Furness Vale

FURNESS VALE, RINGSTONES CARAVAN PARK, BAILEY’S FARM, COCK KNOLL, LYME PARK, MONKHOUSE MEMORIAL, BOWSTONES, EAST LODGE, COCKHEAD, HIGHER DISLEY, DANDY COCK AT DISLEY, PEAK FOREST CANAL, SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE

Distance: Ten miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry, sunny start with occasional cloud and chilly wind later.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, John Jones and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Malcolm Smith and Ken Sparrow.

Non-walking drinker: Geoff Spurrell.

Apology: Mickey Barrett (having operation to repair leg)

Leader (or so he thought): Hart. Diarist: Hart.

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

Starting time: 9.32am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.

The Wednesday Wanderers suffered their first injury during your diarist’s memory when Tom was stricken with a painful blister to his right heel. Despite the various states of decrepitude of participants, immoderate drinking and shambolic organisation, this was my first experience in 14 years of a wounded comrade needing treatment.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Nurse John stepped forward with an emergency blister pack from his first aid kit. A field dressing was applied and Tom returned quickly to the front line. But when pints of Robbies’ excellent cask bitter at The Dandy Cock failed to revive him, he was put on a bus to receive some TLC back home from Stella Nightingale.

Because of uncertainty last week about who would be walking, and given the possibility that no recognised leaders would be present, your diarist was elected to plan a route.

But whereas we have some born leaders amongst our ranks (and many born followers), there are some leaders who find it impossible to follow without opting for a diversion here, a short cut there, or a complete re-working of the route. This is perfectly acceptable in an anarchic group such as ours so long as we all finish in the right pubs, and in this at least we were successful.

From the pub car park we turned right and right again at The Imperial Palace Chinese restaurant to begin our long ascent of Bowstones. We climbed straight uphill before turning right at the entrance to Ringstones Caravan Park (8mins). The path then took us between a farmhouse and some stables (13mins) to an open gate, which we passed through and turned right, keeping a drystone wall on our right (15mins)

Crossing a wooden stile (28mins) we reached a road (where a local landmark, The Murder Stone, lay 400 yards to our right). Instead of going there again to gaze at the spot where a trader was battered to death 200 years ago, we turned left for 40 yards before turning right over a stone step stile to continue along a path uphill. This brought us to a wooden stile on our right (35mins), just short of The Dipping Stones, where goods and money were reputed to be swopped during the 17th Century Great Plague.

We crossed it then came to a stone step stile (43mins) and a ladder stile (46mins), keeping a drystone wall on our left and the former Moorside Hotel on our right. It was at this point, with Tom and your diarist leading, that the seven of us split into three separate groups.

Peter and Colin veered to the right, where the latter made inquiries of a gardener about the number of inmates now staying at the former hotel since its conversion at great expense to a home for wayward children. The answer was two – one boy and one girl – who came out on cue to kick a ball against a wall. Judging by the number of vehicles parked outside the building, the children appeared to be outnumbered 20-1 by staff.

Lawrie meanwhile led George and John to the left of the path being taken by his leader, shouting that your diarist was going the wrong way. Despite my attempts to assure him that Tom and I were on the right path, Lawrie insisted on following a route which Colin had led us on a year ago. This had led to barbed wire, a wide stream and heartache.

As history repeated itself, Tom and I had crossed the stream by a bridge, followed a public footpath sign into a field and passed a series of signs which led via stiles and gates to a stone step stile into Lyme Park (68mins). Here we waited for our colleagues to catch us up while Tom wandered into nearby trees to prove that bears are not the only mammals who defacate in the woods. In the background was the unmistakeable call of the curlew.

The missing quintet never arrived because they had joined forces to go left along the road we had crossed and made their way to Bowstones without entering the park. W eventually continued towards Bowstones from inside the park, passing the Monkhouse Memorial en route (78mins). Just short of Bowstones, we met the others who were about to embark on Pietime (84mins)

After tales and green mac had been exchanged, we headed downhill through the park until we reached a drystone wall and the entrance to woods (97mins). This was where our route would have taken us past Lyme Hall and Lyme Cage to the entrance hut, into Red Lane and to The Dandy Cock in a previously-measured 45 minutes.

Instead Colin insisted we should turn right and follow him along a route which he claimed was shorter. His journey took us through Cockhead, and I will make no further comment. Suffice to say that Tom, after Nurse Jones’ speedy treatment, was obliged to walk an extra half mile on his injured foot. Colin’s “short-cut” eventually took 63 minutes, including the three-minutes injury time, and he blamed our delayed arrival on Tom for not walking quickly enough.

What follows is Colin’s route. We crossed a ladder stile and turned right along a grass path (110mins). After crossing a wooden stile to turn left and walk along a wall just inside a wood we squeezed through a gap stile (113mins). We then headed diagonally left to cross a wooden stile (117mins) and reached a pebbled track where we turned right (118mins). To our left were a large herd of deer between us and Bollinhurst Reservoir in the distance.

We exited the park by East Lodge (124mins) and joined The Gritstone Trail. We followed a diversion to the left side of an unsafe bridge (130mins) and turned left at a kissing gate to continue to follow The Gritstone Trail (133mins). This route took us through a metal gate (137mins) and past a red phone box in which Clark Kent had just turned into Superman (141mins).

After ignoring the first footpath sign on our right we turned right at the second, marked with a yellow arrow (147mins), which led us through a scrapyard. We exited by a wooden stile and turned left along a path (152mins). We emerged by the sign for the Ring o’ Bells pub, which is now a Quaker meeting house.

By turning right (154mins) we reached The White Horse on our right at the end of Ring o’ Bells Lane, turned left and then went right at The Ram’s Head along the main road. We crossed to the far side of the A6 to reach The Dandy Cock (160mins). Tom hobbled in two minutes later.

The Unicorn was in fine fettle at £2-90 a pint, but Tom was clearly unfit to continue. We last saw him waiting at the bus stop as we turned right out of the pub entrance and immediately right again to head downhill. Colin and John chose a different route.

The main quartet walked under the Manchester-Buxton railway line and ignored Hagg Bank Lane on our left. We turned left into Sherbrooke Road (162mins) which brought us to the bank of the Peak Forest Canal (165mins). We walked along a path on the right bank until we reached Bridge 26 where we crossed over to the far side (169mins). After continuing along the left bank for a few yards we stopped for lunch at a bench (170mins).

Continuing, we passed the Swizzels-Matlow factory at New Mills on our left (189mins) and the Furness Vale Marina on our right (206mins) before reaching Bridge 31 (213mins). From here Peter led us on a new route back to the A6 underneath the railway line and back to The Soldier Dick car park (216mins).

Next week’s walk will start at 9.50am at Ye Olde Bowling Green Inn at Gore Lane, Bradwell, (turn right off the B6187 through Hope opposite The Travellers’ Rest). For those using sat-nav the postcode is S33 9JQ. Colin will be leading the walk and he anticipates we will reach The Cheshire Cheese at Castleton around 12.30pm. He aims to finish back at The Bowling Green around 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !

Photographs by John Jones

I

Bollington Valley

March 18, 2015.

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

Distance: Ten miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Chilly misty start with warm sunshine later.

Walkers: Steve Courtney, Tom Cunliffe, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Malcolm Smith and Ken Sparrow.

Non-walking drinker: Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Peter Beal (Walking near Robin Hood’s Bay), Colin Davison (visiting friends in Mumbles) and Jock Rooney (in Isle of Man).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

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

Starting time: 9.25am. Finishing time: 2.17pm.

A cold misty morning saw us setting off in hats, scarves and gloves, but within an hour the sun had appeared and these garments were quickly stowed away. By the time we reached The Admiral Rodney 130 minutes later, we were able to sit outside in the beer garden on what had become a lovely spring day.

Apart from the usual earthy humour, it was an opportunity for us to convene with nature as we passed fields of snowdrops and daffodils, saw the intricacy of spiders’ webs highlighted by the early morning dew, observed a crow scaring off a buzzard twice its size, and saw flocks of ewes on the verge of producing their spring lambs.

We also walked through a field occupied by three donkeys overlooked from an adjoining garden by aherd of giraffes, of which more later.

Last but by no means least, we enjoyed pints of well-kept Robinsons’ Unicorn cask bitter at two traditional pubs.

