Whaley Bridge

December 27, 2017.

WHALEY BRIDGE, CROMFORD AND HIGH PEAK RAILWAY LINE (DISUSED), SHALLCROSS INCLINE GREENWAY, MANCHESTER-BUXTON RAILWAY LINE , TUNSTEAD MILTON, SPARK FARM, CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH GOLF COURSE, BRADSHAW HALL, COWHEY FARM, ECCLES PIKE, SALT PIE FARM, OLD HALL INN AT WHITEHOUGH, PEAK FOREST TRAMWAY, STEPHANIE WORKS, BUGSWORTH BASIN, PEAK FOREST CANAL, WHALEY BRIDGE BASIN AND THE COCK AT WHALEY BRIDGE

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry with sun, blue skies and cloud, but chilly.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe, Lawrie Fairman and Alan Hart.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Italian hols), Alastair Cairns, Colin Davison (visiting relatives), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby, Hughie Harriman, Steve Kemp, Chris Owen, Julian Ross and George Whaites (domestic duties).

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Road outside The Cock at Whaley Bridge.

Starting time: 9.39am. Finishing time: 1.55pm.

Dry weather, a low winter’s sun and blue skies only tempted four Wanderers out for this pleasant walk along the gently undulating hills and valleys between Whaley Bridge and Chinley at the edge of Derbyshire’s Peak District. The opportunity to walk off some of their Christmas pudding was clearly not on the menu for some of our regulars as they recovered from the excesses of the season and the entertaining of relatives.

Those of us who escaped the festive aftermath enjoyed the mild weather and a comical interlude involving Tom. Within an hour of berating your diarist for delicately tip-toeing through the mud, and pouring scorn on the suggestion that great care was needed, Tom slipped and fell. The resulting brown stain on the seat of his light fawn trousers suggested an accident of a totally different type.

It served to illustrate the proverbs “Pride cometh before a fall” and “He who laughs last laughs longest.”  Tom is now well on the road to recovery from his Achilles heel problem and it a joy to once again hear his brilliant ripostes and witty retorts after several months on the injury list.

Your diarist was also making his first outing for six weeks after sustaining a back injury during his holiday in Barbados. It is thought to have been caused by carrying a heavy suitcase up and down a flight of stairs in a luxury villa. It is known in the travel trade as an industrial injury.

Passing The Cock on our left, we turned left 20 yards beyond the pub, crossing a stream and heading uphill to the former track of the Cromford and High Peak railway line. When we reached it we turned right and followed it to the point where it became The Shallcross Incline Greenway (8mins).

The Cromford and High Peak Railway was built between 1830 and 1832 to carry minerals and goods between Cromford Canal Wharf and The Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge 33 miles away. It was originally designed as a tramway by William Jessop, his son Josias and their former partner Benjamin Outram, respected engineers and businessmen.

The first section of the line closed in 1963 following The Beeching Report and the last section came to the end of the line in 1967. Four years later The Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council bought part of the track to create High Peak Trails for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

At the end of this incline we turned left into Shallcross Road. At its end we crossed Elnor Lane and followed a public footpath sign over a wooden stile which led into a field (20mins). Heading gently uphill we crossed a stone step stile, a wooden stile, went through a wooden gate and over a wooden fence before walking through a wooden gate into a farmyard (44mins)

We swung round the farm buildings and crossed a ladder stile on our right (47mins) which led us to a compound for Houdini goats. As the name of the famous escapologist suggests, they had all disappeared. By going through a protected gate we climbed over a stone step stile and turned right to head downhill towards a tunnel under the Manchester-Buxton railway line. As we did so we could see Combs Reservoir on our right.

We went through the tunnel and headed diagonally left towards a fence, where we turned right to climb downhill, over wooden slats and down stone steps and reached a stream which we crossed twice by two wooden footbridges (62mins). After crossing a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow we reached the Whaley Bridge Chapel road at Tunstead Milton.

