Alderney Edge

 December 30, 2020.

THE EDGE AT ALDERLEY, BRYNLOW, TANYARD FARM, DANE VILLA, DEAN GREEN FARM, SOSS MOSS HALL, CHELFORD, HEAWOOD HALL, NETHER ALDERLEY, BRADFORD HOUSE, MEADOW FARM, WIZARD COUNTRY PARK

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Snow underfoot in fields and cold but dry.

Leader: Chris Owen. Diarist: Alan Hart.

Starting point: Car park of the The Wizard pub and restaurant, Macclesfield Road, Nether Alderley. 

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.37pm.

Alternative walkers: Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman.

 

There was a Christmas card look about the scenery as Chris led our walk from this famous landmark. Black ice initially made the road surfaces tricky as we were followed at social distances by Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor and George Whaites on a route never attempted before.

Despite the hazardous conditions and lack of rehearsal, we emerged unscathed after a few minor hiccups on the way, ending our journey just as the first flakes of a new snowfall were landing.  

With harsher government covid restrictions being announced during the day, this could be the last officially planned outing for several weeks. For now only two people will be allowed to walk together until further notice and any walks will have to be arranged by individuals for the immediate future. As soon as the situation changes Wednesday Wanderers will be informed by email.

From the National Trust car park we crossed the B5087 Macclesfield Road into Artists Lane and headed gingerly downhill, crossing the A34 and following a signpost for Chelford (24mins). Great care was needed as we tiptoed over the icy tarmac before turning right (35mins) at an easily-missed green public footpath sign. Well spotted Jock !

After crossing a wooden stile we went over a bridge with a railway line below. On the far side of the bridge we crossed a wooden stile on our right and then turned left, keeping a fence on our left until we reached the corner of the field (47mins). Crossing a wooden stile on our left we then turned right over the next wooden stile and headed towards a farmhouse (53mins)

With long rows of greenhouses on our left we walked to a T-junction, turning left and then right over a wooden stile before turning left again and following the fence to the corner of a field. Here access to a stile had been overgrown and the easiest way to reach it was to clamber over a nearby gate,

After crossing the wooden stile we turned right (60mins) following a green public footpath sign along a path which ran parallel with the Alderley by-pass for 200 yards before swinging towards it. Even on a day of light traffic judgement, speed and not least courage were needed to cross the road and follow a path on the other side which swung left and then right.

We followed public footpath signs and yellow arrows to head through Tanyard Farm (83mins) and reached  a road where we turned left. Passing Christmas House on our right (99mins) we reached Merrymans Lane on our right. Here we turned left opposite the lane at a green public footpath sign by Dane Villa. After crossing two wooden stiles and a footbridge, whilst evading the attentions of two inquisitive horses, we stopped for Pietime (107mins)

Suitably refreshed we proceeded to the left corner of the field and went through a metal kissing gate marked with a yellow arrow. We kept a hedge on our left as we went through a field and crossed a wooden stile to reach a minor road called Soss Moss Lane (118mins)

We turned left passing a cottage called Grogram and turned right off the lane just before we reached a railway bridge (126mins). We were now in Nursery Lane, passing Dean Green Farm on our right and Soss Moss Hall on our left before reaching a main road opposite Keepers Cottage. We turned left (145mins)

After passing a sign for Chelford (150mins) we walked under a railway bridge (151mins) and turned left at a firm called Concep, following a footpath sign through its car park to reach a permissive path via a wooden stile (161mins). When we reached a T-junction of paths we wasted ten minutes in deliberation and the wrong route before turning right (173 mins) on a path between two fields. We then swung left to pass a yellow arrow on a post and follow the path through a copse of mixed saplings until we emerged at a T-junction (184mins). We turned left and went through a metal kissing gate to emerge on a lane (197mins)

Turning left we reached a T-junction where we turned left and right at a wooden public footpath sign with a yellow arrow to head for West Barn. We carried straight on where the track swung right (200mins) and followed yellow arrows as the path continued through a successive series of stiles and gates before pausing for lunch (203mins)

Continuing we reached Heawood Hall on our left, passing it before following a yellow arrow along a lane lined with a tall leylandai hedge on its left (213mins). We proceeded through a wooden kissing gate and up a flight of stone steps to cross a bridge over the Alderley by-pass (216mins)

Another wooden kissing gate to our left marked with a yellow arrow brought us to a metal kissing gate and a field in front of a turreted church. We followed a path into the churchyard (226mins)

St Mary's Church, Nether Alderley, dates back to the 14th Century and at its gate is a building which was once Nether Alderley Boys' School, dating from the 17th Century. It was a school until 1908. 

The nearby rectory was once the home of Neil and Christine Hamilton, the former MP for Tatton and his wife, who notoriously accepted free lavish hospitality from Harrods' Egyptian owner Mohammed al Fayed in return for seeking to get him a British passport. When al Fayed's passport application was refused he tipped off the press about his failed bribe to the Hamiltons.

After passing the rectory on our left we reached the A34 and turned left passing Netherley Alderley Mill on our right (231mins) This 16th Century cornmill is owned by the National Trust. You will be as impressed as I was to learn it is a unique example of a triple overshot waterwheel system.

Further along the main road we turned right up Bradford Lane (236mins), passing some of the area's most expensive houses before forking left at an ornamental triangle (243mins) and passing Meadow Farm on our left. We forked left at a green puiblic footpath sign passing Wizard Country Park on our left (259mins), the home of Wednesday Wanderer Graham Stone.

At the end of Bradford Lane (265mins) we turned left into Artists Lane (267mins) and returned to The Wizard car park (268mins)

Meanwhile alternative walkers Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman had set off from the former's home in High Lane to head through Lyme Park to Black Hill, returning via New Mills and the Goyt Valley Trail to Disley, a total of nine miles.

Happy wandering ! 

 

Tom's map of the walk

Pictures by Alan Hart

Sutton Hall

 

December 23, 2020.

SUTTON HALL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, RICHMOND HILL, MACCLESFIELD GOLF CLUB, LANGLEY, BOTTOM RESERVOIR, TEGG'S NOSE, FIONA MCWILLIAM MEMORIAL, GRITSTONE TRAIL, CLARKE LANE, GREEN BARN FARM, MOSS LEA FARM, CLOUGH VIEW, RIDGE HALL, CHURCH HOUSE INN AND YE OLDE KING'S HEAD AT GURNET 

Distance: 8 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate with strenuous climb.

Weather: Cold and Windy but Mainly Dry.

Leader: Chris Owen. Diarist: Alan Hart.

Alternative walkers: Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman.

Non-walking drinker: Tom Cunliffe.

Starting point: Sutton Hall car park, Sutton, Macclesfield.

Starting time: 9.31am. Finishing time: 1.10pm.

 

Despite a BBC weather forecast which predicted chances of rain being higher than 50 per cent every hour, we escaped with a light shower lasting ten minutes. As often happens in these circumstances the donning of waterproofs took longer than the rain lasted.

As we set off we discovered that fellow wanderers Dean Taylor and George Whaites were following from a discreet distance. Leader Chris decided to test the stamina of the two septuagenarians in the quartet by taking us up Tegg's Nose. This is one of many hills in the area which in your diarist's view have suffered from global steepening. This phenomenon receives little attention in the media but has been noticed by several of our more experienced comrades over the passing years.

From Sutton Hall car park we walked back to the entrance, crossed the road and turned right to walk down to the towpath of the Macclesfield Canal. Here we turned left with the waterway on our right as we headed north in the direction of  Marple. At Bridge 43 (10mins) we crossed the cobbled path to reach the towpath on the opposite side before continuing our journey.

Now walking with the canal on our left we continued until Bridge 40 where we left the waterway and turned left into Black Road (25mins). With a recreation ground on our right we soon turned left up the cobbles of Richmond Hill (26mins) and swung right at the top. We swung left at a green public footpath sign (29mins) before dog-legging left and right up a flight of stone steps.

This path took us on the Macclesfield Golf Course, passing Hollins Service Reservoir on our right (39mins) before turning right downhill. The path took us through a metal kissing gate (54mins) and a footbridge across a River Bollin which was in full flow after recent rainfall (59mins). On reaching the main road we turned left (63mins)

We turned left at Langley Methodist Church (67mins) passing St Dunstan's pub on our left before turning left into Holehouse Lane (71mins). A stiff climb prepared us for what lay ahead as we reached the new wall surrounding Bottom Reservoir (76mins). Turning left we entered Tegg's Nose Country Park (78mins)

This 1,246 feet hill was quarried for its millstone grit from the 16th Century until 1955. A Bronze Age barrow (graveyard) was discovered on the summit. It was once called Tegge's Naze, and historians are divided over whether this was named after a Norse settler or a teg (sheep)

Chris announced we would take the shorter route on the right, later explaining that by shorter he also meant steeper. After a 20-minute lung-bursting climb we reached the memorial bench for Fiona McWilliam (98mins) and wondered whether we would soon be needing memorials of our own.