From the car park we walked to the front of the pub and turned right along the main road. As we did so, we saw a banner proclaiming “Save The Unicorn. Say No to Hickory’s Smokehouse.”  Your diarist was left to wonder whether this was part of an election campaign by The Green Party. Following the extinction of the dodo and the sabre-tooth tiger, were they seeking to preserve this mythical creature. After her shambolic radio interview, nothing about their chairman Natalie Bennett would surprise us.

At the roundabout we turned right again and right for a third time at a green public footpath sign (6mins) pointing down a farm track. We negotiated the farmyard, passing its buildings and turning left to cross a wooden stile (10mins). From here we crossed two more wooden stiles, passing a pond on our left and reaching a kissing gate (21mins)

After passing through a metal gate we turned immediately right and followed a wooden public footpath sign for the Bollin Valley Way (22mins) This brought us to a road (29mins) where we turned right across a bridge over the Bollin and then left on the far side of the bridge to take a path marked with a yellow arrow which ran along the right bank of the river.

By following the yellow arrows we were directed through paths and the left side of a garden to enterMottram Hall Golf Club (34mins). We skirted the left side of the course, turning left at a soccer practice pitch and following the path to the right of a wood before re-entering the course by crossing a wooden stile on our right (54mins) and following a path behind a green.

The path led us to a sign informing us we were on the North Cheshire Way. As we walked through a copse, we took a left fork and followed a path with the trees on our right. We exited the golf club by a wooden kissing gate (61mins) and turned right down a lane (62mins)

We emerged nearly opposite The Bull’s Head (which is still missing its apostrophe) and crossed into Priest Lane (69mins). After 50 yards we turned left at a post marked with a yellow arrow (70mins) and followed a trail through shrubs and over two wooden stiles. We emerged from the shrubbery and walked between a large attractive white house on our left followed by a pretty thatched cottage to our right before pausing at a handy flight of wide steps for Pietime (80mins).

Resuming, we turned left up a stony track to reach a main road which we crossed and entered the drive of Legh Coach House (82mins). We passed Legh Old Hall on our left. This was built in the late 16th Century and renovated in the 17th. It is a Grade 2 listed building. After passing it we turned left at a yellow arrow along a path leading to a gate into a field (86mins)

We headed for the left hand corner and crossed a wooden stile to exit the field. We were surprised to learn later that the B-teamers had gone up to their fetlocks in mud crossing this same field half an hour afterwards whereas we had emerged unscathed. Another of life’s mysteries.

After crossing the stile we reached a road to the right of Woodend Farm (94mins) and headed down a gravel track to the right of the large house. This brought us to Lower Gadhole Farm where we turned right (96mins) and crossed two wooden footbridges over a stream and a ditch (101mins).

We went through a wooden kissing gate and turned left, exiting a field by a wooden stile and walking along tarmac to cross the Bollin by a concrete bridge (107mins). We turned right with the river on our right and passed a soccer pitch on our right (111mins) just before we entered Prestbury. After passing The Village Club on our left we turned left and reached the back of the pub (116mins). Was this The Rear Admiral Rodney, I hear you ask.

By now the sun was not exactly beating down but was generating enough heat for us to be happy to sit outside in the beer garden. Here Tom gave us more details about the news that he had put his pub’s lease up for sale for £50,000. The Lantern Pike’s annual rental of £23,000 is fixed for five years and we hope this lovely old pub will fall into a safe pair of hands after the hard work put in by Tom and Stella to make the business thrive.

We were drinking excellent pints of Robbies’ at £3-10 as Tom’s plans unfolded. Before we finished our second pints, the B team arrived with their tale of woe about a muddy field.

Continuing our round trip, we retraced our footsteps back to the concrete bridge across the Bollin. Instead of crossing it we turned right through a metal kissing gate (126mins). We traced the right bank of the Bollin, passing the enormous Prestbury Sewage Works on our right and causing one wag to remark that the villagers must be really full of it.

For once we did not stop for lunch next to the treatment plant but carried on past it and took a right fork through a metal kissing gate with the river to our left (146mins).When we reached a wooden footbridge (150mins) we paused for lunch. Resuming, we headed uphill towards a farm, which we first passed and then returned to after Lawrie had consulted his map.

We then noticed that yellow arrow markers had been removed from the farm gate (165mins) which we now walked through and turned left through a five-barred wooden gate (166mins). After crossing a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (169mins) we walked around a pond on our right and then headed left over a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow on our left (174mins)

This took us into a field occupied by three friendly (ie hungry) donkeys. On our left was a huge house which had life-sized models of four giraffes in its garden. This was the home of “Henshaws Happy Hens,” so the giraffe connection seems a little unclear. We exited the property via a gravel drive and reached a road where we turned left (179mins)

After 50 yards we followed a wooden public footpath sign on our left towards Mill Lane through a metal kissing gate. We crossed a wooden stile with a yellow arrow pointing right (187mins) which we followed. This took us back to the road and the bridge over the Bollin which we had crossed earlier (191mins).

We now retraced our footsteps through the first farmyard of our journey, where some walkers bought free-range hen and duck eggs from the farmer. We continued  back to our cars (218mins) where we de-booted and drove to The Davenport Arms for more Robbies’ bitter at £3-35 a pint.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am from The Soldier Dick on the A6 at Furness Vale. We intend to walk to Bowstones and then descend through Lyme Park to Disley for a livener in The Dandy Cock around 12.15pm. From there we will walk along the Peak Forest Canal back to Furness Vale for further refreshment in The Soldier Dick at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !

Marple

March 11, 2015.

MARPLE, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, HIGHER POYNTON, LYME PARK, LYME CAGE, ST MARY’S CHURCH AT DISLEY, THE DANDY COCK AT DISLEY, PEAK FOREST CANAL, THE RING O’ BELLS AT MARPLE

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry and Sunny at start with chill wind and rain later.

Walkers: Steve Courtney, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney with Tips, George Whaites.

Apology: Peter Beal (walking in Lake District), Tom Cunliffe (knee problem).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Roads outside Ring O’ Bells pub, Marple.

Starting time: 9.33am. Finishing times: 2.20-2.40pm.

What had seemed at first sight to be a straightforward walk became anything but for a variety of unrelated reasons. There was no sign of trouble ahead as we set off in tepid wintry sunshine with a cool breeze in our faces.

Things started to disintegrate when George received a message from Lesley that their daughter was ill and had been taken to hospital. He decided at Higher Poynton to make his way back to your diarist’s house where his car was parked and assist with babysitting duties back at his home. Happily the patient was later responding well to treatment and expected to return home in 24 hours.

After pausing for refreshment and receiving a round of drinks to celebrate Steve’s birthday, we made our way to the Peak Forest Canal for a simple walk along the right bank back to our final watering hole. But workmen strengthening the canal bank with girders had closed the towpath in several places with no indication of an alternative route.

To make matters worse, rain which had been forecast to start at 2pm arrived 45 minutes early, While your diarist was putting on his “magic” waterproofs, he and Jock became detached from the trio ahead. We sought guidance from Tips, but in such circumstances a bloodhound would have been more useful than a collie. Our efforts to find our way back to the canal were successful, only to discoveranother section of the towpath closed for repair work, obliging us to return to the road we had left and arrive at the pub some 20 minutes behind our advance party.

Once again we had proved the old adage: if anything can go wrong it will.

From the front of the Ring O’ Bells we crossed the road and descended the spiralling cobbles on our left to reach the right bank of the Macclesfield Canal at Bridge 2. This was the start of a flat walk for more than an hour as we passed under the A6 (40mins) at Hazel Grove and continued to Lord Vernon’s Wharf at Higher Poynton (67mins) where George departed on his errand of mercy.

We crossed Bridge 15 here to head uphill towards Lyme Park, reaching the entrance gate opposite the aptly-named “Windgather.” This five-bedroomed property is empty and on the market for £600,000. Despite protestations about the blustery conditions from one of our number, who was sporting a bouffant curly grey hairstyle, but who shall remain nameless, our leader declared we were stopping here for pies and ginger mac (86mins)

Continuing, we aimed towards the lake near the National Trust cafe in Lyme Park and then took the path uphill to Lyme Cage (114mins). From here, with its magnificent panoramic views, the only way was down and we descended towards the entrance hut before turning right to exit via the east gate (129mins)

This took us on to Red Lane, which we walked up and then down, bearing right to go through the churchyard of St Mary’s, Disley (142mins)

This Anglican church is Grade 2 listed by English Heritage. It was originally intended as a chantry chapel for the fifth Sir Piers Legh of Lyme in the early 16th Century, but he died before its completion. This is hardly surprising as it took 31 years to complete between 1527-58.

