Bollington

 June 22, 2022.

BOLLINGTON RECREATION GROUND, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, BRIDGE QUARRY, KERRIDGE RIDGE, RAINOW, THE PLEASANCE GARDENS, THE VIRGINS' PATH, INGERSLEY VALE WATERFALL, SMITH'S PIE SHOP, THE VALE AT BOLLINGTON, MIDDLEWOOD WAY, WHITELEY GREEN

Distance: 8-9 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Warm and sunny.

Walkers: Mickey Barrett, Alastair Cairns, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.

Alternative walkers: Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Jock Rooney with Milly, Keith Welsh with Mia.

Apologies: Peter Beal (late return from Greece hols), Andy Blease (painful foot), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (isolating prior to daughter's wedding), Julian Ross (Cornwall hols), Dave Willetts (in France)

Leaders: Hart and Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free car park overlooking Bollington Recreation Ground.

Starting time: 9.46am. Finishing time: 2.08pm

The day after the summer solstice we enjoyed glorious weather and the sun brought an encouraging crop of walkers who had been notable by their absence in recent weeks for a variety of good reasons. We also welcomed a Wednesday Wanderers debutante who joined two other bitches on the alternative walkies.

By devising a figure-of-eight route we had hoped to share drinks and swap yarns with the quartet taking a shorter trip, but the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley, as they say in the northern colonies. In the event the main group left The Vale ten minutes before the alternative walkers arrived. The latter were punished – with one notable exception - for their tardiness by missing out on Mickey's generous round of drinks to celebrate his 72^nd birthday six days earlier.

As we assembled in the car park Keith introduced us to Mia, his friendly golden labrador who was making her debut just short of her 13^th birthday. There was much tail-wagging and bum-sniffing as she met her canine colleagues.

    Keith with WW debutante Mia

The main group left first leaving the car park and heading for the right corner of the recreation ground next to the River Dean. We exited the sports fields and crossed the road, turning left and then right up a flight of steps built into the bridge holding the Macclesfield Canal aqueduct. At the top we reached the waterway and proceeded with the canal on our left as we walked under Bridge 27 (9mins)

Various proposals to connect Macclesfield to the national network of canals were discussed from 1765 but it was not until 1824 that a scheme came to fruition and the 26-mile canal finally opened in 1831. It linked Marple in the north through Macclesfield and Congleton to the Trent and Mersey Canal in the south.

However the embryonic railways were starting to take business from canals and by 1954 the Macc Canal was no longer commercially viable. Spirited campaigning succeeded in revitalising the canal as the leisure facility it is today.

After passing the converted Adelphi Mill on our right we reached Bridge 28 and exited the canal by heading right up the cobbles and swinging left over the bridge.

The Macclesfield Canal

A View From The Bridge

We swung right on the far side of the bridge (21mins) and followed the track until we reached a road at Dawson Farm and turned right (29mins) before soon swinging left uphill on Higher Lane. When we reached a flight of steps on our left indicated by a green public footpath sign on our right we ascended them (34mins)

It was a tough climb and we had momentary respite when we reached a road at Bridge Quarry. There was a flat stretch when we turned left for 40 yards before turning left towards Bridge House and heading for another steep ascent to Kerridge Ridge (46mins)

At the top we turned right and to our right was the Astra Zeneca factory on the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate. To our left were views across the hills with the pretty village of Rainow nestling in the valley below.

Looking down on Rainow

When we reached a metal gate we turned left and took the lower route (50mins). At the next metal kissing gate we followed the direction of a yellow arrow pointing diagonally left downhill. Through two more gates with yellow arrows we continued downhill until we reached the main road through Rainow (63mins). Here we turned left.

The road took us down Tower Hill until we saw Stocks Lane to the left of the main road running off Chapel Lane (74mins). On this corner was a beautifully kept garden for weary travellers such as ourselves. It was called The Pleasance and it was here we paused for Pietime.

After a well-earned rest we continued down Chapel Lane and turned right into Sugar Lane as we headed back towards Bollington,

Leaving Rainow

As we walked along Sugar Lane we could see Kerridge Ridge on our left with the distinctive White Nancy folly at its far end in the distance. We turned right following a green public footpath sign and the stone-flagged path at the back of Flagg Cottage (79mins)

This was the start of the historic Virgins' Path (also known as The Brides' Path) which was built in the 18^th Century when there was no church in Rainow. Village maidens were obliged to walk through sometimes muddy fields to the nearest church in Bollington to marry. Local farmers, seeing their daughters arrive in church with their white dresses besmirched, laid rows of flags through the fields to spare their blushes.

We followed this trail until we reached Ingersley Vale waterfall on our left. The normally impressive cascade had been reduced to little more than a trickle by the recent dry spell but it still made a pretty picture.

Ingersley Vale's rain-starved waterfall

We continued past the derelict Ingersley Clough Mill (97mins) and passed the old millpond on our left. Beyond the pool we turned right and passed a church on our left as we walked to the roundabout (104mins). Here we turned left and some were seduced by the temptation of the delicious hot meat and potato pies from Smiths' Bakery which were quickly consumed on a bench opposite (115mins)

From here we continued along the main road, passing the aqueduct tunnel and turning right to once again enter Bollington Recreation Ground. By crossing the cricket field we were able to emerge at the rear of The Vale Inn (125mins).

Inside we enjoyed free pints of White Nancy and Long Hop cask ales from The Bollington Brewery thanks to the largesse of birthday boy Mickey. We wish him many happy returns.

At this point your diarist handed the leadership reins to Chris for the final leg of our journey.

From the front door of The Vale we turned right and headed uphill for 20 yards before going left over a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow. We turned left at a sign for Four Winds Farm (129mins). We crossed a wooden stile and turned right along a footpath (131mins)

We swung left to reach The Middlewood Way (135mins) and here, just 10 minutes after accepting the poisoned chalice of leadership, Chris did a remarkable impression of The Grand Old Duke of York trying to learn the Okey Cokey.

He halted those of us who were walking under Bridge 7 of the Middlewood Way while he consulted his map. Then he instructed us to come back, cross the former railway line, climb the far bank and turn left along a footpath. After five minutes instructed us to stop and reverse before leading us through brambles and nettles in the opposite direction.

There was a certain inevitability about the way Chris finally led us 15 minutes later back to Bridge 7 (150mins). We walked under it and after 50 yards we turned left (151mins) up a flight of wooden steps and turned right. We went through a gate marked with a yellow arrow and crossed a field diagonally left and continued through the next field. We exited this field (158mins) by a wooden stile and turned left along a minor road.

At a passing point in front of a metal gate we turned left (168mins) and walked down a farm track before turning right at a metal gate with a yellow arrow (172mins). We went though a wooden gate (174mins) and crossed a field with a fence on our immediate left.

After negotiating a metal kissing gate (177mins) with a council tip on our left we turned right along a road before stopping for lunch (181mins) at a fenced-off field on our left. Continuing we reached Waterwheel Way on our left (195mins) and turned right into Leat Place. We headed uphill then swung left before turning right over a wooden footbridge (198mins).

Under a railway arch was the car park where we de-booted and saw the alternative walkers who had just left The Vale and were heading home. Jock managed to resist this temptation and walked back to the pub with Milly whereupon Mickey bought Jock the tenth drink of his birthday round.

Next week's walk will start at 9.35am from outside The Sportsman on Kinder Road, Hayfield. Dean will lead the group past South Head on its way to The Kinder Lodge at Hayfield around 12.15pm for a tincture. The walk will finish back at The Sportsman at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !