Dean Row

THE UNICORN AT DEAN ROW, BOLLIN VALLEY, MOTTRAM HALL GOLF COURSE, WOODSIDE FARM, THE BULL’S HEAD AT MOTTRAM CROSS, LEGH OLD HALL, WOOD END FARM HOUSE, LOWER GADHOLE FARM, THE ADMIRAL RODNEY AT PRESTBURY, PRESTBURY SEWAGE WORKS AND THE DAVENPORT ARMS (THIEF’S NECK) AT WOODFORD

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Cloudy and cool but dry.

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

Apologies: Peter Beal (in Lanzarote), Tom Cunliffe (knee injury), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Jock Rooney (in Abu Dhabi).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Unicorn pub at Dean Row, Handforth.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 2.15pm.

Another week, another walk and the same four walkers as we had seven days ago. Despite forecasts of poor weather with regular showers, we enjoyed dry conditions and although there was a cold nip in the air, there was little in the way of wind (Tom is still suffering from a painful knee).

After the ascents endured on the 19th, the route could hardly have been flatter, which was a source of constant carping from Colin who is no fan of the Cheshire plains. It should have been a straightforward journey as we retraced our footsteps back along the Bollin Valley from Prestbury, but your diarist managed to get lost – the second time it has happened on this walk in identical circumstances.

On another trek our arrival at the halfway pub at 11.50am might have been the source of criticism, but pre-planning had already established that The Admiral Rodney in Prestbury was open each day at 11.30am. Who would have thought there would have been enough lushes in this leafy stockbroker belt to sustain a morning trade ? Perhaps they were all milkmen.

From the Unicorn car park we turned right and right at the nearby roundabout into Lees Lane (3mins) At a wooden public footpath sign we turned right towards Green Hollow (5mins) and went to the right of a farm to cross a stile marked with a yellow arrow (9mins).

This brought us to a gate to the right of a farm. At another gate marked with a yellow arrow we turned right and went through a kissing gate marked Bollin Valley Way. We reached a road (28mins) where we turned right, crossed a bridge and turned immediately left over a wooden stile marked Bollin Valley Way.

This took us to the right of a swollen River Bollin on a path which has been re-opened after some land reclamation and the provision of a new gate. The path led us to the right of a house and through a gate which led through a garden. This was the source of some delight for it was here where the lawyer lived who had used his legal skills to have the path temporarily closed for many years. It was tempting to pause for Pietime at the nearby wooden benches, but one must be magnanimous in victory.

We entered Mottram Hall golf course (35mins) but when the hotel came into sight we turned left just before a soccer pitch (40mins) and continued to follow the Bollin Valley Way signs which skirted the course. After snaking our way in and out of the course we made our final exit (63mins), went to the right of a house and emerged through an open gate into a muddy lane by Woodside Farm.

We turned right following a wooden public footpath sign for Mottram Cross and reached the main road by the side of The Bull’s Head, now restored as a pub after a brief spell as an Italian restaurant. Your diarist and pedant was moved to ask whether it was too much to expect people who made their living as sign-writers to be literate, having notice the absence of an apostrophe in The Bulls Head.

We followed a lane to the right of the pub for 80 yards, then turned left along a gravel track, going left at a yellow arrow in front of houses (76mins) We went through a gate which led us along a path through bushes until it took us to a wooden footbridge to our left which we crossed (80mins).

After crossing a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (81mins), we crossed a lane, passing a pink thatched cottage on our right before reaching a flight of steps where we stopped for Pietime (88mins) To our left was a memorial to Bella (1981-96) described as a loyal friend. Resuming we followed the path as it swung left and crossed a road, following a wooden public footpath sign (90mins).

This took us to Legh Old Hall on our left, first built in the late 16^th Century and rebuilt in the 17^th from coursed buff sandstone rubble with a Kerridge-stone slate roof (similar to that at Forest Chapel which we visited last week)

After passing the hall we turned left at a yellow arrow to go through a kissing gate into a field (94mins) following yellow arrows over a wooden stile and through another field. We crossed a wooden stile with Wood End Farm House on our left (103mins) and followed a pebbled lane to the right of it.

Turning right in front of Lower Gadhole Farm (106mins), we went through a kissing gate and kept to the left side of a field (113mins) to exit by a wooden stile into a lane, where we turned right (116mins) This brought us to a footbridge across the Bollin which we crossed and turned right, passing a soccer pitch and Prestbury Squash Club on our right before turning left into Peach Street (117mins) to reach the back of the pub (118mins). Is this, we wondered the Rear Admiral Rodney ?

The pub is named after one of our maritime heroes, whom many historians feel was on a par if not superior as a strategist and tactician to Nelson. George Brydges Rodney (1718-92) came from a distinguished but poor background, born in Walton-on-Thames and leaving Harrow School to go to sea at 14.

At the age of 24 he became one of the youngest captains in the British navy. He blockaded the Scottish coast during the Jacobite uprising of 1745 and played a prominent role in the American War of Independence. It was while he was at home suffering from ill health that the British lost the battle of Chesapeake leading to their surrender at Yorktown.

Sponsored by the Duke of Chandos, he earned a large amount of prizemoney during the 1740s. One can only speculate as to whether the duke may have uttered the immortal phrase “This time next year, Rodney, we’ll be millionaires.”

In the event Rodney ran up large debts and was in debtors’ prison in France in 1778 when war was declared. A benefactor secured his release and he was able to relieve The Great Siege of Gibraltar and defeat the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780. He then won a decisive victory in The Battle of the Saintes in 1782, thus ending the French threat to Jamaica, before going back into retirement.

Admiral Rodney is not to be confused with Wayne Rooney, a distinguished Prestbury resident, who is the current captain of England’s soccer team.

The Robinsons’ Unicorn cask bitter in the pub was in great form, as was their South Island brew, both costing £2-95 a pint. Suitably refreshed we retraced our footsteps as far as the footbridge across the Bollin (125mins) but did not cross it. We carried straight on until we started to pass Prestbury Sewage Works on our right. At a bridge we stopped for lunch (138mins)

The route back to the Unicorn should have been straightforward and was for three of the group, who were sitting smugly in their cars by the time your diarist returned (213mins) After de-booting we drove to The Davenport Arms (Thief’s Neck) at Woodford for pints of Robbies at £3-25.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am at the car park at Tom Brad’s Croft next to the Whaley Bridge Basin at the start of the Peak Forest Canal. We expect to reach The Old Hall at Whitehough around 12.15pm, returning to The Goyt Inn at Whaley Bridge (near the basin) at about 2.30pm. The landlord is opening early especially for us, so we hope the B team will be able to join us there to make it worth his while.

Bottom O' TH' Oven

BOTTOM O’ TH’ OVEN, FOREST CHAPEL, LAMALOAD RESERVOIR, SHINING TOR, STAKESIDE, THE CAT AND FIDDLE, PEAK VIEW TEAM ROOMS AND STANLEY ARMS AT BOTTOM O’ TH’ OVEN

Distance: 9 miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous.

Weather: Dry with mixture of blue skies, cloud and mist.

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

Apologies: Peter Beal (walking in Lake District), Tom Cunliffe (prolonged knee injury).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of Stanley Arms at Bottom o’th’ Oven, Wildboarclough.

Starting time: 9.48am. Finishing time: 2.47pm.

On a fine November day, only four A walkers assembled in the car park near the Cheshire-Derbyshire border for a new route planned by Colin. He was scarcely recognisable with his new close-cropped hairstyle which appeared to have been performed by a local sheep-shearer.

We covered some new terrain, occasionally criss-crossing familiar routes, and in the first hour clambered over a record number of stiles. Later we were to climb the hard way up Shining Tor leaving your diarist to wonder whether next week we might try something less challenging – like Kilimanjaro.

Happily the final leg of our journey was all downhill and ended with excellent pints of Marstons’ cask bitter, not to mention a shapely barmaid who served them.

We also found a possible alternative job for Julian at a church which holds services once a month at 3pm.

On arrival we seemed to have acquired a new walker of the canine variety, which turned out to be the pub dog. He was a friendly creature, much interested in the contents of our rucksacks, and took advantage of your diarist by goosing him during a vulnerable moment as I donned my boots.

We started downhill following the sign for Forest Chapel, Wildboarclough and Wincle. After passing Chambers Farm on our left we turned right towards Forest Chapel and Macclesfield Forest (5mins). After 50 yards along this road we turned right up a stony track and emerged at St Stephen’s Church (10mins), known as Forest Chapel.

