Danebridge

This is written on my phone therefore will not be overlong, suffice it to say after a multiplicity of lame excuses there were three participants, Mark Gibby,  George whaites and your resident cleric Christopher Joseph. We commenced at Dane bridge, went west...ish for a while resulting in crossing the a523 on the outskirts of Rushden Spencer. We crossed the road and alighted onto the disused railway whereby we went left. Pleasingly the Staffordshire knot appears to have reopened albeit we passed just too early to stop (future possibilities). We arrived at the royal Oak just after midday and due to the warm weather mark and I drank cider, unknown price as I forgot my wallet (ho hum). We returned to winkle brewery along the dane valley way where we imbibed another.

The weather was sensational with a gentle pleasant breeze, good company and moderate if overgrown terrain. 

Next week we will convene opposite the Harrington arms on the A523 at 09.40hrs, cloudside,  congleton for half time at the Cheshire brewery yard at 12.45, finishing at the Harrington around 14.30.

Whaley Bridge

June 20, 2018.

WHALEY BRIDGE, CROMFORD AND HIGH PEAK RAILWAY LINE (DISUSED), GOYT VALLEY, WINDGATHER ROCKS, ERRWOOD AND FERNILESS RESERVOIRS, THE SHADY OAK AT FERNILEE, GOYT VALLEY AND THE COCK AT WHALEY BRIDGE

Distance:  8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Mainly dry with some sunshine and occasional showers.

Walkers: Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart and Chris Owen.

Apologies: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe and Colin Davison (all holidays), Alastair Cairns (supervising building work), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (leg injury), Mark Gibby (monitoring Ascot races from Kent), Steve Kemp (poorly), George Whaites (attending Cheshire Show)

Leader and Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Cock at Whaley Bridge.

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.27pm.

A varied selection of apologies were tendered for this week’s walk and a cry-off from our elected leader Lawrie  meant your diarist was obliged to accept the poisoned chalice. 

Not knowing how to negotiate my way from Whaley Bridge to Chapel-en-le-Firth other than by road or guesswork, I was obliged to amend the first appointed watering hole from The Roebuck at Chapel to The Shady Oak at Fernilee.

Beggars can’t be choosers so Chris and Hughie were required to fall in with this revised plan. In the event, more by good luck than good management, we managed to reach our new destination and the final pub at the allotted times.

Different weather forecasts predicted different times for the rain which was scheduled to fall. As it transpired we only had to contend with two light and mercifully brief showers. These were both stopped by the time-honoured trick of donning waterproofs.

With The Cock on our left we walked for 20 yards and turned left up a path across a stream to reach the wide footpath which was once the track of the Cromford and High Peak Railway. We turned right and followed it past a sign for Alpha Mews on our right then turned right at a wooden public footpath sign (6mins)

The path led us over a wooden plank footbridge into a children’s playground, which we crossed and headed through a passage dividing houses and their gardens. We turned right at a road and headed downhill, down a flight of steps and crossed the main road opposite Mevril Road (10mins). 

We went up a stony track and turned right to cross a footbridge over the River Goyt (17mins). A steep climb took us through a graveyard on either side of the path until we reached St James’ Church, Taxal, on our right, and turned left (21mins).

There has been a church in the hamlet of Taxal since the 12^th Century and its first rector was appointed in 1287. The present church was rebuilt in 1826. Inside there is a slate slab inscribed with the names of the Jodrell family of Jodrell Bank, Yeardsley, who were buried in the chancel between 1375-1756. Included is Roger Jauderell, who died at the Battle of Agincourt in 1413. Over the centuries several members of the Jodrell family married members of the Shallcross family, of Shallcross Hall, Whaley Bridge.

Ignoring a stile on our right opposite Glebe Cottage, which would have taken us to a cleft in the ridge called Taxal Nick, we carried on along the stony track until we reached a farm (37mins). We turned right just before the farm, following a wooden public footpath sign pointing diagonally right through a field. We then crossed a series of wooden and ladder stiles to reach a lane and turn left (45mins)

We turned right at a wooden public footpath sign (47mins) and reached the crest of a hill before heading down to a gate on our left (55mins). We entered a wood and followed the path through it to emerge at Windgather Rocks (70mins). 

After admiring the views overlooking Jodrell Bank radio telescope and beyond, we turned left until we came to a depression where we could shelter from the now blustery wind (75mins)

After Pietime, accompanied by port and damson gin, we continued along the footpath and road in the direction of the landmark known as Pym Chair. However, before reaching the Pym Chair car park, we left the road, rejoined the footpath over a stone step stile (87mins) and forked left (90mins) to take a short cut across the moor and emerge at a path downhill to the left of a road running parallel (97mins)

We reached the bridge dividing Errwood Reservoir on our right and Fernilee Reservoir to our left (125mins)

Fernilee was the first of two reservoirs to be built in the Goyt Valley by Stockport Water Corporation at a cost of £480,000. It was completed in 1938 and holds 4,940 million litres of water. Errwood was completed in 1967 at a cost of £1.5million and holds 4,215 million litres.

We crossed the bridge and turned left at a wooden public footpath sign (129mins) to reach the right bank of Fernilee Reservoir and proceed along the path. At the end (154mins) we swung right uphill to reach the main road and turn left (159mins)

We reached The Shady Oak on our right (166mins) and enjoyed pints of Wainwright cask bitter for £3-55 and draught Guinness for £3-80.

On leaving the pub we walked straight across the road downhill towards a farm. After crossing a stile we turned right over a wooden footbridge which crossed a stream with the River Goyt on our left (176mins). We followed the path over a wooden stile and paused for lunch under trees which sheltered us from the light drizzle which was now falling (184mins)

We resumed and went through a wooden gate with the Goyt on our left below (193mins). After crossing a wooden stile (195mins) we were now retracing our earlier footsteps until we reached the main road opposite Mevril Road (197mins). This time we headed up Mevril Road and turned left at a path before the playground. This unmarked path took us down to the disused Cromford and High Peak railway line (201mins) where we turned left opposite the|Cromford Court retirement flats. We followed our earlier footsteps again to emerge by the side of The Cock and de-boot prior to further refreshment (212mins)

Next week’s walk will start from Danebridge at Wincle, Macclesfield, at 9.40am. We will head for The Royal Oak at Rushton Spencer, hoping to arrive around 12.20pm, returning to The Wincle Brewery next to Danebridge Trout Farm for a final pint at about 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !

Litton

June 13, 2018.

LITTON, TANSLEY DALE, CRESSBROOK DALE, RAVENDALE, CRESSBROOK MILL, RUBICON WALL, WATER-CUM-JOLLY, WYE VALLEY, LITTON MILL, TIDESWELL DALE, TIDESWELL TREATMENT WORKS, HORSE AND JOCKEY AND THE GEORGE AT TIDESWELL, THE RED LION AT LITTON

Distance: 6+ miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Sunshine with blue and cloudy skies and a gentle breeze.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney with Tip and George Whaites.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkish hols), Alastair Cairns (supervising builders), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Steve Kemp (unwell) and Chris Owen (hols)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Red Lion at Litton, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 9.56am. Finishing time: 1.40pm.


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This was the shortest walk, unaffected by weather, in my memory as a Wednesday Wanderer.  There was no disputing the quality of the stunning scenery, and nobody objected to our visiting three different pubs. But some felt they had been sold short after a long drive to finish so early.

Indeed some expressed fears that their wives would find them jobs to do (of a non-exciting nature) when they returned home.

That said we not only enjoyed the scenery but were also entertained by the wildlife in and around the River Wye, observing swans, ducks with their ducklings, coots with their cootlets (?) and a rare sighting of a water vole.

With The Red Lion at Litton on our left we headed slightly uphill to reach a stone step stile to the right of the main road through the village. As Tom went back to retrieve his forgotten sticks we crossed the stile to head towards Cressbrook Dale and Wardlow. At the end of the field we crossed another stone step stile and turned left along a track for 30 yards before going right over a stone step stile (7mins). Three stiles in seven minutes – wasn’t George loving this !

After going through a wooden gate (10mins) we plunged downhill to Tansley Dale. The path brought us to a wooden gate leading to a wooden footbridge, which we crossed and turned right (19mins). We walked uphill through a wooden gate (30mins) and then dropped downhill again following a right fork in the paths.

Crossing a wooden footbridge (42mins) we followed the left fork in the paths and went through a wooden gate (46mins). On our left we passed Appel Cottage (probably owned by a dyslexic ) in Ravendale (48mins) before heading uphill to reach a T-junction (60mins) where we turned left.

Just after Bottomhill Road we went through an iron gate on our left and stopped by a weir for Pietime (64mins), observing a heron fishing nearby. We then retraced our footsteps back to Bottomhill Road and turned left at a stone wall with a footpath sign leading past Cressbrook Mill Flats.

These apartments are built on the site of the former mill and a new hydroelectric system is under construction nearby to use the force of the River Wye to create electricity.

We crossed a footbridge towards Litton (67mins) and reached a massive cliff known as The Rubicon Wall next to a stretch of river called Water-cum-Jolly (I swear I am not making this up !)

Here we saw a pair of swans, a group of six ducklings following their mother, and a pair of coots with four fledglings. We proceeded along the right bank of the Wye and reached Litton Mill (90mins).

As mentioned in a recent diary this was a notorious establishment where child labour was exploited and many orphans died from industrial accidents, disease and poor diet. It, too, has been converted into an apartment block.

As we continued along the right bank of the Wye we spotted a water vole swimming across its banks. This creature, called Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, is an endangered species. We also noticed on our right an impressive display of giant fungi.

Aforementioned fungi

After going through a wooden gate (102mins) we entered Tideswell Dale (106mins).  Leaving it we passed public toilets on our right, went through a car park (115mins) and followed a footpath to the right of a row of trees, many of them reduced to trunks. The path ran parallel to a main road to our left on the far side of which we saw Tideswell Treatment Works (119mins).

We left the footpath through a wooden gate and crossed the main road (123mins) before entering Tideswell. We reached The Horse and Jockey (133mins) and stopped for pints of Tetleys at £3-40 and lime and soda for 60p.

Tideswell, known by its inhabitants as Tidza, was founded more than 1,300 years ago by an Anglo Saxon called Tidi. The well, which is the scene of an annual well-dressing ceremony, lies beneath the fountain outside Fountain Square Church.

We passed the fountain on our left as we headed for a second pint at The George, our original destination, on the left of the main village street (140mins) for pints of unknown cask bitter brewed by Hardys and Hansons and costing £3-15 each.

Suitably refreshed we headed up the hill opposite The George and followed a path which brought us back  to Litton with The Red Lion on our left (155mins). Here the Longdendale Light cask bitter was excellent but an eye-watering £3-80 a pint.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.30am from outside The Cock at Whaley Bridge, calling for a stiffener at The Roebuck in Chapel-en-le-Frith around 12.15pm and returning for a last glass in The Cock at about 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !

Bollington

June 6, 2018.

BOLLINGTON RECREATION GROUND , WHITE NANCY, KERRIDGE RIDGE, RAINOW, BULL HILL LANE, BRINK BARN, WALKER BARN, PEDLEY FOLD, THE ROBIN HOOD AT RAINOW, THE VIRGINS’ PATH, INGERSLEY VALE WATERFALL, THE VALE AT BOLLINGTON

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Easy after initial steep climb.

Weather: Warm and sunny with gentle breeze.

Walkers: Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Lawrie Fairman*, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, George Whaites and Lee Whittaker.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkish hols), Peter Beal, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Hughie Hardiman (filial duties), Steve Kemp, and Julian Ross (w*^king)

Leaders: Various. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Bollington Recreation Ground car park.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 1.55pm.

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What a difference a week makes ! After the Wednesday Wanderers’ washout at the end of May, this first walk of June got the month off to a cracking start.

We welcomed two new recruits for this pleasant hike in ideal conditions. Lee Whittaker, a friend and former work colleague of Chris, made his debut as a Wednesday Wanderer. Tom arrived with a black bitch in his arms and introduced us to the one-year-old miniature poodle called Daisy owned by his wife Stella. We look forward to seeing more of both of them.

A new starting point had been selected for a tried and tested route and added about a mile to what might otherwise have been a very early finish. Our journey took us past an historic landmark, through fields containing cattle and ewes with their lambs, past a set of medieval stocks, the site of the stand-off between police and a notorious murderer, along an ancient path through meadows filled with buttercups and clover, and last, but by no means least, to two pubs selling cask bitter in top form.

We also welcomed back Lawrie, who returned from our trip to Croatia with a suppurating wound to his leg. He started from The Robin Hood and joined us for two miles and a soft drink in the pub before leaving for a medical appointment. We wish him a speedy recovery.

From the car park we crossed Bollington Recreation ground to reach the main road into the village and turned left. After passing The Spinners Arms on our right we took a step back in time as we entered the bakery of F.Smith to load up with hot pies (7mins). Continuing uphill we turned right into Church Lane (15mins) heading left at The Crown (18mins) and passed the oddly-named Lowlife Custom Van Company on our left.

Shortly afterwards we turned sharp right at a green public footpath sign (21mins) and began the steep climb to reach the local landmark White Nancy (35mins)

This is a folly built by a local landowner to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by the Duke of Wellington at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It is believed the horse which carried the bricks up the hill to build the monument was a grey mare called Nancy.

After pausing to catch our collective breath and admire the breath-taking views (40mins) we continued along Kerridge Ridge, with the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate, home of Astra Zeneca, on our right and the picturesque village of Rainow below on our left. We followed the Gritstone Trail sign, passing the Trig Point (55mins) and reaching the main road through Rainow (70mins) for an early Pietime.

As we finished our pies, port and damson gin provided by Chris, an eccentric rider passed our group astride a huge shire horse and bade us Good Morning.

We turned right and after 80 yards turned left to head up steps into a field by the side of an easily-missed wooden public footpath sign (71mins). This took us to a road where we turned right uphill (76mins). At the top of Bull Hill Lane we turned left (88mins) and after 50 yards crossed the main road right to ascend a flight of steps by the side of a wooden public footpath sign (89mins)

The path took us over a wooden stile (91mins) which we crossed and turned immediately left, crossing two stone steps stiles and going through a metal gate to reach Brink Barn (100mins). The path went straight ahead between farm buildings and emerged back at the main road (104mins)

We crossed the road into Walker Barn and passed a building which was once The Setter Dog pub, but is now a private house. Just after the house we turned left at a green public footpath sign (107mins) and met Lawrie coming towards us. The ancient mariner then joined us to head back to Rainow. To do so we left the track just before a gate (113mins) and crossed a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (116mins) to enter and pass through a farmyard (125mins)

Our group, now nine homo sapiens and one canine, reached a green footpath sign by the side of a stone step stile on our left which we crossed (129mins). We now headed downhill over a series of wooden, ladder and stone stiles down clearly marked paths until we reached a wooden footbridge (143mins)

We climbed up to a stone step stile which we crossed and turned left down a lane (145mins) passing Thornsett Farm and Pedley Fold Farm on our right before reaching the main road and turning right (151mins). We passed Holy Trinity Church on our right before leaving the main road to join Stocks Lane on our left (154 mins)

The wooden stocks which gave the lane its name are still there on the right. Stocks were widely employed by the civil and military authorities from the 14^th Century to the 19^th Century. England’s Statute of Labourers 1351 prescribed their use for “unruly artisans” in every town and village. They were put in public places to humiliate offenders who could at best have their feet tickled and at worst have rotten fruit, vegetables and refuse thrown at them. Their last recorded use was in 1872 and they have never been formally repealed.

Just beyond the stocks we reached The Robin Hood (158mins) for excellent pints of Wainwrights at £3-20, which we enjoyed at trestle tables in the sunshine outside.

The peaceful scene was in sharp contrast to that one winter’s day in January, 1977, when a car chase ended near the pub where there was a 50-minute stand-off between Chief Inspector Peter House of the Derbyshire Police stationed in Buxton, and Billy Hughes, who had raped a young mother and slaughtered her family at their home, Pottery Cottage, near Chesterfield.

Hughes, 30, from Blackpool, was being escorted by two prison officers to stand trial for stabbing a man in the face and raping his girlfriend. He escaped after stabbing the warders with a knife and taking their vehicle. After crashing it on the icy roads, Hughes arrived at Pottery Cottage where he held Gill Moran, her parents, husband and 10-year-old daughter hostage for 55 hours.

One by one he stabbed the family members to death while repeatedly raping Mrs Moran. When her dying mother raised the alarm to neighbours, Hughes set off in the family car with Gill Moran as hostage. His getaway car crashed to a halt in Rainow. After lengthy negotiations Hughes shouted “Right. Your time’s up” and aimed a blow at Mrs Moran with an axe.

Chief Insp House dived through the car window and deflected the blow while his colleagues shot Hughes and killed him. Chief Inspector House was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery. A year later Gill Moran remarried.

Suitably refreshed we continued our journey by retracing our footsteps down Stocks Lane and turning right down Chapel Lane (161mins). We turned right into Sugar Lane (164mins) and turned right yet again at a green public footpath sign pointing to the back of a row of cottages (166mins)

This stone-flagged footpath has been known for centuries as The Virgins’ Path or The Bridal Path from the days when Rainow had no church. Village maidens clad in their white dresses had to tramp through muddy fields to reach the nearest church two miles away in Bollington. To spare their blushes when arriving for their weddings in sullied bridal gowns, local farmers laid flags through their fields leading to Bollington. Thus the brides-to-be arrived untarnished.

As we followed in their footsteps we walked through meadows bursting with buttercups and covered in white and purple clover before arriving at Ingersley Vale waterfall for lunch (178mins). Resuming we passed the derelict mill (182mins) and then The Crown on our right (186mins)

Instead of turning right we continued uphill to High Street, where we turned right (192mins). We turned left at the Queens Arms into Water Street (196mins), walked under the aqueduct carrying The Macclesfield Canal and turned right to head back across Bollington Recreation Ground to reach our cars (204mins)

 We enjoyed our final pints of White Nancy or Bollington Best cask bitter 80 yards away in The Vale, which is owned by the Bollington Brewery.

Next week’s walk will start at 9.55am outside The Red Lion at Litton, Derbyshire. We will be stopping for a livener at The George in Tideswell at about  12.40pm and finishing back at the Red Lion around 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !