Disley

NOVEMBER 23 , 2022

DISLEY, BOLLINHURST RESERVOIR, MILLENIUM WOOD, BLACK ROCKS, BYRON HOUSE, GREENSHALL LANE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, GOYT VALLEY, HAGUE BAR, THE FOX AT BROOK BOTTOM, STRINES, PEERES SWINDELLS' COTTAGE, PEAK FOREST CANAL, DISLEY GOLF COURSE, THE WHITE HORSE AT DISLEY

Distance: 9 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Early drizzle soon giving way to blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Alan Hart, Jonathan Hart, Cliff Worthington.

Apologies: Micky Barrett, Alastair Cairns. Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Jock Rooney, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams.

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Disley rail station car park.

Starting time: 9.35am. Finishing time: 2.15pm.

Forecasts of dire weather conditions may well have led to a poor turnout for this walk, although the various imaginative excuses given were on a par with the standard schoolboy excuse of “the dog ate my homework.”

Those hardy souls who scorned the gloomy predictions were rewarded with a largely dry day and the added bonus of blue skies and sunshine. On the fauna front we spotted a plastic heron at the side of the Peak Forest Canal and a real cormorant on the banks of the River Goyt.

In short gentlemen abed in Bramhall, Birch Vale, Heald Green, Macclesfield, Silverdale and Bowdon shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that walked with us.

This is what you missed

From the station car park we walked past The Ram's Head on our right and turned right uphill, passing Red Lane. Just before we reached The White Horse we turned right up Ring O'Bells Lane and headed up to the building, a former pub, which gave the lane its name. The original pub sign is still there but the building is now a Quakers' meeting house.

We turned right in front of the building, crossed a footbridge over a stream and turned left (5mins). After walking along a path with graves on each side we turned left and headed diagonally left along a well-trodden path which cut off a corner and emerged opposite a metal kissing gate which we went through to head diagonally right across a field with the distinctive Lyme Cage atop a hill in the distance (9mins)

At the corner of the field we left via another metal kissing gate to head up a track with Lyme Cage to our right until we reached the entrance to a farmyard. Here we turned left up steps through a wooden kissing gate (18mins). The path took us along the left of a drystone wall behind which was Bollinhurst Reservoir.

The reservoir with Lyme Cage in the distance

When we reached a wooden stile on our right (28mins) we turned right to enter a wood, following a path through a metal kissing gate and then headed right towards a metal gate (34mins)

Beyond the gate was a track and a sign directly opposite for Drake Carr. We followed this path and when we reached the picturesque cottage on our right after 50 yards we turned left up steps to enter Millenium Wood (36mins). The path brought us through a wooden gate to a road where we turned right (40mins)

After passing Bolder Hall Farm on our left we turned left to cross a stile by a wooden public footpath sign for Black Rocks (43mins). In the past we have had difficulty reaching the summit because of thick fog, but on this occasion the way was clear.

On the summit of Black Rocks

By the time we reached the ridge known as Black Rocks the early drizzle had ceased and we had clear views across the valley (60mins)

The View from Black Rocks

We turned left, soon climbing over a ladder stile marked with a white arrow (63mins).

Continuing along the ridge we went through a metal kissing gate and followed a yellow arrow (68mins) to the left of a copse of trees. In a field of cows we kept left with a drystone wall on our left before passing through a metal kissing gate.

Heading to the right of a cottage a right of way through the garden brought us to a road. We crossed it and followed a footpath sign through the garden of Byron House. At a gate on the far side we were able to turn left and head downhill along a narrow pathway.

At the bottom of the path we turned right (83mins) passing Pear Tree Cottage on our left. We now followed this track, which became rocky, as it wound downhill. It was revealed as Greenshall Lane as it reached the A6 (95mins). We crossed the busy main road and entered Lower Greenshall Lane, walking through the tunnel under the Manchester-Buxton railway line and over Bridge 27 across the Peak Forest Canal (98mins)

At the far side of the bridge we turned left to reach the canal and turned left again to a bench where we stopped for pies and port (99mins).

Resuming we walked with the canal on our left as we headed in the direction of Marple. As we walked we spotted a motionless heron gazing down on the waterway. Eventually we discovered its inertia was due to its synthetic composition.

The Upper Peak Forest Canal is 7 miles long starting from Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth Basin through Bridgemont, Furness Vale, New Mills and Disley on its way to Marple. It was opened in 1796 and was predominantly used to transport coal and limestone, using the Peak Forest Tramway and linking with other existing canals.

When we reached Bridge 25 we turned right through a gap marked with a green public footpath sign (113mins). The path led us down a flight of steep wooden steps and across a footbridge (119mins). After climbing uphill on the far side of a stream we turned right up a steep flight of wooden steps to cross a wooden stile (124mins)

Turning left at a yellow arrow we crossed a wooden stile (128mins) and walked to the left of a pond to enter a car park. As it emerged on a road at the far side we turned right for 10 yards then went left following a green public footpath sign(131mins)

This brought us to the banks of the Goyt where we walked with the river on our left.

The path led us back to the road where we turned left and crossed a bridge over the Goyt. We were now heading relentlessly uphill, passing a children's playground on our right at Hague Bar and crossing a main road (141mins)

This minor road became progressively steeper as it passed Lower Hague Fold Farm on the right just before it swung left in front of a row of cottages.

Beyond the cottages the path swung right and came to a minor road (148mins). Turning left past a memorial bench to Eric Burdekin we arrived at The Fox at Brook Bottom (145mins)

Approaching The Fox

On leaving the pub we retraced our footsteps for a few paces before turning right at a sign marked Goyt Valley Way. This was a rocky decent which led to a path under a railway bridge. We continued past Strines Station and Strines Hall on our left and passed a former millpond with its own dovecote on our right before stopping for lunch beneath an ancient clock (165mins)

Crossing Strines Road (167mins) we headed uphill along a rough track. As it levelled we came to an ancient cottage on our right with a stone transcription above its door informing us that “Peeres Swindells purchest this land and built this house in the yeare 1694.”

We reached the Peak Forest Canal (177mins) and turned left with the waterway on our right. At Bridge 23 we went underneath then turned left to go over it, cross a wooden stile and follow a path with a fenced field on our left (184mins)

This brought us on to the course at Disley Golf Club which we crossed to the right of the clubhouse and exited to reach a road. Here we turned left and headed downhill to the main traffic lights in Disley (202mins)

We crossed and headed uphill to the left of The Ram's Head to reach The White Horse on our right for a final drink (205mins).

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am from the car park just inside the entrance to Poynton Sports Club. We will head for Bramall Hall and pause for a livener in The Ladybrook pub nearby before heading back along Happy Valley. Tom has arranged for drinks and a meal to celebrate his birthday at the sports club at 2.30pm.

Happy wandering !