This is a Grade 2 listed building, originally built in 1673 and rebuilt in 1834 using sandstone with a Kerridge stone-slate roof. The bell-tower has a saddleback roof and we admired thelouvers on the bell-openings.

Apart from its infrequent services, this Anglican church is also outstanding as one of the few remaining which still observes the ancient tradition of rushbearing. This happens in August when wild rushes are collected and strewn across the floor of the church.

The practice began in the Middle Ages, Lawrie recalled, when most buildings had earthen floors and rushes were used basically as air-fresheners. The rushes were commonly “sweet flag” oracorus calamus as our Latin scholars prefer to call them.

It is customary to ring church bells and provide wine, ale and cake for the rushbearers. (Perhaps this is a job for all of us) Some festivals had mimetic elements. An account from Cawthorne in Yorkshire in 1596 said people “did arm and disguise themselves, some of them putting on women’s apparel and long hair and went up and down the town showing themselves.” (Yorkshiremen are still doing this in Chapeltown every weekend!)

Festivals often attracted unsavoury characters such as pedlars, cutpurses and pickpockets and became a pretext for heavy drinking such that even pillars of the community would disgrace themselves.

An example cited was Tristram Tyldesley, minister of Rufford and Marsden, who “danced among light and youthful company, both men and women, at weddings and rushbearings, and in his dancing he wantonly and dissolutely kissed a maid, whereat diverse persons were offended and so sore grieved that there was weapons drawn and great dissention arose.”

After spending five minutes looking around the church’s unremarkable interior (15mins) we left and turned right up a path signed Forest Bridleway (16mins). Colin then led us through fields via a series of wooden stiles marked with yellow arrows, passing one farm and going through the yard of another (32mins).

We then crossed a series of four wooden footbridges before crossing a stone step stile to enter a farmyard (44mins). From there we went up a track, crossed a main road and walked through a series of fields with Lamaload Reservoir ahead of us in the distance. Three of us posed for a photo in front of a derelict building which will no doubt be captioned “four ancient ruins.”

Continuing we went left through a gate marked with a yellow arrow (57mins), through a second one (62mins), kept left and went through a gate by the side of a stream (64mins). We reached a derelict farm and stopped for Pietime (68mins). After walking through a milking shed we passed a postmarked with a yellow arrow and went over a wall by a stone step stile to enter a copse (71mins).

We exited by a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow. We ignored the route straight ahead indicated by the arrow and instead headed diagonally right downhill to reach a lane, where we turned right. We went over a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (75mins) and turned left through a gate marked Reservoir Circuit (79mins). We crossed a wooden footbridge (81mins) and headed right uphill.

After emerging through a gate at a road, we turned left (80mins) with the reservoir now on our left. We turned right at a sign for Burbage via Shining Tor (88mins). We ignored a wooden stile on our left and opted for the direct route up Shining Tor, crossing a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (96mins).

Two shifty looking estate agents attempt to sell Alan Hart an

"investment opportunity"

We were now embarked on a relentless lung-bursting climb through a pair of stone gateposts (109mins) and straight on at a wooden stile (122mins) until we reached a set of slabs laid to form a footpath (135mins). Here we turned right and reached the Trig Point marking the summit of Shining Tor (137mins). We turned left towards Stakeside.

This led us through a gate where we turned right following a wooden public footpath sign marked Cat and Fiddle (149mins). The path swung left towards a road (161mins) with the Cat and Fiddle in view ahead. We turned left along the road for 200 yards and reached the pub (165mins).

Here, 1,690 feet above sea level, we enjoyed pints of Robbies’ Unicorn cask bitter at £3-20. After Colin had been served the last of their draught beer – “we’re getting a delivery at weekend,” said the cheery barman – we continued our trek. This time the route was mercifully downhill as we re-traced our footsteps along the road and track we had taken earlier.

At the point where the path swung right, we proceeded ahead (172mins) to reach the Peak View Tea Rooms on the right of the road (175mins). We crossed the main road and went over a wooden stile before stopping for lunch on a grass bank (190mins). We crossed a wooden stile (199mins) and exited a field by a gate on our left (206mins)

After crossing a stone step stile on our right (210mins) we turned right downhill and went through a gate marked with a yellow arrow. We exited a field by a gate and turned right uphill to reach The Stanley Arms. Pints of Marstons’ bitter at £2-90 were served by a tall young brunette with a surprisngly ample bosom.

