WHALEY BRIDGE, CROMFORD AND HIGH PEAK RAILWAY LINE (DISUSED), SHALLCROSS INCLINE GREENWAY, SITE OF SHALLCROSS HALL, COMBS RESERVOIR, TUNSTEAD FARM, SPIRE HOLLOW FARM, BEEHIVE AT COMBS, CHAPEL EN-LE-FRITH STATION, THE ROEBUCK AT CHAPEL, ECCLES ROAD, CROFT BARN, ECCLES PIKE, OLLERENSHAW HALL AND THE COCK AT WHALEY BRIDGE
Distance: Eight miles.
Difficulty: Moderate.
Weather: Mild and Dry with some Cloud: Good Visibility.
A Walkers: Alastair Cairns with Daisy, Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman and Alan Hart.
B Walkers: Phil Burslem, Tony Job, Terry Jowett, Ken Sparrow, Geoff Spurrell and Barry Williams.
Non-walking drinker: Jock Rooney.
Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (New Zealand hols), Peter Beal (La Palma hols), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (visiting parents), Hughie Hardiman, Steve Kemp (testing out new spade !), Chris Owen (full service and MoT), George Whaites (tending to sick wife)
Starting point: Main road outside The Cock at Whaley Bridge.
Starting time: 9.38am. Finishing time: 2.09pm.
We assembled on time in perfect walking conditions for a slight variation on a well-known route. What could possibly go wrong ? Your diarist discovered there is never room for complacency with the Wednesday Wanderers as he was brought crashing to the ground after a mere 100 yards.
The dramatic tumble caused alarm which swiftly switched to mirth. Well if anyone thinks it is funny to have Tom’s pole rammed between one’s legs, let me know and I’ll pass on your details.
Unashamed by his clumsiness Tom then brought blushes to the cheeks of a young barmaid when he said “I’ll have a pint of Wainwrights but can you pull me one off first.” As a former landlord he should know better and he is edging dangerously close to a summons by our disciplinary committee.
Lawrie led us through some spectacular scenery and a long climb up Eccles Pike. En route he managed to fight off another attempt by Colin to stage a coup d’etat and seize the lead. Colin relented when he discovered that despite his best efforts he had only managed to create a breakaway group of one.
With The Cock on our left we walked 20 yards and turned left over a stream to reach the track of the former Cromford and High Peak railway line, now disused. We turned right and had gone only a few paces when Tom inserted his pole between your diarist’s legs. You can imagine the pain, dear readers, as I sprawled full length on hands and knees.
Concern quickly changed to laughter as I told Tom what I would like to do with his poles.
We continued along the disused line until we reached Shallcross Incline Greenway (10mins) and headed uphill. At the top was a plaque giving the history of Shallcross Hall, which was built in 1691, damaged by fire and allowed to deteriorate until it was demolished in 1967.
Having reached Shallcross Road we turned left (18mins) and then crossed Elnor Lane towards Shallcross Nursery where we crossed a wooden stile to enter a field (20mins). We soon went over a stone step stile into the next field, which we exited by wood and stone step stiles (27mins). A wooden gate was passed and we crossed a stream (36mins)
As we climbed the bank we enjoyed a splendid scene across the valley with Eccles Pike on our left and Combs Reservoir below us in the distance. We are indebted to Tom for the information that “pike” is an old English word, possibly derived from the Roman occupation of Britannia, meaning a hill with a warning beacon.
The well-trodden path took us over a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (42mins), through a wooden gate to the right of a row of farm cottages (46mins) and to the entrance of Tunstead Farm (48mins). We followed a footpath to the right of the farm and crossed a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (51mins)
After crossing a stone step stile (60mins) we turned left down a stony track and swung left downhill (68mins).
We passed Spire Hollow Farm on our left (72mins) and Carr Green Farm on our right (76mins) to reach Combs village and its solitary pub, The Beehive (82mins). We passed the pub on our left and stopped at benches on opposite sides of the road for pies and port.
Continuing, we went along a road with a stream below and headed towards a rail bridge. Just before it (87mins) we turned right at a footpath sign marked with a yellow arrow. At the end of this path we turned left over a railway bridge and immediately right along a path with the Manchester-Buxton line now on our right (91mins)
When we reached Chapel railway station (103mins) Lawrie indicated we should turn left along the road. However Colin insisted this was “the wrong way” and carried straight ahead ploughing a lone furrow to the left of the railway track while the rest of us turned left and followed Lawrie down the road. Colin eventually came to heel as the road swung right, reached a T-junction and we headed left with Chapel-en-le-Frith High School on our left (115mins)
The settlement, which means Chapel in the Forest, was established as a hunting lodge by the Norman conquerors in the 12th Century. Older Wanderers might remember one of their townsfolk, Hubert Selwyn Pink (1878-1946) played cricket for Derby shire and England.
More recently Neville Buswell, born in the town in 1943, joined the cast of Coronation Street and at the height of its popularity from 1966-78 he played Ray Langton, the building partner of Len Fairclough.
After having an extra-marital affair with waitress Janice Stubbs, love-rat Langton begged forgiveness and asked wife Deirdre to make a new start with him in Amsterdam with their daughter Tracy. She stayed and he departed for Holland. In real life Buswell had become sick of fame. He emigrated to America where he worked first in a casino as a croupier and later in a bank.
After passing under a railway bridge we turned right down a passageway (117mins) which was a short cut to the main road (118mins) where we turned right. We passed the New Inn on our right and reached The Roebuck on our left (122mins)
We were delighted to find the pub open eight minutes ahead of its formal noon opening time. Tom pushed our luck with his ambiguous remark but both the Wainwrights and the Tetley’s cask bitter at £3-25 were on top form.
A second pint had just been started when Jock, who has been suffering with back pains from the start of the year, joined us. He gave us a brief medical bulletin about the problem, which arrived mysteriously and refuses to improve. We wish him a speedy recovery. We also send our best wishes to George’s wife Lesley, who was stricken earlier in the week but who is hoped to make a full recovery with medication.
We left Jock to finish his pint, turning right out of the pub along Eccles Road. Before long we were climbing steadily uphill passing Frith Knoll (133mins) and Croft Barn (149mins) on our right before we reached a bench to mark the peak of Eccles Road (155mins). We were only a few metres short of the summit of Eccles Pike itself, which was 150 yards behind us as we stopped for lunch at the form dedicated to Joan and Bill Bates.
It was mainly downhill now back to Whaley Bridge as we passed a field containing a pair of young llamas on our right and a large building called Sycamores on our left (165mins) before reaching Ollerenshaw Hall, also on our left.
This Grade ll listed building dates from around 1800 and has been converted into three houses.
When the road ahead was marked Private we swung right before a cottage (173mins) and turned immediately left (174mins) to cross a wooden stile. The path took us past Whaley Bridge cricket ground on our left and through a metal gate (180mins)
A choice of two wooden footpath signs on our right (185mins) both led down a series of flights of steps to a road. If you had taken the left sign you now turned right to reach and follow a green footpath sign indicating a left turn (187mins). Just before Buttercup Cakes we turned right (189mins) to reach the main road. Here we turned left to reach our cars and de-boot (190mins)
We were joined in The Cock by members of the six-strong B team for pints of Robbies’ Unicorn.
Pictures by Tom
Next week’s walk will start at 9.40am from Danebridge, Wincle. We will be heading for The Royal Oak at Rushton Spencer for a livener at about 12.30pm and expect to stop for further refreshment at The Wincle Brewery around 2.30pm.
Happy wandering !
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