Kinder

November 24, 2021

 

SPORTSMAN INN IN KINDER ROAD, HAYFIELD. HAYFIELD CAMP SITE, TUNSTEAD CLOUGH, KINDER LOW END, RED BROOK, KINDER DOWNFALL, SANDY HEYS, BOTTOM WILLIAM CLOUGH, NAB BROW, SHOOTING BOX ON MIDDLE MOOR, TWENTY TREES, HAYFIELD

 

 

Distance: 8.5 miles​​Ascent/descent: 2,400 feet

 

Difiiculty: Strenuous

 

Weather: Dry, clearing mist. Cold wind on top

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Micky Barrett, Tom Cunliffe, Mark Gibby, Hughie Hardiman, Julian Ross, Dean Taylor and Tommy, Dave Willetts, Cliff Worthington

 

Apologies: Alan Hart (Barbados), George Dearsley (Turkey), Jock Rooney (Cyprus), Chris Owen (Athens), John Jones (moving house), Alastair Cairns (domestic duties)

 

Leader: Beal​​Diarist: Beal

 

Starting point: Sportsman Inn, Hayfield

 

Starting time: 9.45 am​Finishing time: 1.50 pm

 

 

 

A band of mist was ominously covering the edge of the Kinder Scout plateau as we gathered near the Sportsman Inn but we thought it would probably clear and so decided to embark on the climb towards the Downfall.

 

Our nine-strong team was proved right and enjoyed some marvellous views from the top, with intermittent sun highlighting some of the landmarks below us, at times through atmospheric cloud cover.

 

It was not a long walk but the first hour and a half involved an almost constant steady climb to the 2,000-foot plateau.

 

We set off up Kinder Road and after a short distance, opposite a line of cottages, took a path on the right that took us down to the River Kinder, which we crossed and turned left to walk through the Hayfield camp site, closed at this time of year.

 

At the end of the drive we bore right along a lane, with a stream below us on the left to reach a junction. Straight ahead was what seemed to be a private drive, but is signed as the route to Kinder. We followed this uphill to reached the two houses at Tunstead Clough, where the path winds around the buildings (22 minutes).

 

We crossed a stile here and began the tough climb straight up through a series of fields, leading us eventually to a gate opening on to the open fellside (45 min). We bore left and through another small gate. Ahead of us here were three paths. The one to the left follows the wall down to the bottom of Broad Clough and to the right is the steep climb up the rocky staircase to Kinder Low End.

 

The middle path, which after a steep start climbs more gently across the flanks of Kinder was our way forward. The route crossed the rises known as Three Knolls and shortly after we took advantage of the shelter offered by the stream bed at the top of Broad Clough to declare pietime (73 min).

 

We set off again, with good views of the Kinder Reservoir and the small Mermaid’s Pool some 500 feet below us. Local legend has it that anyone sighting the mermaid here on Easter Eve will be granted eternal life.

 

We soon emerged on the path that runs along the edge of Kinder at the point where Red Brook plunges over the rocks at the top of a steep ravine (87 min). There were more walkers here on this popular route that runs between the Kinder Low trig point and the Downfall.

 

We soon reached the Downfall (106 min) after a walk mainly on rock, which in recent years has emerged from the thick peat that once covered the surface before being removed by the over-grazing of sheep and the effects of acid rain. It is the Downfall that gives the plateau its name of Kinder Scout, thought to be an adaptation of the old English Kyndwr Scut – meaning ‘water over the edge’.

 

The River Kinder, which plunges over the edge here through the rocks below, was little  more than an easily-forded trickle today but after heavy rain and in strong winds that blow the water back in to the air back over the edge, standing here can be like being in the middle of a downpour.

 

Traverses of the plateau from here can also be a risky business for the unprepared. Just the weekend before our visit mountain rescue teams had brought down four people in two separate incidents after they became lost as darkness descended.

 

We crossed the river and continued along the edge with good views down the rocks in to the ravine below. This is a favourite spot for ice-climbers in winter freezes.

 

We soon came to the rocky outcrop of Sandy Heys (129 min), where we left the edge on a clearly marked path that brought us, very steeply downhill in places, to the point where the stream of William Clough enters the Kinder Reservoir (162 min).

