Furness Vale

March 10 2016

FURNESS VALE, THE PEAK FOREST CANAL, WHALEY BRIDGE SEWAGE FARM, BIG TREE FARM, BIG STONE, CRACKEN EDGE, CHINLEY, THE OLD HALL AT WHITEHOUGH, PEAK FOREST TRAMWAY, BUGSWORTH BASIN, PEAK FOREST CANAL AND THE SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry but cloudy start becoming warmer with blue skies and sunshine.

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

S.O.B. Walkers: Tony Job and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing), Jock Rooney (White Peak walk), Julian Ross (skiing injury to ankle).

Leader: Jones. Diarist: Hart.

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

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.

Life used to be so simple. Every week at the end of our walk we would discuss suggestions for where we might set out from the following week. There was a lively debate and then Lawrie would announce where we would actually be going.

Democracy is all well and good, in moderation, but it can easily lead to anarchy and confusion. It is clear the Wednesday Wanderers need the firm hand of decisive leadership. Come back Lawrie: all is forgiven.

In his absence there was much discussion and a surplus of alternative suggestions. Eventually we settled on next week’s walk starting from Castleton in Derbyshire, from where we have been given permission to park at our finishing pub, The Cheshire Cheese. To make matters easier for those of our group with memory lapses, we have also chosen another pub in Hope called The Cheshire Cheese for our lunchtime bracer.

After two weeks in which our walks were curtailed by dreadful weather, we enjoyed a lovely day which got steadily better as the cloud dispersed to make way for sunshine and blue skies. John led us to some panoramic viewpoints and we called at two of our favourite pubs, bestowing upon them the finest accolade – a Wednesday Wanderers’ certificate of approval.

From The Soldier Dick car park we crossed the busy A6 and turned left for 20 yards before heading right down Old Road. The path took us under the Manchester-Buxton railway line, before turning right and left to cross a bridge over the Peak Forest Canal. On the far side of the bridge we turned left and swung underneath Bridge 31 to reach the left bank of the canal (4mins).

The Peak Forest Canal is almost 15 miles long linking Dukinfield with Bugsworth Basin, from which a branch goes to Whaley Bridge. Partially opened in 1796 under the supervision of engineer Benjamin Outram, the canal was completed in 1805. It closed in the early 1960s after it became impassable, but was restored for leisure craft use in 1974.

(One of the canal’s more distinguished boat-owners is Peter B, whose narrow-boat Hot Metal is moored at the Furness Vale Marina). 

Immediately after passing Bridge 32 we turned left over a stone step stile, passing the Whaley Bridge Wastewater Treatment Works on our left, having earlier identified it by the smell. We crossed a footbridge over the River Goyt (11mins) and went to the right of a cottage next to a field inhabited by two Shetland ponies.

After cutting a corner through a field we went through a metal gate (14mins), then a wooden gate and a gap stile before turning left (15mins). The path swung right, leading us through a tunnel underneath the railway line. John pointed out markings on the stonework which indicated the person taking credit for delivering the heavy slabs 150 years earlier.

We headed uphill, passing a field on our right occupied by a group of guinea fowl and reached the road at the side of Big Tree Farm (24mins). We turned right for 20 yards and then went left over a stone step stile marked with a wooden public footpath sign. We headed uphill until reaching a drystone wall where we turned left. 

Keeping the drystone wall on our right, we went through a wooden gate and entered a copse through another gate (36mins). We exited via a stone step stile (38mins), crossed another one (44mins) and went right over a third one (45mins).

In a field on our right was a cosmopolitan collection of cows belonging to a variety of breeds. They came in white, black, brown, red and striped colours. Another stone step stile brought us to a lane where we turned left (55mins). We went right at a footpath sign and climbed steadily before reaching a grassy bank deemed suitable for Pietime (76mins).

Resuming we went through a gate (77mins) and headed straight on uphill. This brought us out at the rocks known as Big Stone on the north end of Cracken Edge (87mins). From here we had 360 degree views of the valleys on each side.

After a photo opportunity we turned right, crossed a stone step stile (92mins) and started to drop down to the left from the ridge (97mins). We went right over a wooden stile (99mins) and followed the path which swung left so the ridge we had walked along was now on our left high above us. We crossed a wooden stile (105mins) then swung sharp right (107mins) for a gradual descent.

We crossed a wooden stile (114mins) and just before we reached another one John led us steeply downhill (119mins). We exited the field by a wooden stile (125mins) and went through a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow. This brought us out on a road (127mins) where we turned right.

At a war memorial we turned left over a bridge across The Hope Valley railway line, a picturesque route linking New Mills with Sheffield (130mins). We now had a straight route along Green Lane which took us across a bridge over Black Brook (136mins), with the 1st Chinley Scout HQ on our left to the 16th Century Old Hall at Whitehough on our right (139mins).

The Marstons’ bitter was, as ever, on good form and well priced at £2-90 a pint. We presented the likeable landlord, Daniel Capper, with a WW certificate.

During the lively discussion about from where we should walk next week, eventually resolved by the choice of Castleton, it was further agreed that Tom should investigate the possibility of holding a walk the following week on Langsett Moor.

Continuing our walk, we turned right out of the front door, heading downhill past the Old Band Room cottage and turned left along the Peak Forest Tramway (142mins). We passed a memorial shrine to a young man outside the factory on our right (147mins) and stopped by the side of a bridge for lunch (155mins).

Resuming afterwards we passed The Navigation at Bugsworth Basin on our right (157mins) and kept to the towpath on the right of the canal branch heading for Whaley Bridge. After going under Bridge 36 (175mins) we carried on along the towpath, eventually retracing our earlier footsteps when we reached Bridge 32 and exiting on Bridge 31.

We reached The Soldier Dick (199mins) and enjoyed a selection of cask beers, including Wainwrights at £2-85. Another WW certificate was handed to the barmaid for the quality of service in recent years. There was no obvious alteration to the pub but it does appear to have changed hands recently so we hope standards remain high.

Pictures by Colin

 

Next week’s walk will start at 9.45am from the pub car park opposite The Cheshire Cheese in Castleton. We aim to reach The Cheshire Cheese at Hope via Mam Tor and Lose Hill by 12.15pm and return to The Cheshire Cheese in Castleton around 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !