June 7, 2023.
POYNTON POOL, SOUTH PARK DRIVE, BLUEBELL WOODS, MIDDLEWOOD WAY, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, LYME MARINA, WOOD LANE ENDS OLD FARM, THE COPPICE, BOAR'S HEAD AT HIGHER POYNTON, PRINCE'S INCLINE, ANGLESEY DRIVE
Distance: 9-10 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Dry with warm sunshine after cool cloudy start.
Walkers: Peter Beal, Mike Cassini, Alan Hart, Dean Taylor and Dave Willetts.
Alternative walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney.
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (inflamed knee), Andy Blease and Tom Cunliffe (on holiday in Anglesey), Alastair Cairns, Hughie Hardiman, Pete Johnson and Julian Ross (finishing The West Highland Way), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Chris Owen (Alpine holiday), Keith Welsh (Cornish hols), Simon Williams ( hols in Majorca with wife and Ryan Giggs), Cliff Worthington (Holland hols)
Leader and Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Poynton Pool free car park off Anglesey Drive, Poynton (nearest postcode SK12 1LJ).
Starting time: 9.40am.: Finishing time: 2.30pm.
Once again our numbers for this journey were reduced by four Wednesday Wanderers being absent while they completed The West Highland Way – a long-distance trek of nearly 100 miles between the outskirts of Glasgow and Fort William, In addition several other regular members were away on holiday in various exotic resorts.
Those who did sally forth were rewarded with yet another fine day, which improved with time, as we mixed the rural landscape around Poynton with a close-up view of some of its most prestigious houses.
On the nature front we saw a buzzard, wild rabbits and a young deer resembling Bambi which appeared to have escaped from the Lyme Park herd and found itself on the west side of The Macclesfield Canal.
Although much of the route was familiar in parts, there were new paths which we explored as we aimed to arrive at a much-used watering hole, The Boar's Head in Higher Poynton. Unfortunately after excellent first pints of Wainwrights' cask bitter at an eye-watering £4-50, second pints were not at their best. To the pub's credit they changed Dave's rejected pint without quibble – albeit for a £5 pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord.
Our walk started by exiting the car park and heading west with Poynton Pool on our left. This attractive lake, hidden by trees from the main A523 road linking Hazel Grove and Macclesfield, is one of Cheshire's secret gems. It provides a home for various waterfowl, including the ubiquitous Canada geese and mallards as well as coots, waterhens, herons, great-crested grebes, and occasional cormorants.
At sunset an array of bats demonstrate their aeronautical skills while anglers try to land one of the huge carp lurking below the surface.
Poynton Pool
When we reached the end of the footpath on the right of the lake (10mins) we turned left into South Park Drive and admired the luxurious homes on our right which commanded views across the water. The drive took us to its T-junction with Towers Road (20mins) where we turned right for a few yards before turning left to enter a field through a metal kissing gate (21mins)
The path took us to a track across which we crossed via two metal gates (28mins) and continued along the path, ignoring a footbridge on our right as we passed ponds first on our right and then our left. On our journey we saw the remains of bluebells which had withered during the month-long dry spell.
The pond on our right was guarded by a dazzling display of wild flowers
After the second pond on our left we ignored a metal kissing gate on our right (37mins) and continued along the path with a hedge on its right to exit the field by a wooden stile (40mins). We turned right for 25 yards then crossed a road to go through a metal kissing gate to enter a field with stables on our right.
A gap stile enabled us to weave our way out of the field and cross the track which is Prince Road and walk along a rough road with houses on our left. When we reached a proper road we turned left (45mins) and then headed down a flight of steps (51mins) which led to The Middlewood Way.
We turned left in the direction of Marple and after walking under one bridge across the former railway line we turned right to climb and leave it at the next. With the bridge on our left we turned right. It was as we made our way along this path we first saw rabbits playing on our left and then a sweet young deer in a field on our left.
We reached the Macclesfield Canal and turned right (64mins) with the waterway on our left.
Proposals to create the canal were first discussed in 1765 but it was not until 1824 that Parliament gave the go-ahead. The canal, engineered by Thomas Telford, opened in 1831. It runs for 21 miles from the Peak Forest Canal at Marple in the north to The Trent and Mersey Canal in the south.
It carried minerals and goods commercially until 1954 when the canal fell into disuse as railways and roads dominated the transport system. But in 1965, after much lobbying for its restoration for leisure purposes, the canal was designated as part of the Cheshire Ring and gained a new lease of life.
Walking with the canal on our left we reached Lord Vernon's Wharf (75mins) and stopped for Pietime at two convenient benches. With only five walkers present your diarist was able to dispense the port without jealous rivalry as we admired the peaceful scene.
After our break we left the canal by crossing Bridge 15 and headed in the direction of Lyme Park. When we reached a green footpath sign on our right (82mins) we turned right towards electricity pylons and followed a path which brought us back to the canal. When we reached Bridge 16 we turned right to cross the footbridge and followed a footpath on the far side which ran parallel with the canal for 30 yards before swinging left downhill (90mins)
Passing a white-painted villa on our left we ignored a footbridge on our right and continued a few yards further to cross a wooden stile on our right marked with a yellow arrow (95mins). The path through a thicket of bush and bramble soon brought us to a road opposite Brookbank Farm (96mins). Here we turned left along the road towards Pott Shrigley before turning right over a wooden stile marked with a yellow arrow (99mins)
This took us through a farmyard and we turned left just before a bridge over the Macclesfield Canal, turning momentarily left before realising the error of our ways and turning right instead with the water on our left (106mins). This brought us to Lyme Marina which we exited at Bridge 18 by turning right and heading downhill over the bridge across The Middlewood Way (118mins)
At crossroads (120mins) we turned right, passing The Miners Arms on our left and wondering whether this once-busy traditional country pub would ever see customers again. (It has been closed for more than 12 months)
We carried on, passing luxury homes on our left and a wishing well on our right before reaching Wood Lane Ends Old Farm and turning left along a public footpath (128mins). This took us through two kissing gates to a wooden footbridge which we turned right to cross (136mins)
On the far side we turned right again to head towards The Coppice. After passing a white wooden gate we turned right at an unmarked but well-trodden footpath on our right (141mins) heading through bushes and trees before going through a wooden kissing gate (147mins)
We were now walking along a path with a valley on our right below before reaching the exit marked with carved wooden falcons and reaching The Middlewood Way (149mins). Here we turned left, reaching a picnic area of trestle tables and the stone platform of the former Higher Poynton railway station, which opened in 1869 and closed in 1970. At the far end we climbed a flight of steps and emerged directly opposite The Boar's Head (157mins)
Jock and Keiran were already inside as we sampled the expensive pints of cask bitter on offer. On leaving the pub we retraced our steps to the station platform and sat at trestle tables in the sunshine for lunch (158mins)
Resuming we headed left towards Marple along The Middlewood Way, leaving it at Bridge 17, which we crossed to follow the old Princes Incline, which used gravity to take mined coal into the heart of Poynton. This took us along the unmade Princes Road and across Middlewood Road where we took the right of two footpath options (175mins). At a metal kissing gate we turned left and headed towards a group of huge trees.
We followed the path through the woods, emerging at the tracks through Davenport Golf Club and turned right (195mins). We went left through a metal kissing gate (202mins) to enter a field and follow the path past a small group of trees on our right.
At a cluster of green footpath signs we turned diagonally right to the corner of a field where duckboards led to a wooden stile (214mins)
Opposite was a narrow gap which was a public footpath dividing houses on Towers Road, where we were, and Anglesey Drive at the far side. We walked along the footpath and tuned right when it reached the road (215mins)
As we turned right and headed back to Poynton Pool car park (220mins) we passed some ancient but mainly modern homes known as Millionaires' Row whose rear gardens overlooked the lake.
Next week's walk will start at 0940 at the free Brabyns Park car park at Brabyns Brow, Marple Bridge (nearest postcode SK6 5DT). We will be aiming for a livener at around 1230 in The Devonshire Arms at Mellor, before finishing at The Norfolk Arms in Marple Bridge at about 1430.
Happy wandering !
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