Rudyard

 January 31, 2024.

RUDYARD, CHURNET VALLEY, LONGSIDE, LONGSDEN, HORSE BRIDGE, CALDON CANAL, THE HOLLYBUSH AT CHEDDLETON, DENFORD, STONELOWE HALL, DUNWOOD, BRADSHAW, LONGSDEN GRANGE

Distance: 9.5miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry and mild but cloudy.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Jim Riley with Jasper, Julian Ross and Simon Williams.

Alternative walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly.

Apologies: Micky Barrett (family returned from abroad), Peter Beal (heavy cold), Mark Enright (w*^king), Cliff Worthington (Tenerife hols)

Leader: Davison. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free car park next to Rudyard Lake Steam Railway Ltd, Rudyard, off the A523 Macclesfield-Leek road (ST13 8PF), Staffs.

Starting time: 10.15am. Finishing time: 2.47pm.

                                                        

                                                                                map by Tom

It is many years since this walk was attempted so we brought back a rejuvenated prodigal son to return and show us the way. Back in 2016 when we last took this route, Colin was an enthusiastic drinker. Today he is a reformed character, preferring cups of tea to pints of real ale.

As this was the last day of dry January for some wanderers, he found himself in the majority of soft drinkers. Even when the three beer-lovers were joined by Jock and Keiran we were still outnumbered 6-5. We can only hope that next month some of our group will have returned to their senses.

Colin revealed that after six years of walks limited by breathlessness, his rehabilitation had begun in autumn with a life-enhancing injection.

We welcomed into our fold, Jim Riley and his dog Jasper, who were making their debuts. Unfortunately, the new boy blotted his copybook by getting lost trying to find the car park and our start was delayed by 15 minutes. We were assured by his former colleague Julian that Jim was able to find his way more speedily to crime scenes when he was serving in the Greater Manchester Police.

Debutants Jim Riley and Jasper

We started by walking away from the entrance to the car park with the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway on our left.

It is a passenger railway with a variety of miniature locomotives, both steam and internal combustion, which run for one and a half miles along the trackbed of the old North Staffordshire railway line at the side of Rudyard Lake.

The current line was created by John Eastman of Congleton who worked alone for ten years and opened it in 1985. He sold it to the current owners in 2000. They also own the assets of the former Isle of Mull railway and plan to combine these at Rudyard.

A variety of locos run at weekends and Bank Holidays from March to November (daily during school holidays)

After walking south with a water-filled ditch on our right we crossed a small bridge (7mins) and turned immediately right down a flight of steps. At their foot we turned immediately left over a wooden stile.

We crossed two more wooden stiles (14mins and 20mins) and then turned right over a footbridge (39mins) and followed a footpath to the left. When we reached a gate on our left we diverted from our route to go through it (45mins) and stopped for Pietime on convenient benches.

Starting out

Continuing we went back through the metal gate and now turned left uphill. This took us through a metal gate (54mins) to a gravel track which we followed round the side of a house, We then turned right and reached a main road called Laddergate (55mins)

Turning left we proceeded for 200 yards then crossed right into Mollards Wood Road (60mins)

This took us past an alpaca farm where there was no sign of alpacas – apart from an amusing sign on a fence.

Beware of the alpacas !

We were now following Staffordshire Way signs until we crossed Bridge 7 of the Caldon Canal and joined it by turning immediately left and left again under the bridge with the waterway on our right (70mins)

The Caldon Canal

It is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which runs for 18miles from Etruria through Stoke to Froghall. It has 17 locks and a 76-yard tunnel. It opened in 1779 after the proprietors borrowed £25,000 to fund its construction.

The company needed a reservoir to top up the canal's water so Rudyard Lake became an integral part of its operation.

Incidentally, John Kipling met his future wife Alice in 1863. When their son was born in Bombay in 1865 they named him Joseph Rudyard Kipling after the lake where they had conducted their courtship. His novels, including The Jungle Book, were exceedingly good. (I saw what you did there...Ed).

We left the Caldon Canal at Bridge 4 and turned right downhill (85mins), soon reaching the sign for Cheddleton on our left just before a canal bridge and The Hollybush on our right (88mins). We were then doubly blessed at 11.58am for our delayed start and a barmaid who had opened the pub early.

Here we were soon joined by Jock and Keiran as the real ale fans tucked into pints of Thwaites's Baird at £4-50.

On leaving the pub we walked to the canal and turned right towards Etruria with the waterway on our left. On reaching Hazelhurst Aqueduct (90mins), which was built in 1841, we briefly left the canal on the right then crossed a bridge and descended to emerge with the canal now on our right.

After 100 yards we left the towpath, descending a well-trodden path (94mins) and crossed a disused rail track before turning left into a field.

Our return journey was now a complicated route through a series of fields with many stiles in various states of dilapidation.

To describe the twists and turns could be misleading. Suffice to say we were largely heading north with the aid of a GPS device.

At one point (112mins) we passed an impressive farmhouse called Stonelowe Hall, a listed building with English Heritage, possibly of 16^th or 17^th Century origin which was restored in 1866.

Stonelowe Hall

Our route ultimately brought us back to the track (172mins) we had taken for the first half hour of our journey. We were then able to retrace our footsteps back to the car park at the side of the miniature railway (202mins)

Homeward bound

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the free car park at New Mills Leisure Centre, Hyde Bank Road, New Mills (SK22 4BP). We will be calling for a tincture at The Devonshire Arms, 307, Longhurst Lane, Mellor ((SK6 5PP) at about 12.20pm and aiming to finish for one in The Masons Arms, 57, High Street, New Mills (SK22 4BR) around 2.20pm.

Happy wandering !