Parish registers begin in 1591. It was restored in the 19th Century, although the original 16th roof was retained. It is constructed of camber beam and richly moulded and decorated with bosses, angels and crows’ feet.

It contains memorials to the Legh family. There is also a floor memorial to Joseph Watson, a park keeper at Lyme for more than 64 years who died in 1753 at the astonishing age of 104 !

Exiting the churchyard we went down cobblestones to reach the A6, where we turned right and crossed the road where The Dandy Cock was on our left (147mins) Here we toasted the anniversary of Steve’s birth 57 years earlier and congratulated him for being in such good shape for a man approaching middle age.

After drinking to his health in Robbies’ Unicorn bitter at £2-90 a pint, we left the pub turning right and immediately right again downhill under the Manchester-Buxton line railway bridge and into Hagg Bank Lane (150mins)

Our route should have taken us to Higgins Clough Swing Bridge, but one of our group knew a quicker way.  (I wonder whether you can guess who this was). So Lawrie was persuaded to ignore the right turn and carry on towards Wood End Lift Bridge, which was closed for repairs. We were obliged to back-track to the swing bridge (164mins), cross it and turn left along the right bank of the Peak Forest Canal.

By now light drizzle had become light rain and we were stopped for lunch under the shelter of Bridge 23 (180mins) Resuming, we found our way ahead blocked at Bridge 22 for more repairs and were obliged to leave the towpath with no diversion signs to guide us. We went left over the bridge and headed uphill, turning right at a road marked for Hawk Green and Hazel Grove (190mins)

We turned right out of Turf Lea (195mins) and it was at this point your diarist and Jock became detached from the trio who knew the way. A phone call to Colin went unanswered because he had turned it on to mute mode for a bridge match the previous evening !

After taking a footpath down to the canal, only to find the towpath blocked by further repair work, the abandoned stragglers returned to the road and reached the Ring o’ Bells(235mins).

Next week’s walk will start from the rear car park of The Unicorn, at Dean Row, Handforth, at 9.30am. Our aim will be to reach The Admiral Rodney at Prestbury around noon for a bracer and then return to The Unicorn around 2pm and head for The Davenport Arms (known locally as the Thief’s Neck) at 2.10pm.

Happy wandering !

Whitehough

March 4, 2015

WHITEHOUGH, CHINLEY, CRACKEN EDGE, PEEP O' DAY, MOUNT FAMINE, LAMB INN, MAYNESTONE ROAD, CHINLEY, OLD HALL INN AT WHITEHOUGH

Distance: 8 miles

Difficulty: Moderate Ascent/descent: 1,700 ft

Weather: Dull, cold but dry

Walkers: Peter Beal, Steve Courtney, Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney and Tips, George Whaites

Apologies: Tom Cunliffe (knee), Micky Barrett (foot), John Jones (chest)

Leader: Fairman Diarist: Beal (adaptation of original work by Hart)

Starting point: Old Hall Inn at Whitehough, near Chinley

Starting time: 9.35am Finishing time: 1.50pm

Leaden skies and a cold northerly wind dominated throughout our circuit of Ashen Clough, the wide valley that stretches down from Peep O' Day to Chinley.

However, cheerful banter and an excellent halfway stop at the welcoming Lamb Inn made for a good day's walk enjoyed by our party of seven.

The early badinage centred on the previous week's excursion, during which Colin and Laurie appeared to be eager to pass responsibility to each other for a foray up the slopes of Kinder Low, leading to the group missing their planned drink stop at the distant Lamb Inn.

But this was soon forgotten - for at least a minute, before Laurie led the party first left, then right, then left again from the Old Mill car park before deciding on our route down the road towards Chinley.

We descended on the road to cross Black Brook before continuing up the slope to Chinley Village, past a block of apartrments at Squirrel Green, formerly the Squirrels pub and later the Princes Hotel (10 minutes).