Fiona, 33, from Macclesfield, worked as an air traffic controller at Manchester Airport. She had just made her first solo flight in 1999. A week later, whilst a passenger in a Cessna Skyhawk light aircraft, she was killed when it flew into the mountain of Meol Sych in North Wales. The pilot and another passenger were also killed in the tragedy.

Her memorial includes an excerpt from a poem called High Flight written by Canadian airman John Magee Jr. Pilot Officer Magee was later killed in an air crash in England in 1941. 

After pausing for pies we turned right at the memorial and swung left before taking the first path on the right. As it descended gently at first, we passed the Library in the Landscape (where passers-by leave and borrow books) before turning sharp right and beginning a steeper path down rocky terrain which brought us eventually to a sign for the Tegg's Nose Trail (123mins)

We turned right, using stepping stones to cross a babbling brook before reaching a sign for the Gritstone Trail on the left of Bottom Reservoir (142mins). A flight of steps took us to the southern section of the reservoir, which we circled anti-clockwise to emerge on Clarke Lane (147mins)

Turning left we soon followed a path on our right (149mins) towards Green Barn Farm. At a metal kissing gate marked with a yellow arrow we turned right and followed a path which went through three more kissing gates before emerging on a lane to the right of Moss Lea Farm.

We turned right (156mins) and then left at a small green public footpath sign, passing a house called Clough View on our left (164mins). At a pond we turned left following a Footpath sign and headed up steps to cross a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow. The path headed uphill marked with other yellow arrows until we crossed a stone step stile and reached a road opposite Ridge Hall (180mins)

Turning right we passed Judy Lane on our left before reaching The Church House Inn (193mins). We followed the signpost for Macclesfield along a road called Jarman. We bore right to merge with the road to Macclesfield (201mins) and reached Ye Olde King's Head at Gurnet (209mins).

After de-booting we were ushered into a heated marquee outside the pub where we were joined by Tom Cunliffe and had delicious man-sized steak and ale pies, accompanied with chunky chips, vegetables and pints of Wincle Waller cask-conditioned bitter,

Meanwhile the alternative walkers set off from Taxal up Ladder Hill overlooking Whaley Bridge, calling at Goyt Reservoir and Fernilee, a journey of nine miles.

Next week's walk will start at 9.30am from the car park of the closed Wizard pub and restaurant on Macclesfield Road, Nether Alderley, SK10 4UB Grid ref: SJ859773. National Trust members can park there free but non-members might wish to park considerately nearby and walk to the Wizard.

Happy wandering !

Happy wandering !

 

Hartington Village

R0UTE:  OUTSIDE THE  CHARLES COTTON HARTINGTON VILLAGE, BIGGIN DALE,PEASELAND ROCKS, WOLFSCOTE DALE, MILLDALE, ALSSTONFIELD, GYPSY BANK,GORSEY BANK BRIDGE, WOLFSCOTE DALE, BERESFORD DALE, INSIDE THE PUBLIC LAVATORY HARTINGTON.

DISTANCE: CIRCA 10 MILES.

DIFFICULTY: MAINLY EASY APART FROM SOME SLIPPERY DESCENTS IN BIGGIN DALE

AND THE VERTIG...? PRECIPY...? DEAD STEEP GYPSY BANK.

WEATHER: MAINLY LIGHT RAIN, SOME HEAVY ON THE DESCENT OF GYPSY BANK,

GUSTY WINDS ON THE TOPS.

LEADER: ROONEY. DIARIST: ROONEY.

STARTING POINT: HARTINGTON.

START TIME: 09:55  FINISHING TIME: 14:10.

WALKERS: TOM CUNLIFF & JOCK ROONEY.

BUMPED INTO (@ 2M ) EN ROUTE : CHRIS OWEN, DAVE WILLETS & DEAN TAYLOR.