Next week’s walk will start from the car park of The Unicorn at Dean Row, Handforth at 9.30am. We intend to reach the Admiral Rodney in Prestbury by 12 noon, although the pub opens its doors at 11.30am if we are unfortunate enough to arrive early. The aim is to return surreptitiously to our cars in the section of car park furthest from the Unicorn pub and drive to The Davenport Arms, still known colloquially as The Thieves’ Neck, Woodford, arriving at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !

Chapel-en-le-Frith

CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH, BOWDEN HALL, SLACK HALL, CHESTNUT CENTRE, FORD HALL, BOLEHILL CLOUGH, WANTED INN AT SPARROWPIT, BARMOOR, BOLTEDGE FARM, BLACKBROOK, ROEBUCK INN AT CHAPEL

Distance: 10 miles.       Ascent/descent: 2,100 feet.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Very wet at first, dryer later and bright at the end.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Colin Davison, George Whaites.

Apologies: George Dearsley (Turkey), Alan Hart (Spain), Jock Rooney (working abroad).

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Public car park below the Co-op in Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Starting time: 9.45 am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.

We were not exactly sure why so few of us – apart from those with legitimate excuses - assembled for this week's excursion from Chapel-en-le-Frith, but it may not have been entirely unconnected with the rather dire weather forecast.

As it was, after enduring a soaking in the first hour of walking, the rain eased and the day became quite bright as we enjoyed splended views on the moors above Chapel and visiting a trio of historic Derbyshire halls along the way.

Our small but select trio left the car park below the Co-op in Chapel by what your diarist and George identified as a prickly bush but what leader Colin insisted was a footpath. He did prove right and an unusual and very overgrown path brought us out through an archway at the back of the Roebuck Inn, our eventual finishing point.

We turned left at the Market Place and into Burrfields, an alley which led us past Chapel Parish Church, where – after pausing briefly for shelter under conifers as the rain became heavier - we took a left on a footpath which led us downhill into a modern housing development. The old winding footpath through the town has been preserved despite the new building. We did a left then a right through the new houses and then followed the path with Morrison's supermarket on our right, before the path dipped over Blackbrook and up the other side, still through housing.

We crossed the old main road linking Chapel and Chinley and another stretch of footpath ahead brought us to the A6 Chapel by-pass (20 minutes). This route is worth remembering as a way out of the town avoiding roads and traffic almost completely.

We hurriedly crossed the busy by-pass and followed a grassy path immediately opposite through fields. This took us through two metal kissing gates before we  came to Bowden Hall on our right. This imposing Grade Two listed building with its own private lake – currently on the market for £1.2 million – will be familiar to viewers of the gloomy TV series The Village as the home of the wealthy industralist family before they upped sticks to Lyme Hall at Disley in the recently-screened second series.

We emerged on a lane (27 min) and turned right for a short time before taking a track on our left, which saw us walking along the other side of the Hall, whose tower clock once adorned Chapel Parish Church.

The track reduced to a footpath which we followed until coming to a stile on the left (32 min)with a four-way Peak and District Northern Footpaths sign giving us the options of Wash (the way we had come), Bagshaw, Chapel and Slack Hall. We turned left up a field towards Slack Hall, and crossed a stone stile near a copse of trees (40 mins). We crossed this and continued along a grassy track before emerging on a minor road leading to Wash (50 min).

In front of us  was the Chestnut Centre, an otter and owl sanctuary, and to our right Slack Hall, one of the five halls in the area of Chapel that were the home of former squires.

We took a lane on the left, crossed a bridge over a stream (56 min) and soon reached Ford Hall and its surrounding buildings. This was once the family home of non-conformist minister William Bagshawe (1628-1702), who became known as The Apostle of the Peak and was vicar of Glossop before being ejected from his living after the Restoration.

He came from a landed family prominent in the Chapel area but decided to preach and chapels in the area were built for him, notably one at Chinley. Several warrants were issued for him but never enforced and he died at 74 to be buried in the chancel of Chapel Parish Church.

We continued up the lane left and after Bridge House took a cobbled path to the right which led to a gate and a track bearing left (60 min).

After a small gate we continued right up a track alongside a wall and between regular planted trees. This is marked on the map as Peat Lane, and Colin informed us it was the old turnpike route leading to the Hope Valley before the modern road was built.