Our group crossed this and turned right for 100 yards before turning left at a green public footpath sign (63mins). We then crossed a series of wooden stiles which took us past a row of stables on our right and through successive fields. At one point Tom gave a remarkable impersonation of Little Bo Peep as he walked blissfully unaware that a flock of sheep was following him. When we reached a handy picnic table at the edge of a field, we stopped for pies and a drop of port (71mins)

Resuming we went through a gate and passed Spark Farm on our left to go over a wooden stile with a yellow arrow (73mins). The next wooden stile took us into the grounds of Chapel Golf Club. We kept to the left of the course and exited via a wooden gate at a wooden public footpath sign on our left (79mins).

After going through a wooden gate we had reached some farm buildings to the left of Bradshaw Hall (88mins). We turned left to skirt these building before turning right and passing them on our right. The entrance to Bradshaw Hall was on our right some 50 yards from our path.

Bradshaw Hall, built circa 1620 and extensively restored in the 1960s, is a Grade ll listed building. It was the family home of John Bradshaw, President of the High Courts of Justice, whose signature appears first on the death warrant of King Charles l.  At his trial in 1649, the king refused to recognise the authority of the court or enter a plea.

Judge Bradshaw, who was born in Wybersley Hall, High Lane, educated at Stockport Free School and King’s School, Macclesfield, was a former mayor of Congleton. He found the king guilty of being a tyrant, traitor, murderer and enemy of the people, and sentenced him to death by beheading with an axe.

Judge Bradshaw, a staunch Republican, subsequently fell out with Oliver Cromwell, but returned to favour when The Lord Protector died and was replaced by his son Richard Cromwell. Judge Bradshaw died in 1659, aged 57, and was buried with honours at Westminster Abbey.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and Charles ll was crowned king, he ordered that the bodies of Bradshaw, Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton, should be exhumed on the 12^th anniversary of Charles l’s execution. They were displayed in chains all day on a gallows at Tyburn on January 30, 1661. At sunset they were beheaded, their bodies thrown into a common pit and their heads displayed on pikes at Westminster Hall.

In the movie Cromwell, starring Richard Harris in the title role, John Bradshaw was played by Stratford Johns, best remembered for his portrayal of Det Chief Inspector Barlow in the TV series Softly Softly.

After passing the hall we headed left uphill over a series of stiles until we emerged on a road opposite Cowhey Farm (102mins). We turned left uphill and right at a wooden public footpath sign (103mins), passing a National Trust sign marked Eccles Pike. Instead of climbing this hill to our left, we turned sharp right towards an exit gate. It was at this point that Tom had his comeuppance (or in his case falldownance)

We then crossed a series of stiles as we descended through fields and reached a farm on our right (113mins) and swung left to follow the track down to a road (115mins). We turned left, passing Salt Pie Farm on our right (121mins) and crossing the road bridge over the A6 before entering Whitehough and reaching The Old Hall (126mins) for pints of excellent Wainwrights’ cask bitter at £3-20.

After refreshment we left the pub and turned right downhill past Sheridan House to reach The Peak Forest Tramway, where we turned left (129mins). After passing a pond containing two black swans and a plastics company at Stephanie’s Works, we reached the Navigation Inn at Bugsworth Basin, where your diarist paused at a bench for lunch (145mins)

Continuing, we walked along the right bank of the Peak Forest Canal, crossing to the left bank via a footbridge at Bridge 37 (159mins). This brought us to Whaley Bridge Basin marina (168mins). We carried straight on at the end of the marina, walking to the right of Tom Brad’s Croft car park and crossing a bridge over The Goyt.

This took us along the disused Cromford and High Peak Railway line until we turned right past an electrical goods suppliers, reached the main road and turned left under the bridge to reach our cars outside The Cock (180mins)

Next Wednesday’s walk will start at 9.35am from The Sportsman on Kinder Road, Hayfield. We expect to call at The Lamb around 12.15pm and finish back at The Sportsman at about 2.20pm.

The annual New Year’s Day walk will start at 10am on Monday, January 1, from the car park of Poynton Sports Club to a destination to be decided on the day in view of the weather and ground conditions and the conditions of the walkers concerned. It is customary to share festive food and drink.

Happy wandering !