 

Here we turned right up the stream for around 150 yards before turning sharply left on a gradual climb uphill. We continued on a path through heather, with the reservoir below us on our left and as the path levelled emerged at the white shooting cabin buildings on Middle Moor, used as a base for occasional grouse shoots (189 min).

 

Our route from here was straightforward. We bore right along the Snake Path, which links Hayfield with the Snake Inn on the Snake Pass road linking Manchester and Sheffield. This led through a series of kissing gates, down through fields and past the local landmark copse of Twenty Trees to emerge on Kinder Road. A left turn soon brought us back to the Sportsman Inn (234 min), where we were generously treated to drinks by Dave to mark his 56thbirthday. We had a warm welcome from landlady Lisa, who allocated us the side room to ourselves.

 

Next week’s walk will start at 9.40am from the Fairholmes visitor centre at the head of the Ladybower Reservoir in the Derwent Valley (S33 0AQ). This is two miles from the turning off the A57 at the bridge over Ladybower. There is pay and display parking at the visitor centre, but a third of a mile before, on the right on the crest of the hill, are two free lay-by type car parks.

 

Happy Wandering!

 

Map by Tom

Photos by Tom

Derbyshire Bridge

 DERBYSHIRE BRIDGE

November 17, 2021

CAR PARK (FREE) AT DERBYSHIRE BRIDGE AT THE HEAD OF THE GOYT VALLEY, OLD BUXTON ROAD, AXE EDGE MOOR, DRYSTONE EDGE, AXE EDGE END, WALLNOOK, BRAND SIDE, FAIRTHORN, HEALTH AND SAFETY RESEARCH SITE, PARKS INN AT HARPUR HILL, SOLOMON’S TOWER, BUXTON COUNTRY PARK, OLD MACCLESFIELD ROAD

Distance: 11 miles Ascent/descent: 2,080 feet

Difiiculty: Fairly strenuous

Weather: Thick mist and drizzle at first, brightening later

Walkers: Peter Beal, Micky Barrett, John Jones, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor and Tommy, Dave Willetts,

Apologies: Alan Hart (caring duties), George Dearsley (Turkey), Jock Rooney (Cyprus), Keith Welsh and Tom Cunliffe (both domestic duties)

Leader: Jones Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Car park at Derbyshire Bridge at the head of the Goyt Valley

Starting time: 9.50am Finishing time: 3.20pm

Today’s rendezvous point was probably the highest on the Wanderers’ itinerary, at more than 1,350 feet. Accordingly, on our arrival it was shrouded in mist that was to stay with us, accompanied by drizzle, for well over the first hour of our high-level walk.

Sadly, for the second time in three weeks, the walk was marked by an inferior beer scandal, this time at the Parks Inn at Harpur Hill.

Our numbers were depleted by the shock news as we gathered that Julian Ross, seeking an earlier finish, had reportedly decided to lead an alternate walk up Shutlingsloe. Not only this but he had managed to entice (allegedly) Hughie Harriman, Andy Blease and Cliff Worthington to accompany him in his insurgent wanderings. One can only hope this (alleged) mutinous behaviour will be an isolated incident.

Most of the car parking spaces at Derbyshire Bridge had been occupied by a 12-strong party from the East Cheshire Ramblers, but leaving us enough space to squeeze in before they departed twenty minutes before us.

We turned right from the car park and trudged in to the thickening mist along the rough, stony track of Old Buxton Road, which at one time was the packhorse route between Buxton and Macclesfield, before the construction of the A537 Cat and Fiddle road.

We climbed some 200 feet before turning right onto the open moorland at a sign pointing to Axe Edge Moor (17 minutes). We were heading due south in to the mist now and soon reached the minor, unfenced road, that links the A53 and A54 roads.

We turned left here along the road for a short distance before taking a signed footpath on the right, again heading south across the moor. This saw us skirt on our right the indistinctive height of Cheeks Hill, which has the minor claim to fame of being the highest point in Staffordshire.

We forded a stream and crossed some very boggy ground before climbing gently for a short distance and then descending out of the worst of the mist to reach a farm at Axe Edge End (74min), from where we could see the A53 road just below us and our route ahead to the north-east. Pie time was declared here at a sheltered hollow.

Resuming, we descended to the road along a track, and crossed the A53 at the farm building of Wallnook, from where we took a grassy path steeply downhill. Stiles and gates over the next two miles were too numerous to describe in detail. We climbed briefly to a tarmac track, turned left and took a path on the right down Brand Side to cross a stream at the bottom. From here we climbed to emerge at the smartly-restored buildings at Fairthorn.

A steepish climb up a track here brought us out on a minor road, where we turned left uphill. This brought us to, on our right, the entrance to the Health and Safety Executive’s Laboratory and Research centre, a sprawling 550-acre site where 380 scientists, engineers and lab staff work and safety initiatives and testing (122 min). It started life in 1947 as the Safety in Mining research centre before coming under the HSE in the 1950s.

Older maps mark it as the far more exciting-sounding Explosion and Flame Laboratory. Your diarist was laughed at as we entered the site and wondered whether an explosion might be laid on for us. But minutes later as we made our way along the right-of-way that runs through the site we came across a man in a hi-viz jacket who asked if there was anyone behind us.

We said no (guessing, really) and not long afterwards a siren sounded and there was a moderately loud explosion. What was blown up will remain unknown but as we made our way towards the exit hi-viz man drew alongside in his van and asked if we had enjoyed it.

The public footpath through the site is prominently signed – presumably so the likes of us do not wander in to danger and places where we should not be. We emerged at a track leading out of the establishment and turned left down a footpath. A small path on the left brought us in to Fiddle Street in the former quarry village of Harpur Hill, where we turned right to reach The Parks Inn (162 min).

Some crisis involving their electricity supply was unfolding, but whether this was responsible for the dire state of the Wychwood Hobgoblin beer was not clear. Being midweek and between 2 and 5 pm a sign told us it was Happy Hour – so beer was only £3-50 a pint. The normal price in unhappier hours was not revealed.

Much grumbling seemed to have little effect on the otherwise pleasant barmaid, until

shortly before we were preparing to leave she arrived with the offer of complimentary pints, Hobgoblin having been restored. Three Wanderers took up her offer and pronounced the beer OK.

These proceedings were being watched by the pub dog, a massive beast which made our canine friend Tommy (formerly aka World’s Largest Dog) look like Snoopy. We were told the animal was a Romanian Bucovina Shepherd, apparently used as a guard dog to scare away wolves and bears from the sheep in the Carpathian mountains. Occasional growling showed he wasn’t too happy at Tommy invading his territory. Tommy looked suitably nervous and who could blame him?

We left the pub, probably best-described in Chris’s words as ‘a weary place’, turned left down the road and after a brief climb uphill on a narrow pavement, took a stile on the right to climb across grass towards Grin Low and Solomon’s Temple (187 min).

The 20-foot Temple, otherwise known as Grin Low Tower, is a Victorian folly built in 1896 by farmer and landowner Solomon Mycock and serves no real purpose. It is however Grade 2 listed and marked the site of a neolithic burial mound discovered during excavation for its foundations.

From the 1,430-foot top of Grin Low, we descended on grassy tracks and then took a path on the left that emerged near a filling station on the A53, We crossed the road and entered a new housing development, soon taking a path on the left between houses that skirted the buildings and emerged on an older road. We turned left here, took a path on the left and followed a stream below us that brought us to a waterfall.

A steep climb here and an unpleasant ascent on a steep slope that led to us scaling a barbed wire fence, saw us emerge on the Old Macclesfield Road, the extension of the route on which we started our journey.

A climb to the high point at which we had turned south for Axe Edge Moor then saw us retrace our steps for the short descent to Derbyshire Bridge (252 min).

Next week’s walk will start at 9.45am from the road near The Sportsman Inn in Kinder Road, Hayfield. Depending on the weather we will either climb Kinder or do a route across Middle Moor, returning via Rowarth. Allow 5 minutes extra for the journey there because of roadworks at the Hayfield relief road junction.

Happy Wandering!

