BRABYNS PARK, MARPLE BRIDGE, COMPSTALL, REDBROW WOOD, ETHEROW VALLEY, PEAK FOREST CANAL, HYDE TUNNEL, ST CHAD’S WELL, CHADKIRK CHAPEL, OTTERSPOOL WEIR, STOCKPORT GOLF COURSE, COWN EDGE WAY, MARPLE GOLF COURSE, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, GOYT MILL, THE RING O’ BELLS AT MARPLE, MARPLE LOCKS, PEAK FOREST CANAL AND THE NORFOLK ARMS AT MARPLE BRIDGE
Distance: 8-9 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Dry, Mild, Cloudy with Sunny Spells.
Walkers: Alastair Cairns with Daisy, Steve Courtney with Luna, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Alan Hart, Steve Kemp and Chris Owen.
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (New Zealand hols), Peter Beal (La Palma hols), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby and Hughie Hardiman (monitoring Cheltenham races), Julian Ross (w*^king) and George Whaites (domestic duties)
Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Car park at Brabyns Park, Marple Bridge.
Starting time: 9.37am. Finishing time: 2pm.
The ongoing conflict between footpath rights campaigner Colin and the golfing fraternity resulted in another verbal battle during this pleasant walk through the Cheshire countryside. Although we were never far from suburbia, it was often hard to detect among the valleys and woodland.
The first skirmish of the day came in the car park when Daisy, never embarrassed by her diminutive stature, decided to show Luna who was boss. As the friendly Labrador tried to introduce herself, Daisy, a Jack Russell, made it quite clear that she was not to be messed with. It proved to be a sign of things to come from Colin.
For the second week running we were treated to a round of drinks. On this occasion the birthday boy was Alastair, who will be 61 on Friday. We say “Cheers” to him and wish Alastair many happy returns of Friday.
Along with a route which gave us a glimpse of history, ancient and modern, and a feat of engineering based on principles devised by a Greek scientist in the 3rd Century BC, the journey was conducted in dry, mild weather. Shame about the mud into which our leader fell head first.
From the top car park at Brabyns Park, Marple Bridge, we followed the pathway in the direction of Compstall with fields on our right and a wood to our left. After crossing a bridge to exit the park (10mins) we passed Watermeetings Cottage on our left as we followed a path to the main road (15mins)
Here we turned left passing a building which until recently was a large public house called The George at Compstall, with its own bowling green. The pub has closed and it is undergoing a conversion. After using the road bridge to cross the River Etherow we turned left along Valley Way and walked along the bank of the river into Redbrow Wood (18mins)
We remained on the Etherow’s right bank until the path swung away from it towards farm buildings (30mins). We walked through the farmyard (33mins) and followed Tom steadily uphill until we reached the outskirts of Woodley, where a phone call informed us we had gone the wrong way (38mins). We retraced our footsteps downhill and turned right over a wooden stile (42mins) to head for a viaduct.
After going under the railway viaduct we walked beneath an aqueduct and climbed a steep flight of steps to reach the Peak Forest Canal (51mins). We turned left with the canal on our right until we reached Hyde Bank Tunnel (59mins).
The tunnel is 308 yards long, 16 feet wide and 6ft 8ins high above the waterline. Since 1800 when the Lower Peak Forest Canal opened, it was used by bargees who used to lie on their backs on the roofs of their narrow-boats and walk along the roof of the tunnel to propel them through it. This was known as “legging.”Meanwhile their horses would follow a half-mile route to the other side and wait.
We left the canal on our right and passed Hyde Bank Farm on our left before emerging back on the towpath at the other side of the tunnel (63mins). Continuing with the canal once again on our right, we turned left (73mins) down a flight of stone steps to a road. Here we turned left, passing the delightfully-named Burymewick Cottage on our right, As the road swung right we reached St Chad’s Well on our right (75mins).
This is believed to have been named after the 7th Century Bishop of Lichfield who was the patron saint of wells and springs. Beyond the well on our left was Chadkirk Farm, whose west wing dates back to the 17th Century. The south wing was built in 1748 by George Nicholson, whose family owned Chadkirk House from 1745 until 1918, when it was sold to the Calico Printers’ Association. It was bought by Bredbury and Romiley Urban District Council in 1974 and passed to Stockport Metropolitan District Council in 1974.
Chadkirk has had a chaplain since 1347 and a Roman Catholic Church was built near Chadkirk Farm 170 years before the Reformation. It was neglected and in a “ruinous condition” before it was restored in 1747 by the Church of England. It became the property of Stockport MBC and was repaired as a tourist attraction in 1995.
We paused for pies, port and damson wine on benches in the chapel garden (80mins). Resuming we turned left along a footpath which brought us to a T-junction at Otterspool Road, where we turned left (88mins). Crossing the busy main road we reached Stockport Hydro on our right on the banks of the River Goyt, where we paused for an inspection (91mins)
It is a community-owned hydro-electric energy scheme at Otterspool Weir near Romiley which has been generating power since 2012. Water from the Goyt is diverted from the weir to two screws invented by the Green mathematician Archimedes from Syracuse (287-212 BC). Up to 360 tonnes of water flow through every minute generating 230,000kw of electricity every year.
We continued along the main road, crossing the Goyt and passing The Hare and Hounds pub on our right. At the T-junction traffic lights (104mins) we turned right and then left into Offerton Road (108mins). After some 50 yards we turned left again (109mins) at a green footpath sign and followed a wooden public footpath sign for Marple by crossing a wooden stile (110mins)
Crossing a new wooden stile in the right corner of the field we had entered we exited by another wooden stile and headed diagonally left to reach a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (118mins). We descended a flight of steps and crossed a wooden footbridge (122mins). This led us to a path on the left of the grounds of Stockport Golf Club.
A yellow arrow on a tree pointed us down to a wooden footbridge (130mins) and we crossed a broken wooden stile (137mins) to follow a path beside a rugby pitch on our right. After reaching the Middlewood Way we crossed it by following a sign for the Macclesfield Canal (139mins). A footpath sign for the Cown Edge Way (141mins) then led us on to Marple Golf Course, which we crossed by public footpath following yellow arrows.
During this stage of the journey Lawrie fell to his knees, muddied but unbowed, and Colin once again found himself at odds with golfers. It seems they had played their shots without waiting for Colin to get out of their way. Voices were raised angrily and your diarist heard Colin declare “I was on the Queen’s highway and you owed me a duty of care.” The witty riposte was “You’re a f---ing nutcase.”
It was hard to find fault with either argument.
We reached the Macclesfield Canal and turned left (151mins) with the waterway and the imposing Goyt Mill on our right. We followed the towpath under Bridges 4 and 3 before exiting at Bridge 2 to emerge opposite The Ring O’ Bells at Marple (164mins), known locally as The Ringers.
By now the sun was shining, albeit weakly, and we enjoyed pints of excellent Robbies’ Unicorn cask bitter at £3-20 a pint, courtesy of Alastair, in the beer garden. An old tobacco advertising sign there invited us to “ASK FOR RINGER’S SHAG – The Old Welsh Favourite.”
Suitably refreshed, after a warm inside the pub, we continued our walk along the towpath to Bridge 1 (166mins) where a series of locks link The Macclefield Canal with The Peak Forest Canal. Marple Locks were under repair and we were forced to divert to the right of the towpath along Oldknow Road (171mins)and left into St Martin’s Road (173mins) which took us back to the right bank of The Peak Forest Canal.
Lunch was taken by the side of Lock 9 (178mins) before we crossed the main road and passed Lock 8. Immediately beyond the lock we turned right through a gap stile and turned left to follow the path (180mins). We crossed a bridge over the railway line (183mins) and followed the path leading back to our cars through trees on our left (192mins)
Four of us walked to The Norfolk Arms at Marple Bridge for a final pint or coffee.
Photos by Tom Cunliffe
Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am from the road outside The Cock at Whaley Bridge. We intend to reach The Roebuck around 12.20pm for a tincture before returning to The Cock for a final drink about 2.20pm.
Happy wandering !
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