Tom and I set off from the Village on the minor road leading up to the

Youth Hostel then turned right onto the farm track which led up over the

tops before petering out just before the now muddy and slippery descent

into Biggin Dale. Continuing down the dale was treacherous underfoot

initially due to the combination of mud and slippery limestone rocks

under foot. Before long a significant body of water was emerging from

underground fissures eventually forming an upper and lower stream

pouring down the dale cleaning the rocks an making the descent somewhat

easier if wetter. At 11:00ish we emerged into Wolfscote Dale  opposite

the impressive limestone spires of Peasland Rocks. Turning left

downstream for a short distance we stopped at Gorsey Bank for lunch

where we encountered another familiar group f walkers namely Owen,

Willets and Taylor. Not wishing to be cross contaminated by us this trio

immediately shot off into the great ( but definitely not blue ) yonder.

Tom and I then proceeded downstream on a mainly good path eventually

reaching the bridge at Milldale at the height of a not blazing noon.

From here we elected to walk up the minor road to the outskirts of

Alstonfield where once again we encountered the O.D.D. trio who once

again departed at great speed. Turning off onto a farm track we crossed

the  treacherously muddy fields to the stepped descent of Gypsy Bank

which I negotiated with extreme caution to cross the river again over

Gorsey Bank bridge at13:10 followed by my kneecaps a short while later!

Once again we bumped into the familiar trio  who once again departed at

great speed never to be seen again. This was the pinch point of our

figure of eight walk and we now proceeded upstream along Wolfscote Dale

on a mainly good path underfoot but with a decidedly damp and an "I've

had enough!" Daisy. At the decidedly impressive end of Wolfscote we

emerged into Beresford Dale we ignored the signposted footpath to

Hartington leading off to the right and waded across the dale to cross

the Dove again over a footbridge by a ford. Turning right we walked

along the little high sided cut to Pike Pool and the house of Isaac

Walton author of"The complete angler" a man who loved fish and hated

otters with passion. Strange really because otters love fish too. After

Pike Pool we crossed the river again and headed up a small plantation to

emerge onto the rolling ( or in this case "sliding" ) pastures

eventually emerging at the public lavatory in Hartington at 14:10ish to

de_boot. I'm pleased to report that Tom and Daisy appeared to be on

speaking terms again before departing.

Next week's walk starts at 0930 from Sutton Hall car park, Sutton, Macclesfield, and ends with a lunch at 1330 which has to be booked via Chris Owen by lunchtime today.

Map by Tom

Ridgegate Reservoir

 December 9, 2020.

RIDGEGATE RESERVOIR, MACCLESFIELD FOREST, NESSIT HILL, SHUTLINGSLOE, THE CRAG INN AT WILDBOARCLOUGH, LOWER NABBS, PIGGFORD MOOR NATURE RESERVE, OAKENCLOUGH, THE HANGING GATE AT SMALLHURST, FERNLEE, BACKLANE HOUSE FARM, LEATHER'S SMITHY

Distance: Eight miles.

Difficulty: Easy after strenuous start.

Weather: Early mist and chill evaporating: dry throughout.

Leader: Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Roadside parking next to Ridgegate Reservoir, Langley, Macclesfield.

Starting time: 9.45am. Finishing time: 1.54pm.

During this enjoyable walk around Cheshire's hills and valleys we tortured ourselves by passing three of our well-loved pubs. For a variety of different reasons we were unable to drink in any of them. On a brighter note light rain which had been forecast failed to materialise and the early mist which had shrouded any views for the first hour started to evaporate. We also passed the former homes of two celebrities from the world of politics and sport.

As we put on our boots it became apparent that somebody was trying to attract our attention from across the reservoir. Was this the siren song which sailors experienced when lovely lorelei tried to lure them on to rocks ? In fact it was the dulcet tones of our unseen leader Chris seeking to announce his presence from 400 yards along the road.

As I joined him for our walk, once again we became aware we were being followed at a respectful distance by six other wanderers, Andy Blease, John Jones, Jock Rooney, Julian Ross, Dean Taylor and Dave Willetts. With the lake on our right we headed to a sign for Wincle and followed it to the right. Then we turned left at a gap stile to enter Macclesfield Forest and began a steady climb, following wooden signposts for Shutlingsloe.

At 1,660 feet this is Cheshire's third highest peak after Black Hill and Shining Tor. Its shape has given it the ironical title of Cheshire's Matterhorn. But at 14,692 feet the majestic mountain straddling the Swiss and Italian Alps has a decisive advantage for serious climbers.

On reaching Shutlingsloe's summit (60mins) we were faced with a wall of mist which marred the view. Tegg's Nose, Bosley Cloud and The Taj Mahal were just some of the sights we could not see. We descended on the far side, heading to our right to reach a metal kissing gate (68mins) from where we continued downhill following yellow arrows.

On reaching a road we turned right with Clough Brook in full flow on our left as we reached The Crag Inn on our right and stopped for Pietime (87mins). The pub itself was closed and it was difficult to determine whether it was continuing to open during the Covid restrictions.

Resuming we turned immediately right at a green public footpath sign marked with a yellow arrow and we headed slightly uphill and towards the right of a series of fields separated by gates and stiles. Eventually we reached a stone step stile leading to a lane where we turned left, passing Piggford Moor Nature Reserve on our right (107mins)

Where other minor lanes joined us on our left we continued ahead until we reached a green public footpath sign with a yellow arrow on our right and went through a metal kissing gate to follow a path uphill. Our journey took us across a footbridge, across a stream by judiciously placed stones and past the former home on our right of ex-Chancellor George Osborne when he was MP for Tatton.

The footpath led us all the way to a road opposite The Hanging Gate (137mins). This pub restaurant with spectacular views at its rear, has been closed for more than two years but is hoping to reopen in the New Year as a free house, initially serving Marstons. We look forward to it.

Following a footpath at the back of the pub which headed right behind its outside toilets we reached a lane and turned left, soon going left again uphill (143mins)

We turned right towards Smallhurst Farm, taking a footpath to the left and crossing a wooden stile before descending a flight of steps into a field. Keeping right we followed a yellow arrow which led us through a wood (154mins). After a metal kissing gate we crossed a footbridge and a wooden stile to reach a lane.

By turning right and right again after 10 yards through a metal kissing gate we headed through trees with a stream on our right. A metal kissing gate marked with The Gritstone Trail logo (160mins) took us uphill and through another metal kissing gate until we reached an open gate where we stopped for refreshments.

Resuming we reached a road (162mins) turned right and immediately left at a stone step stile marked with GT signs. The route took us across a lane (177mins), through a series of gated fields until we reached the imposing former home of former England rugby captain Fran Cotton on our right and a pond full of Canada gees on our left (183mins)

Cotton, who will be 74 next month, was a prop forward born in Wigan. He played for Coventry and Sale, representing England 31 times and captaining them on three occasions. He toured South Africa and New Zealand with the British Lions. In 1987 he founded Cotton Traders, a successful sports clothing firm, with teammate Steve Smith.

Continuing we reached a wood on our right (189mins) where our leader Chris bade us farewell as he carried on towards his home in Sutton. The rest of us turned right and went through a wooden gate marked with a yellow arrow, crossed a footbridge and headed up a flight of steep steps.

Emerging from the woods (192mins) we turned left along a path which soon swung right with the wall round Ridgegate Reservoir on our right. The path took us past Leather's Smithy on our right (194mins), a pub which was open – but only for diners who could drink if they were eating “substantial” meals. We swung right past the pub, with the reservoir now on our right, and returned to our cars (198mins)

Next week's walk will start at 9.55am from outside The Devonshire Arms at Hartington on the far side of Buxton. Jock will lead us along the Dove and Manifold valleys to Alstonefield, in Staffordshire, returning via Beresford Dale.

Happy wandering !

                                                                                  Pictures by Alan Hart

Babbling Clough Brook

The Hanging Gate

View from The Hanging Gate across the valley

Wanderers heading towards Tegg’s Nose

Former home of England rugby captain Fran Cotton

A duck pond full of Canada geese

Crocker Hill

 

December 2, 2020

DISLEY STATION, BOLLINHURST RESERVOIR, DRAKE CARR, MILLENIUM WOOD, FOOTHILLS OF BLACK ROCKS, THE MURDER STONE, SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, NEW MILLS, DISLEY

Distance: 7 miles.

Difficulty: Thick mist caused chaos.

Weather: Persistent drizzle, some heavy.

Leader (Theoretical): Hart. Leader (Practical): Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Disley Rail Station car park.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 12.55pm.