At the bridge over the railway line, in front of the war memorial, we turned left in to Maynestone Road. The railway played a major role in Chapel's development, and in fact the village was named after the station - previously it was known as Maynestonefield or Four Lanes End. The station became a major junction on the Hope Valley line, and it was common in Victorian times to change trains here en route to Manchester, Sheffield or London.

We next turned left from the road up a narrow footpath (15 min) and crossed a stile to climb steeply through a field towards Cracken Edge. A short eroded path brought us to the crest of the slope, where at a fence we turned right along the flanks of Cracken Edge. We climbed steadily before turning left up a bridleway, which Laurie correctly surmised had been engineered for the use of workers at the extensive quarries, now disused, that stretch along the Edge.

At a junction of paths our parties split. Laurie led the main group straight on along a path across a badly-eroded slope that a few months before had been closed due to its state. It turned out there were no real problems, although it could prove tricky if descending.

Your diarist, Colin and George took a path up the hill to the left before swinging right along the top of the ridge towards the prominent landmark of Big Stone.

We dropped down towards the main track and passed on our right the partially-restored farmstead of Whiterakes before descending further to Peep O' Day, where our two groups were reunited and pie-time was declared (78 min).

After a 12-minute pause we continued to the nearby Glossop to Chapel road and turned left for 100 yards before taking a bridleway to the right next to a house. The track wound up past a small quarry before emerging at a larger bridleway (86 min).

Here we decided we were running ahead of schedule for our planned arrival at the Lamb Inn, so our leader agreed to a suggestion that we take in the heights of Mount Famine. We went straight ahead through a gate and followed the path to emerge at a saddle on the ridge linking Hayfield and the summit.

Here we turned right to a ladder stile (93 min) which we crossed to begin the shortish but very steep climb to the summit ridge. We reached the summit at 1552 feet with its splendid views (105 min) and dropped down to the track with the peak of South Head in front of us (113 min). Here we turned right and soon came to a metal gate, immediately after which we climbed a stone stile on the left to descend sharply.

We veered right to join a path across a field, joining a track leading down to a path that led to a makeshift gate and steps that brought us back to the Glossop to Chapel road a short distance from the Lamb Inn, which we reached - as correctly predicted by our leader - at 12 noon on the dot (133 min).

Pints of Cornish Knocker (£2.90) were consumed. Alan (aged 69 going on 15) could not resist the schoolboyish order of 'a pair of knockers please', which caused much schoolgirlish sniggering and giggling from the manageress, not herself in the first flush of youth to put it kindly.

Steve, the youngest of our members, caused further ribaldry by ordering an Old Man (jokes on a postcard please).

The only downside to this splendid establishment is that it appears to be the only watering hole known to us where you have to take your boots off to go for a pee.

Refreshed, we crossed again the main road and joined a track immediately opposite taking us down to the hamlet of Monk's Meadows. Here we turned left (138 min) and through a gate on to a path through four fields that could politely be described as quagmires and more accurately as Fifty Shades of S***.

Alan correctly pointed out that most of this is caused by irresponsible farmers letting livestock loose on perfectly good fields and churning it up to the detriment of country-lovers. It should be stopped.

At a final stile we turned right through a field above a brook where we took lunch on a mercifully-dry grassy knoll (153 min).

We crossed the brook by a stone footbridge and climbed up the hill to rejoin Maynestone Road (163 min). We turned left, reached the point at which earlier we had climbed to Cracken Edge and retraced our steps along the road to the Old Hall (191 min).

Marston's Bitter was on form at £2.80 a pint. Sadly there were none of their many brands of cask ales leading themselves to smutty jokes, but Colin stepped in to the breach by ordering a pint of Directionless (£2.95). Much mirth ensued and further comment would be superfluous.

Pictures below by Colin

Next week's walk will start from the Ring o' Bells in Marple at 9.30 am. A refreshment stop is planned at the Dandy Cock in Disley at 12.15 pm, with a finish back at the Ring o' Bells at 2.15 pm.

Alan wishes it to be known that there is a quiz at Poynton Sports Club at 8pm on Friday, March 13, to which Wanderers are cordially invited. Teams are up to six people. Alan has devised and is presenting this quiz and indeed has drawn up the questions. Participants are advised to swot up on the French extentialist poets and (more likely) Manchester United (1927-2015).

Happy wandering.