February 9, 2022.

DISLEY RAIL STATION, RED LANE, LYME PARK, LYME CAGE, LANTERN WOOD, HIGH PEAK SCHOOL, WHALEY MOOR, THE DIPPING STONE, THE MURDER STONE, FURNESS VALE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, NEW MILLS, THE DANDY COCK AT DISLEY

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Moderately easy.

Weather: Dry with cloudy start and sunny finish.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Martin Evans, Hughie Hardiman with Rex, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney, Julian Ross, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett and Alastair Cairns (recovering from covid), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (celebrating 30^th wedding anniversary), Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Disley Rail Station car park.

Starting time: 9.30am. Finishing time: 1.15pm.

Because of our drinking stops at The Soldier Dick and The Dandy Cock this is popularly known as The Phallic Walk. However lack of due diligence on the part of your leader and diarist meant we missed out on our early livener in Furness Vale. The Soldier Dick now opens at 1pm on Wednesdays so they forfeited the business they might have earned from 13 thirsty hikers who arrived outside the pub at 5 minutes past noon.

Their loss was The Dandy Cock's gain as we reached Disley with our tongues dragging on the pavement.

We welcomed another debutant to the fold with Keith's pal Martin Evans bringing our numbers up to a Baker's Dozen, plus two of our canine chums. Pessimistic weather forecasts had clearly failed to dampen enthusiasm and we were rewarded with a dry day which ended in lukewarm sunshine.

For the record our finishing time refers to when the last of us reached The Dandy Cock and not the time we arrived back at our cars a quarter of a mile away. In my case that was 2.15pm but some were still looking settled for a longer session at that point.

From the car park we walked past the station ticket office before turning left up a steep flight of steps leading to Red Lane. Here we turned right and continued to the entrance gate at Lyme Park. Entering the park, which is free for pedestrians, we turned left at the green hut and continued along the tarmac for 30 yards before turning left uphill towards Lyme Cage (12mins) We were entertained on our way to the summit (30mins) by Rex who admired his reflection in puddles as he ran in circles trying to bite his own tail.

Wednesday Wanderers pictured in front of Lyme Cage by passing dog-walker

Lyme Cage was originally a hunting lodge, later used as a park keeper's cottage and a lock-up for poachers. The original structure dated from 1580 and the current building was completed in 1737.

From the height commanded there we descended eastwards, slaloming down in easy stages to avoid the muddy challenge which would have faced us by the direct route down to the stream and uphill to the right of the deer sanctuary.

Having reached the point where the direct route reaches the lane from Lyme Hall we headed eastwards to a wooden stile (41mins) and followed the path beyond it towards Lantern Wood ahead to our right.

The path brought us to a ladder stile (47mins) which we crossed and followed the path through the wood. On our right was the belvedere (50mins) known as The Lantern. It overlooks Lyme Hall and at night when lit it gives the appearance from the hall of a giant lantern.

The Lantern in Lantern Wood

We continued along the path which led to a ladder stile. On viewing the mud on the far side it was decided not to cross the stile but to follow a fainter path on our left, keeping the dry stone wall on our right. This brought us as we hoped to a ladder stile on our right (62mins) from which we could exit the wood. A stone step stile on our left took us over the wall and out of Lyme Park (63mins)

This marked the end of any steep climbs for the day as we began our descent towards Furness Vale. The path led us downhill over three wooden stiles before we reached a lane and turned left, passing Hill Top House on our left (83mins)

The lane brought us to the entrance to High Peak School, motto “Climbing to Success”, where we paused for Pietime (78mins). The school, for children with behavioural difficulties, was once the Moorside Inn at Higher Disley, where Coronation Street legend Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner) held her farewell party for cast colleagues and where Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had secret trysts with his lover Mary Brown.

Continuing on the path to the right of the building we left the grounds and immediately found ourselves wading through watery ankle-deep mud which had been churned up by excavating vehicles working at the rear of the school. Although the mud was only 30 yards across there was no way round it. On the far side we deliberately waded through puddles to wash the muck away.

We continued along the re-emerging path until we turned left just before a cattle grid (86mins) and crossed a ladder stile (90mins). We were now walking across Whaley Moor where the sun was trying to break through the clouds across the valley.

View across Whaley Moor

After crossing a stone step stile (95mins) we crossed a wooden stile (102mins). Thirty yards to our right was The Dipping Stone where your diarist demonstrated to our new boys how coins soaked in vinegar had been exchanged for food during the times of plague.

After this three-minute diversion we returned uphill to the stile and then continued along the path which led down to a stone step stile by the side of a wooden gate (110mins). Beyond it was a road where we turned left. While a minority turned right after 80 yards to cross a wooden stile and head straight for Furness Vale, the majority continued for another 500 yards, passing a public bridleway on our right, to reach The Murder Stone (119mins) on our right at the roadside.

The Murder Stone

The memorial, which was erected several years later, marks the spot where in July, 1823, a merchant named William Wood was found robbed and murdered. He had been seen drinking at a pub in Disley. When he left three men in sailors' clothing followed ten minutes later and used stones from a wall to batter him to death. Mr Wood, 30, from Eyam, was married with three children.

The three killers went to Macclesfield where they bought new clothes to replace their blood-stained ones. They spent freely and aroused suspicion. One of them was caught in the town and held in a cell where he hanged himself with his own stockings. A second man, Joseph Dale, 17, was found on board a boat about to sail from Liverpool.

He was charged with murder, pleaded not guilty but six weeks after the killing he was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death and hanged two days later. The third member of the gang is still at large !

Retracing our footsteps we returned to the bridleway we had passed a few minutes earlier and turned left through a gate (123mins). The bridleway took us through a farmyard and to a tarmac road where we turned right, passing houses. The road emerged on Yeardsley Lane (140mins) where we turned left downhill.

This took us to the A6. We turned left and soon reached The Soldier Dick on our left (143mins). After loitering outside hopefully a phone call elicited the information that the pub now opens at 1pm on Wednesdays.

Without further ado (148mins) we crossed the A6 and went down a cul de sac opposite The Soldier Dick, turning right at the end and going through a tunnel underneath the railway. At the far side we turned right and then left to cross a bridge over the Peak Forest Canal. Then we turned left again to reach the right bank of the waterway at Furness Vale Marina (151mins)

Our view to the right across Goytside Meadows

Our journey back was now straightforward as we kept to the right bank of the canal, stopping for lunch at a bench (171mins) just short of the nostalgically aromatic Swizzels' sweet factory at New Mills. We left the canal at Bridge 26 (194mins), turning right and going over the bridge we had just walked under to reach Hollinwood Lane, where we turned right.

This led us steadily uphill until we passed under a railway bridge and reached the A6 with The Dandy Cock on our left (201mins). Here the Dizzy Blonde cask bitter was in excellent form at £3-70 a pint.

From the pub we turned right and crossed the A6, going straight on at the traffic lights and turning left into Disley Station (206mins)

Next week's walk will start at 9.50am from free parking space outside Topley Pike Quarry. This is directly opposite the entrance to the Wyedale pay-and-display car park (Postcode SK17 9TE) on the A6 road heading east out of Buxton. We will be aiming to reach the Church Inn at Chelmorton for a bracer around 12.30pm and returning to our cars at about 2.30pm. There will be an option to call at Wetherspoons in Buxton on the way home for those who are still thirsty.

Happy wandering !