 

This was an omni-shambles on a colossal scale. It may be no coincidence that the last time we experienced such a catalogue of catastrophes was some 16 years ago when your diarist was attempting to lead a party of 11 around this area. Could it be that we have discovered our very own version of The Bermuda Triangle ? 

On that occasion an unexpected mist descended and nine of the group disappeared. This time only one of our wanderers vanished but our efforts to find our bearings let alone our missing member only exacerbated the problems. To make matters worse relentless rain fell throughout the early proceedings. When we managed to reassemble in Furness Vale, another wanderer soon joined the original on the missing list.

Unsettling signs of what was to follow became apparent when we met at Disley Station car park. Someone appears to have spread false rumours of a parking charge. Of six followers only Julian Ross joined your diarist in the free car park. Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor and Dave Willetts parked elsewhere and walked to the meeting point. Jock Rooney arrived by bus.

Light drizzle was falling as we set off with Chris and I in front, going up a long, steep flight of steps opposite the station to reach a sign for St Mary's Church on our left. The rest of the group separated themselves into a sextet to follow at a respectable distance. We proceeded forward along a lane, turning right at a new metal kissing gate to cut diagonally across a field (5mins) towards the distant landmark of Lyme Cage. As we did so your diarist dropped and lost his treasured indelible pen. Was this an omen ?

We exited the field by another metal kissing gate and walked ahead along the lane towards a distant farmhouse. Just before we reached it we turned left at a green ;public footpath sign (15mins). The path led us along the left of a drystone wall. On its far side was Bollinhurst Reservoir.

Mud was beginning to deepen as we crossed a wooden stile on our right (25mins) to enter woods. The path took us over another wooden stile and to a gate at the end of the woodland. We went straight across toward Drake Carr following a sign for Kettleshulme (30mins). With the cottage to our right we turned left up steps and through a wooden kissing gate to enter Millenium Wood (31mins)

We exited the wood via a similar gate and reached a road where we turned right (36mins). After passing Bolder Hall Farm on our left we turned left across a wooden stile following a footpath sign for Black Rocks (40mins). This proved to be our last sighting of Tom and Daisy for the next 70 minutes.

Tom later described how he had stopped to put on a waterproof coat after crossing the stile, allowing others to pass him. The last of those ahead of him were still in sight as he set off but as he climbed towards the ridge the mist grew thicker and visibility reduced. “The people ahead of me just vanished,” Tom explained later. “I kept going hoping to catch you up.”

Meanwhile, initially unaware that one of our chums was missing, we followed a lower path parallel with the ridge for a few minutes before we stopped to carry out a head count. 

Julian contacted Tom, who was unable to explain where he was. An arrangement was made to meet him at Byron House. However that proved easier said than done. When we reached a road Chris expressed his confidence that we should head right. What we did not know at that stage was that Chris believed our destination was The Soldier Dick at Furness Vale rather than The Fox at Brook Bottom. By the time this was established we were near enough to Furness Vale to make that a better option. Tom, who had found his way back to civilisation, was informed of our new destination and arranged to meet us there.

Our revised route took us past The Murder Stone (76mins), a memorial to William Wood, an Eyam merchant who was battered to death in 1826 by three men as he walked towards his home from Whaley Bridge. At the next path on our left we stopped for Pietime (80mins) before following the track which emerged in Yeardsley Lane (95mins). We turned left, reached the A6 and turned left. The pub was on our left after 50 yards (98mins) 

Ironically, by the time we reached a bus shelter outside The Soldier Dick the persistent rain had stopped. Tom and Daisy arrived (108mins) and shared a late Pietime together. Then we set off across the A6 to the road which leads under the railway line and emerges to the right of the bridge over the Peak Forest Canal.

We crossed the bridge and turned left on to the towpath with the canal on our left. As we gathered for the flat walk back to Disley it became clear that Tom and Jock had decided upon an alternative route or form of transport.

The remaining six continued walking by the side of the canal until we reached Disley and headed up the road which emerges by the side of The Dandy Cock on the A6. We crossed the main road, turned right and returned to our cars. 

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the roadside parking next to Ridgegate Reservoir, Langley, Macclesfield, near the Leathers' Smithy pub. We are hoping to go via Macclesfield Forest to Shutlingsloe, passing The Crag Inn on the way to The Hanging Gate before making our way back to our cars.

Happy wandering !

 

 

 

 Pictures by Tom