                                            Pic by John Jones, who says this dog (at the Parks Inn)

                                            is "the largest dog I have ever seen"

Sutton Hall

 November 10, 2021.

SUTTON HALL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, MACCLESFIELD GOLF CLUB, BOTTOM RESERVOIR, TEGG'S NOSE, MACCLESFIELD FOREST, TRENTABANK RESERVOIR, RIDGEGATE RESERVOIR, LEATHER'S SMITHY, MOSS LEA FARM, LANGLEY CRICKET CLUB, LANGLEY POOL, RIDGEHILL, JUDY LANE, SUTTON HALL

Distance: 11-12 miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous.

Weather: Early light drizzle, then mainly cloudy but dry,

Walkers: Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Hughie Hardiman with Rex, Alan Hart, John Jones, Chris Owen, Julian Ross, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (everything apart from a plague of locusts), Peter Beal (having covid booster), Alastair Cairns (in Cromer), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Cliff Worthington (failed late fitness test)

Leader: Owen. Diarist: Hart.

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

Starting time: 9.45am. Finishing time: 3.01pm.

We welcomed another debutant into the fold for this walk when Hughie's dog-in-law, Rex, joined us for a roller-coaster ride up and down the hills and valleys of Cheshire.

Light drizzle at the start soon disappeared and we enjoyed some spectacular scenery on a challenging route.

We had a flat walk at the start and a relatively even course to the finishing line. In between was a tough switchback journey up hill and down dale, passing three picturesque reservoirs on the way.

Two of our favourite watering holes, The Leather's Smithy at Ridgegate, and Sutton Hall, were also visited on what proved to be a mild day with a minimum of mud underfoot. These could turn out to be the best conditions from now until spring next year.

From the car park Chris led us out of the main entrance and on to the bank of the Macclesfield Canal opposite. With the waterway on our right we proceeded to Bridge 40.

En route we had an experience which was once unique to the Macclesfield Canal as we walked up a cobbled path before a bridge to reach the towpath on the opposite side.

When the canal was opened in 1831the barges on it were pulled by shire horses which had to be unhitched and re-hitched whenever the towpath switched banks. But the state-of-the-art-cobbles enabled the sturdy horses to clamber across without slipping and without waste of time.

We left the canal at Bridge 40 (23mins) and turned left into Black Road with a recreation ground on our right. At the end of this park we turned left up a cobbled street which ended at a T-junction where we turned right along a footpath (23mins). Following a green public footpath sign left we then dog-legged left and right to follow a path into the grounds of Macclesfield Golf Club (26mins)

After passing the Hollins Service Reservoir on our right (34mins) we turned right (35mins)

It was at this stage that our debutant dog Rex disgraced himself at the sight of sheep in the field. Given supercanine strength by excitement he snapped the lead attached to his name tag and reverted to the behaviour of his lupine ancestors as he chased the terrified animals. At some point the commands of Hughie brought Rex back to his senses and he stopped shame-faced in his tracks, allowing his guardian to re-attach the lead to his collar. Without a hint of irony Tom proclaimed “That is a shooting offence” as his free-range poodle Daisy wandered unleashed ahead.

The path brought us to a road (52mins) where we turned left, turning left again when we reached Langley Methodist Church (55mins). Another left turn into Holehouse Lane (59mins) brought us to the wall in front of Bottom Reservoir (62mins)

We turned left to enter Tegg's Nose Country Park where we had a choice of taking the longer gradual route to the summit or the shorter steeper version. Most of us chose the former path on the left but it seemed a tough test as we aimed towards the 1,246 feet summit. At the memorial bench to local girl Fiona McWilliam (1965-99), who died in a plane crash while learning to fly, we were reunited with our more rugged comrades and stopped for pies, port and breath (86mins)

Resuming we continued for a few paces before taking the second path on our right and began our descent, passing a free hillside library on our left.

Great care was needed as we made a steep descent along a slippery rocky path to reach a track where we turned left (103mins). We then followed a wooden public footpath sign for Macclesfield Forest and Shutlingsloe (105mins). We were now heading uphill again and forded a stream (111mins) before going left over a ladder stile marked with a green public footpath sign (115mins) to enter a field.

