December 14, 2022.
HIGHER POYNTON, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, GREEN FARM, LYME PARK, LYME HALL, ELMERHURST WOOD, RED LANE, ST MARY'S CHURCHYARD, THE WHITE HORSE AT DISLEY, DISLEY STATION, THE LADYBROOK TRAIL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, THE BOAR'S HEAD AT HIGHER POYNTON
Distance: 8-9 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Blue skies and sunshine but very cold.
Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, George Dearsley*, Mark Enright, Hugh Hardiman, Alan Hart, John Jones*, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney with Milly, Julian Ross, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.
Apologies: Micky Barrett, Alastair Cairns (icy roads in Cumbria), Tom Cunliffe (supervising double-glazing installation), Dean Taylor (heavy cold), Keith Welsh (hospital appointment).
Non-walking drinkers: Tom Cunliffe and Terry Jowett.
Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Outside The Boar's Head, Higher Poynton.
Starting time: 10.02am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.
Photos by Alan Hart, except where specified
This was a day like the one King Wenceslas looked out upon on the feast of Stephen. A carpet of snow lay all about crisp and even but on this occasion it was shallow. As we started under clear blue skies the dazzling winter sun was joined by the moon (which may have overslept)
It gave every appearance of being a hot summer's day, apart from the temperature, which hovered around freezing point throughout our journey.
We welcomed back our prodigal blogspotter, George Dearsley, who expanded a lucrative business trip from his home in Turkey to England so he could teach FIFA officials how to deal with the media by visiting family, former works colleagues and his pals in the Wednesday Wanderers.
We also welcomed for the first time a debutant wanderer, Mike Cassini, recently retired, who has friends among our Burnage Rugby Club contingent. We hope Mike understands that we don't finish all our walks with a Christmas lunch as we did on this occasion. Our dining party was increased further by the arrival of former B team walker Terry Jowett and of Tom Cunliffe, who had completed his domestic chores.
Because of transport problems George and JJ - another old friend recovering from health problems - joined us when we stopped for refreshment at the pub in Disley and accompanied the group on its three-mile return journey.
Heavy traffic problems also postponed our start by 17 minutes, with Peter and Jock both held up in Disley, but this proved to be a useful delay because it saved us from arriving at The White Horse before it had opened.
“New
boy” Mike Cassini
We crossed the road opposite the Boar's Head, went through a gate and descended steps to reach The Middlewood Way, turning right. After passing the picnic tables we turned left and headed up another flight of steps to enter a park containing a soccer pitch.
Crossing the field diagonally left we reached a gate leading to the Macclesfield Canal where we turned right with the waterway on our left. On reaching Bridge 16 we crossed to the far side, keeping to the right of a field and going through a kissing gate (13mins)
An enclosed path then led us left and right through gates before we swung right before a cottage and then turned sharp left along a public footpath to the right of Green Farm. This led to a ladder stile which we climbed to enter Lyme Park (23mins)
A
few inches of snow on the higher ground
The path from the ladder stile was leading us towards the car park at Lyme Hall but en route we passed a herd of deer some 20 yards away.
A
stag party
At Dave's suggestion we varied the planned route so we could visit Lyme Hall and enjoy Pietime sitting on benches in the garden. However when it was announced by National Trust officials that we would have to pay £9 for the privilege we reverted to the original route. (Some wanderers with Scottish or Yorkshire blood coarsing through their veins were seen to turn a whiter shade of pale)
Outside
Lyme Hall
After taking a team photograph we headed downhill towards a lake and NT cafe. Outside were picnic tables where we paused for refreshments free of charge.
Resuming we went back uphill for a few yards and then turned left along a footpath some 20 yards to the right of a boundary wall and followed it with the distinctive Lyme Cage coming into view above us on our right. When we had passed the cage by some 250 yards we followed steps downhill towards the boundary wall and crossed a stone step stile leading into Elmerhurst Wood (90 mins)
A path then led over footbridges through the wood before exiting by a wooden ladder stile over a wall (100mins). Here we turned right and followed a track which took us past the wooden entrance hut and through a gate which exited Lyme Park.
We now walked uphill along Red Lane, passing some impressive and no doubt hideously expensive houses on both sides before reaching the car park and then the graveyard outside St Mary's, parish church of Disley.
Here we looked at the Legh family's plot of elevated graves, where members of the family had the shapes of large keys on their gravestones. Lyme Park was given to Piers Legh and his wife Margaret (nee D'anyers) by King Richard 11. It was a belated gift in memory of Margaret's grandfather, Sir Thomas D'anyers, who had retrieved the royal standard of The Black Prince during the Battle of Crecy in 1346.
In 1415 Sir Piers Legh 11 was wounded at Agincourt and his loyal mastiff stood over his master and protected him for many hours during the battle. He became the foundation of the Lyme Hall mastiffs which continued until the strain died out at the beginning of the 20th Century.
In 1946 Richard Legh gave Lyme Park to The National Trust. Perhaps it is best known for its depiction of Pemberley in the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Ladies of a certain age went weak at the knees throughout the land when they saw bare-chested Mr Darcy (played by Colin Firth) emerge from plunging into the lake next to the hall with his breeches dripping.
From the churchyard we walked back uphill to the car park and turned left following a footpath which led between other graveyards and crossed a footbridge over a stream. On our right was a former pub, now a Quaker meeting house, which still has its inn sign for the Ring o' Bells on its wall. We turned left down Ring o' Bells Lane until we reached The White Horse on our right (115mins).
We had just started to enjoy pints of excellent Dizzy Blonde cask bitter at £3-90 when George and JJ joined us, thereby increasing our numbers to 14. Suitably refreshed we all sallied forth on the return journey, turning left out of the pub's front door and left again at The Ram's Head. Walking through that pub's car park we continued towards Disley railway station and then turned left up a steep flight of steps which brought us back on to Red Lane.
Turning right we retraced our footsteps past the wooden entrance gate but instead of carrying straight ahead we took a right fork, passing a cottage on our left to cross a ladder stile, turn left and cross a footbridge before turning right at the start of the Ladybrook Trail.
The path was on the left of the brook initially as it took us under a tunnel beneath the Manchester-Buxton railway line. It then led us via a stile across the line to descend a flight of steps leading to a lane (140mins). Two more stiles took us across the lane and into a field where we followed the path past a derelict wooden summer house on our left. A stile and a footbridge took us towards the Macclesfield Canal as the Ladybrook went to our right through a culvert under the canal (153mins)
Ladybrook
flowing under the Macclesfield Canal
We continued over another footbridge and up a flight of steps to reach the canal, turning left to reach a World War 2 pillbox by the side of Bridge 13. We crossed over the bridge and turned left towards Macclesfield with the canal on our left.
Leaving the canal at Lord Vernon's Wharf we walked through a gap on our right to go through the Nelson Pit Museum car park to reach The Boar's Head (185mins), where we joined Tom and Terry for our annual Christmas lunch, with pints of Wainwrights, Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Black Sheep cask bitter available.
Next Wednesday's walk will start at 10am from the war monument outside Piccadilly railway station, Manchester. Chris will lead a tour of historic and interesting pubs in and around the city centre as well as an authentic curry lunch. Don't forget your drinking boots.
Happy wandering !
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