At a stile just before the pleasant wooded ravine of Bolehill Clough, with a small waterfall, pietime was declared at 10.57am (72 min).

We crossed the stream, where a large fallen tree – split in two and possibly struck by lightning – partially blocked the bank and continued along a track to Bettfield Farm (84 min). We dropped down the track to cross a stream at Bettfield Clough Cottage and slanted right up a concreted track to reach the A624 Chapel to Castleton Road (91 min).

Crossing the road we went through a gate and left along a track to reach a stile at the top of the hill (99 min). Immediately in front of us was Rushup Edge, leading to Mam Tor, and in the distance could be seen the conical outline of Win Hill.

We bore right here across rough pasture, effectively cutting a corner, and reached a track at a wall, where we turned right along a long shallow ridge leading us towards Sparrowpit.

After about a mile, and just before reaching a line of cottages on a minor road, we turned left over a wall stile and descended through a farm to reach the crossroads at Sparrowpit at 12.06pm, with our objective the Wanted Inn immediately in front of us (130 min).

The pub, a former farmstead that lies bang on the Pennine watershed at 1,217 feet, started its life as The Three Tuns in 1700 and became a key stop on the packhorse route between Sheffield and Manchester.

It was here in 1758, in the middle of the night, that two riderless horses galloped in, in distress. It emerged that their owners, runaway lovers Clara and Allan had been murdered in the nearby Winnats Pass with a pick by five miners from Castleton who had overheard them talking in an inn in the village and noted their obvious wealth. Their bodies were thrown down a pothole. Their killers were never caught but local legend has it that when the wind howls through the Winnats the young couple's souls can be heard begging for mercy.

The pub became the Devonshire Arms in 1839 after its owner, the eponymous Duke. But when the 10th Duke died in 1950, leaving massive death duties, it was put up for sale. It remained unsold and became known as "the unwanted inn", until being bought six years later by Mr and Mrs Jack Buswell from Whitehough, who gave it its new name. Their son Neville went on to achieve fame as Ray Langton in Coronation Street.

The pub has fairly recently changed hands and the welcoming staff greeted us with excellent Farmer's Blonde bitter, from the Bradfield Brewery, and Marston's Pedigree, both at £3 a pint.

We left the pub at 12.56 pm and turned left along the road for 50 yards before crossing a stile to the right into a field. We dropped down over another stile and past a smallholding, where pigs we had seen on earler occasion were not in evidence. We could only speculate why not. We crossed two more stiles and emerged at Higher Barmoor Farm (142 min).

We crossed the large farmyard (149 min) and followed the track to the right before reaching Boltedge Farm  where we took a stile on the right, another stile at the far side of the farmyard, and dropped through a field to join the A623 (151 min).

We turned left and almost immediately followed a footpath sign into a field on the right. This took us downhill to cross a small stream, where we turned uphill up an extremely steep slope. 
After much swearing and cursing from George and your diarist, which our leaader ignored while extolling the magnificent views, we came to the top of the hill near a television mast (167 min)

From here it was a simple walk down fields and a boggy track, through a series of gates and stiles, to bring us again to the A6 by-pass (175 min), which we crossed carefully just short of the turning into Chapel. We bore left into the town before rejoining the footpath of our outward walk.

We came into the cobbled Market Place just after passing the Parish Church, which became infamous following an incident in the Civil War. My trusty Peak District Companion (none of this Google rubbish here) tells me that a Scottish army under the Duke of Hamilton, supporters of Charles 1, were defeated by Roundheads at the Battle of Preston. Around 1,500 prisoners were taken to Chapel, crammed into the church and held there for 16 days, during which 44 men died. Hamilton was executed.

Sadly my Companion also reports that Chapel 'in spite of its  moorland environment and long, interesting history, is superficially drab and hardly a place to arrest casual visitors'.

However, the Roebuck Inn in the Market Place (216 min) proved welcoming, with Black Sheep Bitter on form at £2-95 a pint.

PS from Colin: An excellent account. Might I please add my two pen'orth? Magnificent though his leadership qualities are, Laurie, I feel, is as yet unable to lead walks from home. This may of course change in the future. (leader has now been edited).

 

The A624 now follows the route of the Chapel to Sheffield Turnpike which was built in the 1750's and passed so close to the original Slack Hall that the owner built a new hall down in the valley and leased the former out as Slack Hall farm. Peat Lane may well have originally been just that, a 'Turbary way' for the collection of peat from 'the wastes' of Colborne and Rushop.

 

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am at the Stanley Arms at Bottom-of-the-Oven at the top of Wildboarclough (parking permission sought and granted).  This is reached by minor roads half a mile or two miles west of the Cat and Fiddle on the A537 Macclesfield to Buxton road. Refreshments en-route at the Cat and Fiddle around 12.40pm.

The following pictures courtesy of Colin Davison

Marple Bridge

BRABYN'S PARK AT MARPLE BRIDGE, COMPSTALL, ETHEROW COUNTRY PARK, ERNOCROFT, CHEW, BOTHAM'S HALL, WERNETH LOW, HARE AND HOUNDS, COMPSTALL, BRABYN'S

Distance: 10 miles.​Ascent/descent: 2,100ft.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry and sunny.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Micky Barrett, Chris Corps (plus Fergus and Fenola), Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman,

John Jones, John Laverick, George Whaites

Apologies: Tom Cunliffe (pub duties), George Dearsley (Turkey), Alan Hart (Ireland), Jock Rooney (working abroad).

Leader: Fairman (and occasionally Davison). Diarist: Beal.

Starting point: Upper car park in Brabyn's Park, Marple Bridge.

Starting time: 9.36am. Finising time: 2.57pm.

A beautiful sunny autumn day gave us panoramic views of Derbyshire, Cheshire, the whole of Greater Manchester and further afield as we completed a scenic and at times rather strenuous circuit of the Etherow Valley.

We were rather surprised to find our usual parking spot in Brabyn's Park at Marple Bridge almost full of vehicles. In fact Colin was forced to seek alternative parking back towards the main road. This sudden popularity is, we suspected, down to rail commuters from the nearby station driving in from the sticks to take advantage of the cheaper Greater Manchester fares. Something should be done about these workers clogging up the countryside.

Our band of eight departed at 9.36 from the top of the car park before heading downhill through the sports pitches that now occupy the former estate of Brabyn's Hall, sadly demolished in 1952 after plans to turn it into a museum and art gallery came to nothing.

We reached the fairly recently-restored Brabyn's Iron Bridge over the River Goyt (12min) just east of the river's junction with the Etherow. This spot has been said to be the start of the Mersey, although other authorities put this at the Goyt's junction with the Tame, four miles nearer Stockport.

The Grade 2 listed bridge, built in 1813, has been described as "a unique structure of national importance" – the first of its kind in the North West, erected following Telford's spectacular construction at Ironbridge in Shropshire.

It was designed to provide carriage access for the Hall's then owner Nathaniel Wright to Compstall. We crossed the bridge and followed the carriage route along a track which brought us to the main road at Compstall (15 min), close to the former George pub – site of Wanderers' starts in the past, but sadly no more.

A short walk left along the road brought us to the entrance to Etherow Country Park - opened in 1968 and one of the first of its kind in the UK – where we turned right and followed the track with the lake on our left.

At the lake's end (22min) we continued along the track with the river on our right and a small canal on our left. Colin told us this was constructed to carry coal from small mineworkings further up the valley down to Compstall, and indeed we saw evidence of these as we walked onwards.

Brightly coloured Mandarin ducks were in evidence in the canal among our home-grown species.

We reached an eight-tiered weir at the end of the broad track (30min) and ascended a wooden flight of steps to cross below the weir and took a track to the right into Ernocroft Wood. We reached a fingerpost (37min) and followed the signing left to Glossop Road up a steepish slope, still in the woods.

We emerged on the Glossop to Marple Bridge road (48min) at a signed entrance to the country park and turned right along the busy road for a short distance before spotting an easily-missed footpath sign near a stile and gate on the left.

We crossed the stile and took the path uphill to quickly reach a green lane slanting up to the left, which brought us to Ernocroft Farm Lodge (61min).  We continued along the track to a junction where a fallen-down footpath sign near two cottages directed us left, then immediately right, up a metalled lane.

We passed Ernocroft Farm on our right (64min) and almost immediately went through a gate on our left onto a rough track (65min). When the track bore left with the path ahead leading over a stile into a field pietime was declared (68min) at the early hour of 10.47.

The sad absence of Tom meant however we had a leisurely 10-minute break, marred only by the lack of traditional port.

We crossed fields over two stiles, the last with a four-way Peak and District Footpath Society sign offering us the options of High Chisworth, Chew or Mill Brow, and Ernocroft, the way we had come.

Here was enacted a rather familiar scene that could be a moorland vignette of Mutiny on the Bounty. As Captain Bligh Fairman strode confidently off ahead towards High Chisworth, followed by most of his crew, Colin "Mr Christian" Davison announced his intention to do nothing of the sort, and headed left towards Chew.

Your diarist, dithering decisively between the two parties, heard Colin declare "Don't worry – they'll be back". Sure enough, they were, and we continued  across a series of stiles through fields until a sharp downhill slope brought us to a farm at High Ash House (87min).

A short walk down a track brought us again to the main Glossop Road near Chew (106min),where we went straight over into a metalled lane leading us to Far Woodseats Farm (102min).  A track on the right through the farm and through a gate took us into a field, along a steep bank and then into woods, where we descended sharply to reach a grassy path(112min).

A stroll along the riverbank brought us to a green metal footbridge over the water on the right which we crossed. In sight 50 yards downstream was the original timbered bridge, now rotting and officially declared unsafe.

A turn left along a track brought us to historic late 17th-century Botham's Hall and its hamlet of cottages.

The Hall is a Grade Two listed building, and we soon realised why after pausing to admire its projecting plinths, quoins and first and second floor continuous dripmoulds, not to mention the four-light double-chamfered mullion window.

Outside one of the cottages was what we all agreed was a recent addition, a splendid sandstone block – "Rob's Rock" , commemorating "Rob Dixon – Moutaineer – 1951-2000". Research on my part has failed to reveal who Rob was, or the cause of his untimely demise.

We took a left at the footpath sign immediately after the cottage and – after another Fletcher Christian moment – descended to the bottom of a steep ravine where wooded steps on the other side took us up into Back Wood where signs told us we were now on the Cown Edge Way.

A delightful track up through the woods, steadily uphill, brought us to a track (129min) where we continued straight ahead up another narrow path, wet and boggy, which brought us out onto the metalled road of Apple Tree Lane (139min).

A very steep climb from here left towards Werneth Low brought protests from some of the Wanderers before we reached the twin TV masts at the top of the hill (149min).

We turned left up the road towards the top of Werneth Low, at a height of 915 feet. The name Werneth comes from the Welsh Verno for Alder, thus meaning the place where alders grow. The 200 acre country park was established in 1980 – but sadly since Greater Manchester public transport people decided in 2010 to improve services there is no bus route to the hamlet.

We reached the Hare and Hounds pub on the crest of the hill at 12.35pm (170min) . We partook of Wincle Waller, Beartown Bear Ass and Dobcross Brewery Bitter, all excellent and all at the quirky price of £3-19.

A rather long sojourn here may have contributed to our late arrival at Marple Bridge, as we left at 1.35pm and retraced our steps, turning right, towards Werneth Low before bearing right into Mount Road(200min).

We passed the Cricket Club on our right, went through a gate and down through two fields, in the second of which we paused for lunch. We reached a farm and bore left through stiles over two more fields. A steep drop brought us to a junction of two streams in woods (235min).

A short climb up through boggy woods brought us to the main Marple road, where a left turn down the road would have taken us to Compstall. However, Colin persuaded us to take the alternative tour through Redbrow Woods, which proved to be a delightful half-mile detour on slippy and muddy woodland. We emerged on the riverside path (255min) to rejoin our outgoing route at the Iron Bridge.

Here John J attempted to activate the newly-installed wind-up audio information device to no avail.

We retraced our route through the playing fields to the car park.

Three of us repaired to the Norfolk Arms, where your diarist was devastated to find there were no B walkers there to be plyed with drink on his birthday celebrations. He was left to muse that if he had known he would live so long he would have taken better care of himself.

The Hornbeam's Lemon Blosson, Moorhose Premium Bitter, and Middleton SBA bitter, all at £3, were all excellent.

Next week's walk will start at the car park behind the Co-op in Chapel-en-le-Frith at 9.45am. Stop at the Wanted Inn, Sparrowpit (Colin checking on opening times). Drinks after at Roebuck, Chapel.

The following pictures courtesy of John Jones.