Langley

March 29, 2017.

BOTTOMS RESERVOIR, TEGG’S NOSE COUNTRY PARK, SADDLERS WAY, HARDINGLAND FARM, MACCLESFIELD FOREST, FOREST CHAPEL, TOOT HALL HOUSE, TRENTABANK RESERVOIR AND HERONRY, RIDGEGATE RESERVOIR, THE LEATHER’S SMITHY, LANGLEY WATER TREATMENT WORKS, MOSS LEA FARM, LANGLEY CRICKET CLUB, ST DUNSTAN’S PUB AT LANGLEY, BOLLIN BECK AND SUTTON HALL

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate after strenuous start.

Weather: Sunny start but clouding over with short shower.

Walkers: Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Steve Kemp, Chris Owen and George Whaites.

B walkers: Phil Burslem, George Fraser, Tony Job, Terry Jowett, Geoff Spurrell and Barry Williams.

Apologies: Peter Beal (hiking in Lake District), Tom Cunliffe and Colin Davison (holidaying together in Estapona), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mickey Barrett  and Julian Ross (attending musical matinee).

Leader: Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park at the end of Holehouse Lane, Langley, next to Bottoms Reservoir, Macclesfield.

Starting time: 9.40am. Finishing time: 2.07pm.

Regular readers of this diary will be alarmed to see the entries in the Apologies section. As Tom is on holiday in Spain with wife Stella we can only assume he is desperate for any male company. This does not explain, however, the trip to a musical matinee by Mickey and Julian.

It was suggested that Julian was taking his gender diversity career too far. However we would not wish to be the source of rumours which might prove to be completely without foundation.

The A team walk marked the debut of Chris as a leader, and he proved to be more than capable as he led us round some spectacular scenery, and capped his display with the choice of a brand new watering hole to finish. He also provided a supply of drambuie at Pietime and a round of drinks to celebrate his 62^nd birthday. Many happy returns to him.

The walk began promptly, heading left to enter Tegg’s Nose Country Park and taking the gate on the right for a steep and prolonged climb. Where the path forked we went right (15mins) and reached a stone bench (20mins) which was a memorial to Fiona McWilliam (1965-99) with the inscription “I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.”

I prefer Spike Milligan’s epitaph: “I told you I was ill.”

We turned right and passed a series of examples of old machinery which had been used for quarrying at Tegg’s Nose. It was originally called Tegge’s Naze, which may have been the name of an early Norse settler or to have referred to a sheep (a “teg”) It was originally part of the Royal Forest of Macclesfield. From its summit at 1,246 feet there is a panoramic view from which the Welsh hills and Liverpool can be seen.

350 million years ago it lay at the bottom of a tropical sea and the promontory was formed by marine life on the bedrock. This became millstone grit and was quarried from the early 16^th Century. Many of the quarrymen contracted silicosis from the rock dust they inhaled while working and died before the age of 50. Annual medical checks were held and those not suffering from the disease used to celebrate their good fortune in The Setter Dog.

We reached a T-junction and turned right (37mins) following a sign for the Gritstone Trail. After passing a milestone to London 168 miles away, we turned right at the Tegg’s Nose Country Park Cafe (42mins) and followed a new wooden public footpath sign indicating a concessionary path called Saddlers Way (43mins)

We reached a wooden public footpath sign and followed it left towards Macclesfield Forest and Shutlingsloe (55mins). As we followed the path we passed a woman leading a white horse and a Shetland pony, accompanied by three cocker spaniels.

Turning left at a stone step stile at a green public footpath sign (66mins), we crossed a field and exited by another stone step stile (70mins), turning left and passing Hardingland Farm on our left. We went right at a metal gate to enter Macclesfield Forest (75mins). It had started to rain as we paused for Pietime on a grassy bank beneath the pine trees (80mins).

With the added stimulus of the drambuie, we continued until we reached a derelict building on our left and headed past it to a wooden public footpath sign marked Forest Chapel (82mins). This path led us out of the forest and to a path straight ahead marked Forest Bridleway (99mins).

We reached a four-way junction and turned left for a brief inspection of the Forest Chapel 80 yards away (105mins).

It is officially called St Stephen’s Chapel, Macclesfield Forest, and its vicar, the Rev Steve Rathbone, must have the best job in the world apart from Britain’s Coronation Day flag seller. A plaque reveals he conducts services at 3pm on the first Sunday of each month.

We retraced our footsteps to the junction, passing the delightfully-named Toot Hall House on our right (108mins) before turning left at a wooden public footpath sign (111mins). This took us downhill and we turned right at another wooden public footpath sign towards Trentabank (115mins).

We continued to follow a series of signs for Trentabank until we found a plaque describing the Trentabank Heronry on our right (131mins). Your diarist, who has led a sheltered life, was surprised to find that herons nested in the tops of trees like crows rather than on the ground like swans, geese and ducks.

Our group proceeded, passing Trentabank car park and warden hut on our left. On our right a plaque informed us that Trentabank Reservoir was opened in 1929 by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Brigadier General Sir William Bromley Davenport, His Majesty’s lieutenant for the county of Chester.

We reached a road and turned right (135mins) with Ridgegate Reservoir, containing a great crested grebe, on our left. This brought us to Leather’s Smithy (152mins) for cask ale named after the pub or Jennings. The charm of the attractive barmaid went some way to compensate for the price of £3-95.

Turning right out of the pub door we immediately turned diagonally left, crossing the road and entering a footpath to the right of Ridgegate Reservoir. We turned right at a wooden public footpath sign marked Gritstone Trail (155mins) and crossed a footbridge over a stream (159mins)

By turning left at a metal kissing gate (164mins) we walked behind Langley Water Treatment Works and through another metal gate (169mins) passing a pond on our left and following a yellow arrow to the right of Moss Lea Farm (171mins). After turning right for a few yards, we paused for lunch on the edge of a wall, eventually attracting the interest of a pony who clearly enjoyed sugar lumps and apples. By the time his equine friends realised, their chance – along with the treats – had gone.

We resumed passing Langley Cricket Club on our right (174mins) to enter the outskirts of Langley. We turned right into Forest Drive (182mins) and at the end headed left along a hidden passageway. We emerged opposite St Dunstan’s pub (184mins), which is closed on weekday lunchtimes.

After turning right for 150 yards, we turned left into Holehouse Lane (186mins), passing Bollin Beck on our left with a pool on our right. This brought us back to the cars to de-boot (191mins).  We then drove to Sutton Hall, arriving ten minutes later as the B team were also exiting their cars.

Sutton Hall proved to be a real find, with a variety of elegantly furnished rooms and a friendly staff. The current hall, built on the site of an earlier building, dates from the 16^th Century with additions during the centuries since.

It was the birthplace of Ralph Holinshed, whose historical chronicles formed the basis for 14 of Shakespeare’s plays. Sutton Hall became part of the family estate of the earls of Lucan, including the 3^rd Earl, George Charles Bingham (1800-88), who was in overall command of the cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.

The pompous Field Marshall detested his brother-in-law. Lord Cardigan, and this is attributed by some to the message sent by the former to the latter which led to disaster. It was misinterpreted and led to the infamous slaughter of the Light Brigade whom Cardigan commanded.

His great great grandson, the 7^th Earl of Lucan, George Charles Patrick Bingham, became notorious in modern times when he disappeared following the death of the family nanny, who was bludgeoned to death in 1974. “Lucky” Lucan, a prolific gambler, was prime suspect for the murder, mistaking the nanny for his wife, but was never found and pronounced officially dead in 2015.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from the road outside The Ship Inn at Styal. We are intending to find a pub beyond the Farmers Arms in Chapel Lane, Wilmslow (whose name nobody could remember) which opens at lunchtime. We expect to be there around 12.15pm, returning to The Ship about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !