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 !