At the far side of the field we exited by a ladder stile (117mins) turning left and then swinging right in front of a farmhouse. We then took the first path on the right (120mins) through a metal kissing gate into Macclesfield Forest. After passing a ruined cottage on our left we went straight on passing a sign warning “Unauthorised Cycle Trail” (125mins)

We briefly exited the forest (143mins) and turned right. At crossroads we turned right (146mins) before turning left at a metal kissing gate (151mins) to re-enter Macclesfield Forest. Following a sign for Trentabank (153mins) we reached a road and turned right downhill(162mins). This took us past the visitors' centre on our left and the beautiful reservoir on our right (171mins)

We continued to a three-way junction and crossed it to go through a gap stile and turned right along a gritted footpath (174mins). This emerged on the road beside Ridgegate Reservoir.Another gap stile next to cars parked on our right enabled us to walk along a path parallel to the road overlooking the reservoir.

The path emerged opposite the entrance to Leather's Smithy (184mins) for pints of Hobgoblin or Deuchar's cask bitter. In some cases, it grieves me to tell you, girlie drinks and pots of tea were preferred.

From the pub we headed straight for the reservoir and took a path to the right of it. At a yellow arrow we turned right (187mins) to follow a public footpath over a footbridge across a stream

(191mins) before turning left at a metal kissing gate and then going through another similar gate to the right of Moss Lea Farm (201mins). We turned right and then went through a gate on our right to take advantage of the picnic tables at Langley Cricket Club (203mins)

After lunch we continued down the road until we reached a row of cottages on our left (208mins). At this stage eight of us opted to turn left whilst Dean and Dave opted to take an alternative route ahead. What follows is the story of the majority.

We proceeded to Langley Pool Angling Club and turned left round the pond before heading up steps and over a wooden stile (211mins). By walking uphill and crossing two stiles along the path we reached a road at Ridgehill where we turned right (219mins)

After passing Ridgehill Farm on our left (226mins) we turned left into Judy Lane. At the end of this lane we turned left (232mins) and reached a main road where we turned right towards Macclesfield (233mins). We soon turned left towards Sutton Hall Farm (239mins) and on our right was a wooden gate leading to Sutton Hall car park (240mins)

Seven of us then took refreshment at Sutton Hall, where our cars had been parked for more than five hours. At the risk of being castigated for mentioning it may I remind wanderers once again that it is considered poor form to use a pub car park for such a time and not spend money behind their bar.

Next weeks' walk will start at 9.40am from Derbyshire Bridge in the Goyt Valley near the Cat and Fiddle pub on the A537 Macclesfield to Buxton Road.. We hope details of how to get there will be forwarded later.

Happy wandering !

Whaley Bridge

Words by John Jones

Wednesday's wander on 4th November;  meeting was at the first large layby on A5004 ,1/4 of a mile south of Whaley Bridge traffic lights. ,..This is a "new " wander which Dean and I initially reccied but being too short Boater John and I reccied two days before in the pouring rain, Now that is dedication ! .

 

 

There were twelve of us or a "baker's Dozen" if you were to include our guest female; Daisy.. diarist;- John Jones. Snapper / camera;- Ditto.  Leader;- ditto.........Also present were Alastair,Andy,dean,Dave,Cris, Cliff,Keith,Julian,Jock,Mike,Tom and priveleged female; Daisy,,..........apologies for absenteeism were Alan and Mark......... . .

 

At 09.40 we set off from said layby down immediate f/path west over footbridge and River Goyt, around which this walk centered. up past Taxal graveyard and church , any observant ones would and maybe should! have noticed the absence of fingers on the tower clock. I believe looking at the fresh gold paint that it is being restored.

 

A quick left onto tarmaced road soon turning off it and through gate west making a panting wheezing way across two fields and eventually onto Taxal Moor Road. After catching breath we took a left making along a level stretch which was gratefully welcomed by the more unfit of us.

 

At a cattle grid and turn on our left we followed a farm road to join the Midshires' Way at Overton Hall farm admiring the store barns full of cattle eating the silage, plenty of which was waiting for their digestion in the nearby yard. Downhill now and following road round a zigzag course to Mill Clough.. At which point I noticed a single storey building which on closer inspection revealed a Ram Pump. See picture for Wikipaedia details of....... .. . . . . . .crossing a narrow footbridge and walking along the track through a gate and a delightfully secluded house we again retained a straight and level path soon arriving at the head of Fernilee Reservoir, (which is French for  "To reserve",, Didn't you know that?.. )..

 

A brief respite and taking a right uphill and a soon to be seen gate on our left taking us South yet again,Up through the forestry commission woods which only this spring had been cleared thus affording us excellent views and indeed a vista of our main high-level walk to come. .... .Uphill yet again inducing more "cheerful groaning" and onto the main forest track. We waited mercifully for the stragglers and soon were on our way South on an easy level with good underfoot going and onto the tarmaced road which leads down from Pym Chair Car park near Windgather, across which we continued East and down to the head of Errwood reservoir.. where we had Pie Time , some of us sitting on a concrete plinth which until recently had a large  brass plaque giving the history of the water supply and the Family who inhabited this magnificent valley and whose grave yard we have indeed visited, (The plaque there too also being nicked by some or maybe the same low-life scum.. )...... ..

 

Errwood Reservoir is a drinking-water reservoir in the Peak District National Park, within the county of Derbyshire and very close to the boundary with Cheshire. The reservoir was the second of two reservoirs built in the Goyt Valley, the other one being Fernilee Reservoir. It was constructed by the Stockport Water Corporation at a cost of £1.5 million, with work being completed in 1967; it is currently owned and operated by United Utilities. The reservoir provides drinking water for the town of Stockport and its surrounding areas, and it holds 4,215 million litres.

 

Replenished and "where may I ask was the usual port and gin ?!"   (our standards are indeed slipping) we crossed the dam wall wall easterly and Dean led the way then through a stile into a seldom walked woodland, over a rickety wooden footbridge and up the other muddy hillside.More complaints,, well it is a hill we are walking on.. . Onto and across the A5004 and waited courteously for the stragglers. Up to our walk high point and another few minutes to take in the view of where we had walked so far,, Soon past White Hall outdoor Pursuits centre nad a sharp left North on the old Whaley Bridge road.. A more leisurely feel now as the hard work was done and I had been assured on Monday last that a good pint of ale was awaiting our entrance at the Shadey Oak.. Alas it was not to be.... Soon we reached a lonely outpost of Wythen Lathe.

 

Early Origins of the Wythen family

The surname Wythen was first found in various shires throughout ancient Britain. The name Whitton literally means "white farmstead," or "farmstead of a man called Hwita," from the Old English words "hwit," + "tun. 

Wythen Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms Learn about the Wythen Family Crest, its Origin and History. Where did the Wythen surname come from? Where did ...

Over  a stone walled stile. our first and last  and a couple of fields or so saw us onto a farm road which we eagerly took downhill onto the Long Hill and onto fernille hamlet complete with scrap cars and pub...Dean at this point and due to personal reasons left us there and walked of aiming for home..The 11 of us entered pub, Eagerly we ordered and duly paid for the ale and 3 pots of tea.  All of which were crap. both ales at that! plus tea bags tasted old and cheap.. (Well they were I bought that tea round ).. Returned ale was met by more rubbish ale until in desperation some of us drank the cans and bottles instead, The only highlight of this dis appointing refreshment stop was the Stocky, scotch lasses banter with Tom and his toy poodle sitting on a grinning Julian's lap, Soon out of there, Across road and down and through Folds Lane farm, Westerly onto the Goyt river and north through holly bushed woodland hiding it's secrets of coal mines of bygone days . Of which I was reliably informed by Jock was a poor coal fit for stationary engines only.. Soon up to cars and a dam

good day where it just then started to lightly rain,, Well today the good weather was for the righteous ! 

Next week, commencing at Sutton Hall 09.40hrs, canal, over the Hollins to Langley, Teggs Nose, Macc forest, leather smithy to imbibe (12.30ish) blue bell wood, ridge hill, Judy lane, back entrance to Sutton Hall (14.30). 

pictures by John Jones