livener in The Lamb on the outskirts of Chinley around 12.30pm before returning to The Old Hall about 2.15pm.

Poynton Pool

POYNTON POOL, POYNTON PARK, HIGHER POYNTON, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, BOLLINHURST BROOK, MANCHESTER-BUXTON RAILWAY LINE, LYME PARK, LYME CAGE, LORD VERNON WHARF, LYME GREEN MARINA, THE MINERS’ ARMS AT WOOD LANE ENDS, DAVENPORT GOLF CLUB, PRINCES INCLINE AND THE BULL’S HEAD AT POYNTON

Distance: 10-11 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry, warm and sunny; clouding over later.

A walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

B walkers: Ken Sparrow and Geoff Spurrell.

C walker: George Fraser.

Non-walking drinker: Tony Job.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (hols), Peter Beal (hiking with wife in Lakes), George Dearsley (w*^king in London), John Laverick (visiting father-in-law in Surrey), Mike Walton (painful legs), Phil Welsh (suffering from the squitters)

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Poynton Pool car park off Anglesey Drive.

Starting time: 9.39am. Finishing time: 2.28pm.

This walk was delayed because your diarist failed to spot a text message from Phil stating he was ill and would not be attending. It could be argued that the message arrived while I was in the shower and while my mobile phone was being charged, but the fact remains that I am a fool and must be punished.

September proved to be the driest on record, and October started in similar style with unseasonably warm temperatures and dry conditions. There was a slight mist but visibility was good for many miles from Lyme Cage. 

Furthermore our walk round Poynton Pool not only took us past the normal wading birds such as swans, ducks, geese, coots and moorhens, but also the rarer sight of a cormorant. We were later to see two herons at close quarters and to hear the warning call of a buzzard.

There was also the welcome return of Julian, after a prolonged absence renovating a house he has bought to let in Edgeley. It may prove to be a fleeting appearance as he struggles to cope with his new job, which involves working one day every month. One can only sympathise with his plight.

Finally we were treated to a platter of free sandwiches from Barbara and Sally Bromley at the Bull’s Head. These were gratefully received and despatched with indecent haste by the usual suspects.

From the car park five of the A team walked with Poynton Pool on our left, admiring the bird life. At the end of the footpath we turned left into South Park Drive, admiring the houses owned by Poynton’s elite. We entered the park through one gate and exited by another before turning right into Towers Road (30mins).

At a public footpath sign we turned left through a kissing gate, passing on our right a mound known as “the ice house” where food was once stored underground at low temperatures for Poynton Hall, which was demolished in 1830. Built in the early 16^th Century, this had been the home of the Warren family, who owned all the village farmland.

We walked straight ahead until we came to a wooden stile on our right marked with a yellow arrow (41mins). This took us along a narrow path flanked by hedge and fence which swung left at the end so we could proceed forward in the general direction of Lyme Park.

After crossing Middlewood Road (43mins) we went up a gravel track which passed on our left the studio of the late Wednesday Wanderer Ian Price, a notable local landscape artist and bon viveur. We crossed Hilton Road and entered Prince Road which took us across a bridge over The Middlewood Way (47mins).

The path led us to the Macclesfield Canal where we turned left (51mins). At Bridge 13 we were joined by Colin who had walked from his home in High Lane. The World War 2 pillbox, which stands by the bridge and appeared to have been appropriated by a barge owner, has now been extended and given a colourful makeover. Hanging baskets adorn the walls and it looks both quaint and charming. How long, one wonders, before a planning bureaucrat orders its demolition ?

We crossed to the far side of the canal and turned left after the pillbox before turning right at a green public footpath sign towards Bollinhurst Brook (55mins) The path took us over three footbridges and across two ladder stiles which enabled us to cross the Manchester-Buxton railway line (68mins)

The path now took us across another footbridge and a wooden stile towards Bollinhurst (77mins) before going under a railway arch and turning left (79mins) By this time your leader’s pace was too much for some fainthearts who mutinied and stopped for pietime.

This did not include port as your leader had by now entered Lyme Park (82mins) and seated himself on large rocks outside a cottage for solo Pietime at 11.03am (84mins). Resuming he walked to the right of the park’s entrance cabin, left off the lane and steeply uphill to Lyme Cage (100mins) As he admired the views (105mins) the rebels joined him.

We then went downhill and, with Lyme Hall on our left (114mins), descended a flight of wide steps, swung left into the car park, and then swung right along the lane. Another right turn off the lane took us to a path which we followed with a high deer-proof drystone wall on our right. This took us out of Lyme Park via a gate(128mins).

The path took us to a bridge over the Macclesfield Canal at Lord Vernon’s Wharf where we turned left with the canal on our left (140mins) We crossed the aqueduct over Shrigley Road (153mins) and passed the numerous boats and barges of Lyme Green Marina on our left. We exited the canal towpath at Bridge 18 (164mins) and walked down to crossroads. The Miner’s Arms was diagonally on our right across the road (167mins), and the depleted B team of Geoff and Ken had just started their drinks. We learned the Miner’s is up for sale again after the sudden death of the landlady’s mother.

Geoff and Ken had taken a modest stroll after parking at The Coppice in Higher Poynton, and were planning a similar stroll back before driving to The Bull’s Head. Geordie George, we learned later, had just missed his fellow B-teamers and taken a solo hike to The Miner’s, presumably leaving again just before they arrived.

 After pints of Theakstons or Dizzy Blonde at £3, the A team turned left immediately after the end of the pub car park and followed a path which led through various fields to a country road (183mins) Here we turned right for 20 yards and then followed a public footpath sign left down to a stream which we crossed by a footbridge and climbed up to a lane where we turned right (185mins) along a gravel track.

This brought us out on a road which we crossed (197mins), went over a wooden stile and stopped at a second stile for lunch. Continuing, we followed the beaten path through a series of fields reached by stiles and gates, passing stables on our right as we emerged into Anson Road (208mins).

We crossed Middlewood Road and headed uphill to the right of a row of miner’s cottages, Petre Bank, built in 1815, and uphill into Davenport golf course (Davenport Golf Club was re-located in Higher Poynton after its original course in Stockport had been sold for redevelopment).

At a gate we turned left, crossing the fairway (213mins), leaving the course by a gate and heading uphill to follow a path which emerged in Towers Road (220mins). We crossed the road and proceeded down Princes Incline, the former railway line which used gravity to take tubs full of coal downhill.  Just before London Road North, these tubs were emptied at a coalyard. The weight of the full tubs coming down then forced the empty tubs back uphill to provide fuel-free perpetual motion.

We reached the road (230mins), turned right and arrived at The Bull’s Head on our left (234mins) for pints of Thwaites’ Original at £2-95 or Bosley Cloud at £3-10.

By an extraordinary coincidence, we had already decided that next week’s walk would include a trip over Bosley Cloud. It will start at 9.50am from the public car park behind the Knott Inn pub car park at Rushton Spencer, which is on the Leek road out of Macclesfield. Our bracer will be around 12.15pm at The Coach and Horses, Timbersbrook, before we return for our final drink at The Knott Inn at about 2.30pm.