Styal

 August 16 2023

THE SHIP INN AT STYAL, STYAL CROSS, BOLLIN VALLEY, CHAPEL WOODS, KINGFISHER BRIDGE, OXBOW BRIDGE, GIANT'S CASTLE BRIDGE, AIRPORT INN, MORLEY GREEN, NEWGATE NATURE RESERVE, LINDOW MOSS, LINDOW COMMON, THE KING WILLIAM AT WILMSLOW, BODDINGTON PLAYING FIELDS, THE CARRS, QUARRY BANK MILL, STYAL COUNTRY PARK

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Warm, dry and mostly sunny with some cloud..

Walkers: Alastair Cairns, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Cliff Worthington.

Apologies: Peter Beal, George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Enright (w^*king), Hughie Hardiman (Beverley Races), Julian Ross, Dean Taylor and Dave Willetts (funeral), Simon Williams (cough)

Leaders: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Road outside The Ship Inn at Styal.

Starting time: 9.46am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.

This tricky route was suggested by Chris and seconded by Tom but the poisoned chalice of leadership fell to your diarist because he had brought with him directions recorded on the same route last October. Happily we seem to have learned from earlier mistakes when we tried to negotiate an oxbow in the River Bollin which has caused confusion in the past.

The start and finish of the walk were through stunning countryside. Unfortunately the middle section includes trudging through two miles of suburbia and the consensus was that we should seek to eliminate the tarmac element of this walk in future. I will liaise with Tom and others to seek rural alternatives.

Once again the weather provided ideal walking conditions but only a Magnificent Seven wanderers presented themselves. Still sometimes quality is better than quantity.

From the road outside The Ship Inn, we headed uphill and turned left at a sign for the Methodist Church, passing a thatched cottage on our left before dog-legging left and right to continue (1min). At the first path on our right marked with a red arrow, we turned right and reached Styal Cross on our right (3mins)

Styal Cross was originally located at Cross Farm, Styal. Around 1860 it was moved to Holly Lane where it stood until 1980 when it was demolished by a runaway lorry.

The base, thought to be medieval, was rebuilt. The upper column remained a truncated stump until 2010 when the cross was restored to its original state.

Styal Cross

We turned left toward Chapel Woods taking the right fork marked with a red arrow and then turned left to walk down and cross a metal bridge (6mins). After heading up steps on the far side we turned right and crossed Kingfisher Bridge (10mins) and then Oxbow Bridge (17mins) before turning left and heading first up and then down steep flights of steps before walking along duckboards.

River Bollin

At a T-junction (26mins) we turned right and crossed Giant's Castle Bridge (28mins) before turning left up a flight of steps. No sooner had we stopped climbing than we went down another flight of steps to cross a footbridge (32mins), then passed a wooden bridge on our left to follow a red arrow with the Bollin on our left (40mins)

The Bollin Valley

Ignoring a path on our right with a red arrow (47mins) we continued to keep the Bollin on our left as we left the woods and turned left across a bridge. On the left was The Airport Inn, formerly The Valley Lodge Hotel where Thursday night discos were once popular with ladies of a certain age.

Crossing the main road we turned left and proceeded until we reached Morley Green Road (61mins) where we turned right. When we reached a pair of benches on the village green at the end of the road (71mins) we stopped for pies and port.

Resuming we crossed the T junction to follow a green public footpath sign by the side of a lane marked “Except for Access.” Where it forked we went left (77mins) and entered Newgate Nature Reserve (82mins). We forked right (84mins) and reached a lane where we turned right (86mins)

This brought us to a junction where we carried straight on with Sylvia Cottage on our right (89mins). After swinging left (92mins) we turned left before a farm (96mins), crossed a footbridge and then turned right (98mins). We crossed another footbridge and turned left (102mins)

The former peat fields were visible on either side. Strange to consider that Wilmslow, part of The Golden Triangle renowned for housing some of the UK's overpaid international footballers, was once famous for producing peat for household fires.

On reaching a T-junction we turned right (110mins) and soon began approaching the outskirts of Wilmslow. After passing Dan's DIY store on the right we turned left into Moor Lane (115mins). Just before we reached The Farmers Arms on our right we turned left into Buckingham Road (128mins)

At its end we turned right (135mins) then headed left just before Water Lane Clinic to enter Hale Road (141mins). Turning right into Hawthorn Park (142mins) we then turned left just before Wilmslow Conservative Club into Kennerley Road. At its end we turned right (145mins)

We were now in the heart of Wilmslow's shopping centre. At a pedestrian crossing, we turned left, passing Waitrose on our right and then turned right uphill to reach the rear entrance of the King William (149mins). Here we were able to enjoy pints of Unicorn and Dizzy Blonde cask bitter in the sunny beer garden

Suitably refreshed we turned left out of the pub and crossed the busy roundabout to pause for lunch in a sunken garden bedecked with begonias (151mins). We then headed left passing a church on our left before turning left into Boddington Playing Fields (154mins). Beyond the playground we turned right with the Bollin on our right and walked through an area known as The Carrs.

This comprises 70 acres of a picturesque linear walk linking Styal Country Park and Dean Valley. It was bought in 1935 by Wilmslow Urban District Council to mark the jubilee of George V.

The Carrs

En route, we passed a wooden sculpture of a bird and a spaniel, beautifully carved but out of scale.

Giant bird or tiny dog ?

We crossed a footbridge and turned right following a sign for Lindow Common (161mins). After ignoring one bridge on our right we carried on until we reached Twinnies Bridge (176mins) which we crossed to enter a car park on the left.

Following a sign for Styal with the Bollin now on our left we went through a metal kissing gate (178mins) and crossed Heron's Pool Bridge (184mins) before reaching Quarry Bank Mill on our left (193mins)

This was a former cotton mill built in 1784 by Samuel Greg, where adults and children worked 72 hour weeks until 1847 when a new law made such long working weeks illegal. The National Trust now uses the mill as a museum.

Beyond the mill we turned left (197mins) towards Styal, then turned right (200 mins) to reach the road from where we had started (202mins). A short walk right brought us to The Ship Inn on our left (203mins)

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am from The Littler Mill Inn at Rowarth (SK22 1EB). Tom will lead us through purple moorland heather to The Kinder Lodge at Hayfield (SK22 2JG) around 12.15pm for a snifter before returning to The Little Mill Inn at about 2.20pm. Those using the pub car park will be expected to call inside for refreshment upon their return.

Happy wandering!