Disley

December 28, 2016.

DISLEY STATION, RING O’ BELLS, BOLLINGHURST RESERVOIR, MILLENIUM WOOD, BOLKER HALL FARM, BLACK ROCKS, BYRON HOUSE, GREENSHALL LANE, LOWER GREENSHALL LANE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, GOYT VALLEY, HAGUE BAR, HAGUE FOLD ROAD, THE FOX AT BROOK BOTTOM, STRINES STATION, BRUCE’S CLOCK, PEAK FOREST CANAL, HOLLINS CLOUGH SWING BRIDGE, THE DANDY COCK AT DISLEY

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Early mist clearing to produce a bright sunny day.

Walkers: Mark Gibby, Alan Hart and George Whaites.

B walkers: Tony Job, Terry Jowett and Geoff Spurrell.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, George Dearsley and Lawrie Fairman .

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free car parking places at Disley Railway Station.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 2.24pm.

Yuletide social duties depleted the numbers for this walk. What was lost in quantity was gained in quality and the trio of A-teamers were rewarded with a glorious sunny day. There was clear visibility from the summit of Black Rocks where we enjoyed a 360 degrees panorama. Sadly, in the absence of any experienced leaders, we did not know all the names of the landmarks in our spectacular surroundings.

For the second successive week your diarist was obliged to wear the mantle of navigator – a responsibility which has never rested lightly on his shoulders. After the early mist disappeared, leading was made even more difficult by a bright low sun which seemed to follow us around and always be shining in our eyes.

It would be churlish to complain about the nuisance of a bright sun in north-west England on December 28, however, and we did manage to negotiate the route with only one minor diversion. We also had the pleasure of meeting the B-teamers at our first watering hole and being re-joined by them at the final pub.

From the station car park we turned right, passing The Ram’s Head on our right and then turning right again just before The White Horse to enter Ring O’ Bells Lane. This took us up to a building with a set of golden bells on its wall. This was once a pub called the Ring O’ Bells and is now a Quaker meeting house.

We turned right in front of the building, crossed a wooden footbridge and followed a path between the graveyard of Disley parish church, St Mary The Virgin. Beyond the graves we took a path diagonally left to cut off a corner (7mins), turned left for 20 yards along a lane and then crossed a wooden stile on our right (9mins) to cross a field diagonally right in the direction of Lyme Cage in the distance.

We exited the field via another wooden stile and took the lane straight ahead. Just before it reached a farm we turned left (17mins) through a wooden kissing gate and walked through a field. Bollinghurst Reservoir soon became visible on our right and we followed the path by a drystone wall which protected the lake.

After passing through a wooden gate and two wooden stiles we turned right at a wooden stile which led into a wood at the end of the reservoir (28mins). After crossing a wooden stile we reached a metal gate at a four-way junction of paths. We went through the gate and carried straight across the junction (32mins) then swung left as we reached a cottage on our right (34mins).

This brought us into Millennium Wood where we followed the beaten path as it headed diagonally right to emerge on a road. We turned right (38mins) and passed Bolker Hall Farm on our left before crossing the road and heading left over a wooden stile by the side of a wooden public footpath sign pointing to Black Rocks.

We walked through a muddy field containing two horses and exited by a wooden stile, aiming for a wooden public footpath sign. We took a path left (47mins) and aimed for the ridge. With the sun glaring directly into our eyes and with hoar frost everywhere, it was difficult to pick out the path but we kept heading upwards for the ridge which we finally reached (65mins).

After admiring the views we started our descent, crossing a ladder stile (71mins). We passed a green building on our left which was known as The Owls’ Nest, being used as an outward bound base for the pupils of Manchester Grammar School, whose caps and blazers bear a badge in which a grey owl is prominent.

Shortly after this landmark, your diarist failed to spot a wooden stile in the hidden corner of a field and we wrongly headed through a broken gate into a field which proved to be a cul de sac. Your diarist retraced his footsteps and found the missing stile while his followers climbed over a gate to reach the right field. We were reunited in the garden of a cottage where a right of way led to a minor road.

We crossed this and followed a public footpath sign at the left side of Byron House (92mins). Beyond the house we turned left down a public footpath which brought us on to Greenshall Lane by the side of Pear Tree Cottage (94mins). We turned right and walked downhill along a rocky road until we emerged on the A6 (107mins).

We crossed this into Lower Greenshall Lane, walking under a railway bridge to reach the Peak Forest Canal (112mins). We turned left to access the towpath and sat on a bench by the side of Bridge 27 for pies and port, bathed in warm sunshine. With the canal on our left we continued to Bridge 25 (126mins)   and turned right through a gap stile.

A muddy path led us over a footbridge (136mins). We crossed a wooden stile and headed right up a flight of steps (137mins) and crossed another wooden stile (138mins). By turning left at a tree marked with a yellow arrow (139mins) we were able to skirt to the left of a pond and enter a car park.

We followed the car park exit to reach a road, where we turned right for ten yards before turning left at a wooden public footpath sign marked with a yellow arrow. We kept initially to the higher path with the River Goyt on our left below. The path went down to the river and then turned right to avoid a large house before it led us back on to the main road.

We turned left (147mins) and crossed a road bridge over the Goyt. On our right was The Torrs Riverside Park , the entrance to Mousely Bottom Wood and a recently refurbished children’s playground. At a road junction (155mins) we crossed into Hague Fold Road for a steep climb which led us ultimately to a narrow road by the side of a memorial bench to Eric Burdekin (164mins).

We turned left and reached The Fox at Brook Bottom (166mins), where we found the trio of B-teamers starting their second pints. The Robbies’ Unicorn cask bitter at £3-15 a pint was in good form again after recent disappointments.

Leaving the pub we turned right in front of a red phone box and descended a rocky path which led us under a railway bridge with Strines Station on our left (179mins).

Literary researchers have claimed a connection between Strines Station and Edith Nesbit, whose book, The Railway Children, was published in 1906 and made into a movie in 1970 starring Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett. They believe that Edith, who lived in Kent, was inspired by visits to her step-sister.

 Saretta Deakin lived in Mellor next to a real cottage called The Three Chimneys – the name of the fictional cottage described in the book and film. References in Edith’s writing can also be attributed to New Mills, Birch Vale, Thornsett and Strines.

After passing the lake on the right we caught up with the B-team and joined them for lunch on the stones beneath Bruce’s Clock (182mins). Resuming, we crossed the roadbridge over the Goyt and went straight across Strines Road (186mins), passing the house built by “Peeres Swindels” in 1694 (191mins).

We turned left just before the aqueduct carrying the Peak Forest Canal across our path (194mins) and went left over a wooden stile to head diagonally left to a gap stile, which we squeezed through to join the towpath. We turned left with the canal on our right. We went under Bridge 23 (200mins)and Wood End Lift Bridge 24 (207mins) before leaving the canal by crossing Hollins Clough Swing Bridge 25 (213mins).

The road took us under a railway bridge to reach the Dandy Cock (223mins) for more excellent Robbies’ Unicorn, this time at £2-95 a pint. We were later joined by the B team.

On Sunday, January 1, we will be having our traditional New Year’s Day walk starting at 10.30am from Poynton Sports Club car park. We will head for the Macclesfield Canal at Higher Poynton and, by way of a change, turn left to reach The Bull’s Head at High Lane, aiming to arrive at noon. We will return to Poynton for further refreshment. I need to find out which pub is open around 2pm when we expect to return. Please bear in mind that January 1 is “Ladies day” and that friends and family of any gender or transgender are most welcome.

The first Wednesday walk of the year will start at 9.30am on January 4 from the car park of The Boar’s Head at Higher Poynton, with Mark offering to make his debut as leader. It is his intention to take us into Lyme Park and then to head towards Pott Shrigley before pausing for a livener at The Miners Arms, Wood Lane Ends, Adlington, around 12.15pm. We expect to finish back in The Boar’s Head at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !