Styal

April 5, 2017.

STYAL, STYAL CROSS, THE BOLLIN VALLEY, AIRPORT INN, MORLEY GREEN, LINDOW MOSS, STRAWBERRY LANE, WILMSLOW REFORM CHURCH, THE KING WILLIAM AT WILMSLOW, BODDINGTON PLAYING FIELDS, THE CARRS, LACEY GREEN, QUARRY BANK MILL AND THE SHIP AT STYAL

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry but cool with cloud and sunny spells.

Walkers: Greg Barrett, Mickey Barrett, Alastair Cairns, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Steve Kemp, Julian Ross and George Whaites.

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

Apologies:  Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe (Spanish hols), Colin Davison (recuperating from broken ribs), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing), Chris Owen.

Leaders: Various. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Car park of The Ship at Styal.

Starting time: 9.31 am. Finishing time: 2.15pm.

This was a day on which we had no recognised leader and no maps. The possibilities for disaster seemed unlimited. However with a mixture of instinct, ingenuity, solidarity and downright good luck we managed not only to find our desired route round the Bollin Valley and back to Styal. We also reached both pubs at the allotted time and located the B team despite being laid a false trail.

We also enjoyed pleasant weather, an absence of mud, walked through a lovely park with connections to a brewery and learned more than we would ever wish to know about phytophthora ramorum. We also passed sites of ancient and modern history involving crime and punishment.

When this route was mooted a week ago, it had not been considered that our regular leaders with map-reading facilities would all be absent. So it was with a heavy heart that your diarist offered to make a start in the right direction. After a few hundred yards Mickey took over, using some local knowledge from his youth to guide us through the Bollin Valley.

On two occasions he appeared to be doing a loop the loop, no doubt inspired by his pilot son Greg, who had joined us for this outing. But Mickey successfully negotiated our way through a tricky route and led us to the Airport Inn. From here, with the assistance of a postman and two lady dog-walkers, we found out way to our first watering hole.

With The Ship Inn at Styal on our right, we walked some 250 yards before heading left at a sign for Styal Methodist Chapel (2mins). We reached the chapel (3mins) and at this early stage Mickey took over the leadership, turning right and passing Styal Cross on our left.

This local landmark was moved to Holly Lane, Styal, in 1860 but was demolished by a runaway lorry in 1980. It was rebuilt at its present location in 1983.

We passed Styal Unitarian Chapel on our right and entered the woods, heading right down a flight of steep stone steps (13mins) to cross Chapel Bridge. We swung left along a diverted path and entered a scene of devastation where a vast area of larch trees had been felled.

A sign informed us that work was in progress to eradicate a fungal plant disease called phytophthora ramorum, which is spoor-borne and causes leaves, especially those of the larch, to shrivel.

By now the Bollin River had appeared on our left, but because of its serpentine course it soon appeared on our right and we crossed it by the Giant’s Castle footbridge (30mins). At some point we had joined a bridleway for horses and cyclists as well as walkers known as Laureen’s Ride – a 56km route through Cheshire which was opened in 2012.

We discovered this when we left it by turning left (57mins) and soon reached the Airport Inn. With gleams in their eyes, some of our group recalled nights of passion from their younger days when the building was called The Valley Lodge and the Thursday disco scene was known as “Grab-a-granny” night.

We reached the main road opposite, crossed it and turned left towards Wilmslow, heading right at a wooden public footpath sign (64mins) marked Bollin Valley. The path through a field brought us to a track leading to the back of homes identified by Mickey as belonging to Mike Summerbee (Manchester City and England soccer star), Simon Gregson (who stars as Steve McDonald in Coronation Street) and his daughter Faye Barrett (one of the stars in the Barrett galaxy).

We turned left to reach a road, where Alastair consulted a friendly postman. Meantime we found a public footpath sign directly opposite. Combining the information supplied by the postie with our own  discovery, we followed the footpath sign which took us past a row of pretty cottages and over a wooden stile.

If we had carried straight ahead it would have brought us to a stile we sought. Unfortunately a yellow arrow indicated we should cross the field diagonally left and we were obliged to clamber over a fence in the corner to reach a lane where we wanted to turn right (83mins). A minute later we were passing the wooden stile on our right which was directly opposite the stile we had crossed nine minutes earlier.

When we reached a large piece of agricultural machinery with sections which could be used as seats, we paused for Pietime promptly at 11 am (89mins). Before we had reached the port stage, a large white Pomeranian dog wandered over from the farm. He appeared friendly but we soon discovered his intentions were not to greet us but to have a dump barely six feet from where we were eating. It was at this point – and it hard to see the connection - that someone asked when Tom would be rejoining the group after his extended holiday in Spain.

 Resuming we reached a road and turned right, passing Moss House Cottage and Morley Green Club on our left (94mins) before turning left into Eccups Lane (96mins). We passed a large house called Far Meadow on our left and 20 yards beyond it went straight ahead to follow a public footpath while the road swung right.

This path took us past a peat bog, Lindow Moss, on our right where the preserved body of an Iron Age Man – dubbed Pete Marsh, Lindow Pete or Lindow Man –  was found by a peat-cutter in 1984. The body, comprising a head, torso, arms and one leg, was of a man of 25, 5ft 7ins tall and weighing 10stone. According to carbon-dating tests he had died between 20 and 90 AD.

Because of his well-manicured hands it was believed he may have been a Druid priest, who had been clubbed over the head, garrotted and had his throat cut. Cheshire Police suspect the death was a ritual killing but there have been no arrests.

Ironically, in 1983, the same peat-cutter found another skull. Local man Peter Reyn-Bardt thought it belonged to the wife he had killed and buried 23 years earlier.  He confessed to her killing but the skull fragment proved to be 2,000 years old.

At Chester Crown Court Reyn-Bardt tried to retract his confession to the murder of his wife Malika but was convicted and jailed for life even though her body had never actually been found.

We passed a sign advising us to follow the Bridleway to Moor Lane (111mins). We turned right at the sign for the Bridleway (119mins) but later carried straight on along a restricted by-way, ignoring the public bridleway to our left (123mins).

We entered the outskirts of Wilmslow, exiting Strawberry Lane (131mins) and turning left. This took us past The Farmers Arms on our right (133mins) and The Carters Arms on our left, which were both closed. We crossed into Chapel Lane (138mins), passing Wilmslow United Reform Church on our right.

We turned left at the main road and were heading for the Coach and Four (formerly The New Inn), but we received a message via Geoff that the B team had arrived at a pub called The King’s Head. Firstly we found the Coach and Four too up-market (and probably too pricey) for the likes of the Wednesday Wanderers. Secondly we worked out that The King’s Head, which did not exist in Wilmslow, was probably the King William, which Alastair and your diarist knew.

So we proceeded along the main road to reach The King William on our left (149mins) with the B team inside drinking pints of Robinsons’ cask bitter at £2-80. It proved to be an excellent choice.

Suitably refreshed, we turned left and went to the left of a circular garden before turning left and reaching an archway on our left at the entrance to Boddington Playing Fields. Here an inscription informed us that the fields had been donated in 1925 by Henry Boddington of Pownall Hall “for the recreation, health and pleasure of Wilmslow and her children for ever.”

Henry Boddington JP (1849-1925) owned Boddington’s Brewery at Strangeways, Manchester, and lived in a flat above the brewery until he bought Pownall Hall, Wilmslow, in 1886. This may have been prompted by the building next to his brewery of Strangeways Prison in 1868. It cost £170,000 and held 1,000 prisoners of both sexes.

Between its opening and the abolition of the death penalty, Strangeways had hosted exactly 100 executions, including that of John Robson Walby (alias Gwynne Owen Evans), who was the last person to be hanged in England in 1964.

From the children’s play area we entered a park called The Carrs, a Norse word meaning bog. This was an estate owned by Lord Stamford until it was sold in 1841. Henry Boddington acquired it and built St Olaf’s Chapel in the grounds at the end of the 19^th Century. Only two courses of its stonework, surrounded by yew trees, survive.

We followed the path through The Carrs on the left bank of the Bollin until we crossed a footbridge to reach a picnic table on our right for lunch (163mins). Afterwards we re-crossed the footbridge and resumed our walk with the Bollin on our right. We turned right over a bridge (169mins) towards Lacey Green and Styal, walking between the Bollin on our left and public toilets on our right.

After crossing a wooden footbridge we turned left passing a sign inscribed National Trust Styal (172mins). We crossed Heron’s Pool Bridge (180mins) and turned left to reach Quarry Bank Mill on our left (186mins). We passed the Visitors Centre on our right and carried on until we reached a sign for Styal Village on our left (192mins).

This brought us back to Styal Methodist Church (196mins) from which we retraced our earlier footsteps back to The Ship Inn (198mins). After de-booting we sampled the Black Sheep at £3-35 a pint and were soon joined by the B team.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from the car park of The White Horse at Disley (turn right at The Ram’s Head and after 50 yards right again into Ring O’ Bells Lane. The car park is on the right and the first person arriving should swing the barrier back. We have permission from Andy the landlord. When we set off walking we should swing the barrier back into place)

We intend to walk through Millenium Wood to Black Rock, then along the ridge past Owls’ Nest, to Byron House, Five Wells Spring, across the A6, along the Peak Forest Canal and up beyond Hague Bar to The Fox at Brook Bottom, arriving shortly after noon. We intend to return via Strines and the canal, returning to The White Horse for final drinks at about 2pm.

Happy wandering !