Rainow

July 29, 2015.

RAINOW, DEAN VALLEY, BULL HILL LANE, WOODBINE COTTAGE, SADDLE OF KERRIDGE, WHITE NANCY, LORD STREET, THE CROWN AT BOLLINGTON, POACHERS INN, INGERSLEY VALE MILL, WAULKHILL FARM, INGERSLEY WATERFALL, VIRGINS’ PATH AND THE ROBIN HOOD AT RAINOW

Distance: Eight miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Mainly dry, cloudy, sunny intervals and one brief shower.

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

Apologies: Tom Cunliffe (w*^king), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (watching Cheltenham races), Jock Rooney (domestic duties) and Julian Ross (w*^king).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Robin Hood at Rainow, Macclesfield.

Starting time: 9.32am. Finishing time: 2.05pm.

What a difference a reverse walk makes ! For this journey we covered a tried and tested route but in the opposite direction. With clear visibility – we really did see the spire of Liverpool Cathedral – this back-to-front walk gave us a new perspective of the pretty undulating landscape of the Dean Valley.

We also saw the artistry to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo on the walls of White Nancy and two of us celebrated the reopening of one of our favoured pubs as the afternoon ended in a blaze of sunshine.

From the Robin Hood’s car park we turned left past the pub’s front entrance and walked uphill along Church Lane. When we reached the former chapel, we turned right and went over a stone step stile marked with a yellow arrow and into a field. By following the beaten path we reached a farm wherewe went to its left through a gate marked with a yellow arrow (11mins).

We crossed a stone step stile also marked with a yellow arrow , through a field and turned sharp right over a cattle-grid (14mins) before turning left (16mins) over a stone step stile and heading diagonally left through a field. We went over a ladder stile and crossed a wooden footbridge over the River Dean (19mins).

Another ladder stile marked with a yellow arrow was crossed and we turned left, then went through a white gate to the right of a farmhouse. After crossing a wooden stile by a cattle-grid we turned left for ten yards and then went right over a stone step stile to head uphill through fields.

Another stone step stile brought us to a lane (34mins) where we turned right. This gave us impressive views of Jodrell Bank, Fiddlers Ferry power station and the top of Liverpool Cathedral poking out on the distant skyline.

Our group went to the right of a farmhouse and then took a left fork to go through a metal kissing gate (39mins). This led us to a wooden stile by a wooden gate which we crossed and turned right uphill(48mins). We reached a road and turned right (52mins), Crossing to the left side of the road (57mins), we followed a green public footpath sign and went through a gate marked “No Through Road.”

This led us through a farmyard and a metal gate marked with a yellow arrow (63mins). After heading through another metal gate (65mins) we reached a wooden stile on our right (70mins) which would have been the way to Bollington. However, after Colin pointed out there were two picnic tables in the field above us, just 100 yards away, we were persuaded to make a minor diversion.

On reaching the tables (73mins) we found them overgrown with weeds. After beating back thistles four of us were able to find seats. Peter, however, chose to sit on the table. He was chastised on the basis that it is rude to put your elbows on a table but Peter is clearly a man who does know his arse from his elbow.

After pies and port we walked back to the wooden stile (75mins) and crossed it. This led us down steep steps to a major road (78mins) where we turned left for 40 yards before turning right down Bull Hill Lane. We went left at a wooden public footpath sign, through a wooden gate into a field (86mins). We reached a road and turned right (92mins).

After passing Woodbine Cottage on our left (93mins) we turned left and then right through a gate by a stone step stile (94mins). Peter then opted to take a higher path, followed by Colin and your diarist. Colin briefly led, going into a gorse bush cul-de-sac allowing Peter to resume as leader and reach a drystone wall blocking the way forward (104mins).

We clambered over the wall, marched through a jungle of bracken and wet shrubs, to reach the proper path and see Lawrie and George 100 yards ahead of us. We were now on the Saddle of Kerridge, passing the Trig Point (110mins) and reaching the landmark folly of White Nancy (129mins).

White Nancy was built in 1817 by John Gaskell Jr, of North End Farm, to commemorate our victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo two years earlier. He was a member of the Gaskell family who lived at Ingersley Hall, and they had a daughter called Nancy. This was also the name of a grey horse which carried uphill the stone to build the landmark and it is widely believed that it was named after the horse rather than the human.

White Nancy is a Grade 2 listed building. Originally it had an entrance and a single room with a circular stone table surrounded by stone benches. The entrance has now been blocked. From the summit on a clear day you can see the hills of North Wales, Shropshire and the Pennines.

It is regularly painted, both officially and unofficially. On our visit soldiers in the uniforms of 2015 were depicted on the side of the building, where we posed for photos.

After admiring the views (140mins) we descended to Lord Street, Bollington, where we turned right and reached The Crown at its junction with Church Street (145mins). Here we enjoyed pints of Doom Bar for £3-10 and watched England’s cricketers gain the upper hand over the Aussies. A party of a dozen “ladies who lunch” arrived and the commentary was drowned by their chatter until the food arrived.

Resuming, we walked down Church Street to the mini-roundabout where our leader and diarist diverted left for 80 yards to call in the orgasmic pie shop, otherwise known as F. Smith’s bakery. We then rejoined our colleagues at the bus stop opposite the Cotton Tree pub for lunch (152mins).

Continuing we headed up towards The Poachers and turned right up Mill Lane by the side of the pub (159mins). We reached a lane and turned left (163mins), passing the derelict Ingersley Vale Mill and later Waulkmill Farm on our left and Ingersley Vale Waterfall on our right (166mins). This brought us to the route known locally as “The Virgins’ Path”.

The Virgins’ Path was so called because in the 18th Century there were no churches in Rainow. Any brides were obliged to walk two miles through muddy fields to the nearest church in Bollington, and this occasionally resulted in the bride-to-be arriving at church with mud on the hem of her dress. Local farmers, anxious to protect the honour of the village girls, laid a set of flags through the fields so the maidens could arrive at church with their dresses and their reputations untainted. Many of the flags are still there but others have vanished in the mists of time.

We emerged at the back of Flagg Cottage on a lane where we turned left and reached a road (181mins). We turned left and at the top of Chapel Lane we turned left again to reach The Robin Hood (186mins).

The pub had been shut for several weeks and was in danger of extinction but the landlord told me they had secured a low fixed rent for five years which would give him an opportunity to invest in making the business successful. He had been licensee at The Highwayman nearby until ten years ago when the owners had increased the rental charge. Significantly, after a couple of other tenants tried and failed to make it pay, the pub closed down completely three years ago.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.45am from the lay-by at Topley Pike on the right of the A6 as you drive out of Buxton next to the entrance to a quarry, opposite the start of the Monsal Trail and its paid-for car park. We anticipate arriving at The Church Inn at Chelmorton around 12.15pm and returning to our cars at about 2.15pm to de-boot and drive to the Wye Bridge Wetherspoons in Buxton for further refreshment.

Another date for your diaries is Wednesday, August 26, when Lawrie will be celebrating his 80thbirthday with a walk which will start and finish from The Lantern Pike at Little Hayfield.

Happy wandering !