Bollington

  

May 1, 2024

 

BOLLINGTON RECREATION GROUND, HOLE IN THE WALL HERITAGE STEPS, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, KERRIDGE RIDGE, RAINOW, BULL L, TEGGS NOSE COUNTRY PARK, LANGLEY,  MACCLESFIELD GOLF COURSE, THE JOLLY SAILOR IN MACCLESFIELD, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, MIDDLEWOOD WAY AND THE VALE AT BOLLINGTON

 

Distance: 12 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous.

Weather: Dry with sunny spells.

 

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Alan Hart*, Chris Owen*, Cliff Worthington.

 

Alternative walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly.

 

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Holland hols), Peter Beal (foot injury), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Enright (marking backlog), Mark Gibby (Rhodes hols), Jim Riley (w^*king in Hull), Dean Taylor (repairing motor home), Simon Williams (Paris hols)

 

Leader: Cairns. Diarists: Hart and Cairns.

Starting Point: Free car park in Adlington Road, Bollington, overlooking recreation ground.

 

Starting time: 9.47am. Finishing time: 2.58pm

 

This was our last walk before the Wednesday Wanderers' Formation Drinking Team set off on May 8 for our cultural visit to the Czech Republic. It may be no coincidence that all the participants today are heading for Prague and were perhaps honing their fitness skills. If so they certainly had a good workout as they climbed two of Cheshire's toughest hills.

 

Alan Hart is the writer of the first part of this diary and confesses at the outset that he was guilty of a sin for which he has often criticised others – striding out ahead when I did not know the route. As a result of this, and unfortunate timing as I tried to reunite with the main peloton, I parted company in Rainow and made my way to The Jolly Sailor in Macclesfield to await the arrival of my comrades. Chris only joined our group at the Macclesfield Canal, after walking there from his home in Sutton, and remained in Macc when we made the return leg of our journey.

 

Before setting off, and for the second week running, Alastair gave a good impression of a trendy version of Arthur Daley as he dispensed tour shirts from the boot of Tom's car. From the car park we headed for the right side of Bollington Recreation Ground, crossing the River Dean and climbing steps to exit the park on our right. We then turned left, crossed the road and climbed a long flight of steps in the middle of the aqueduct to reach the right bank of the Macclesfield Canal (7mins)

 

 

 

After soon passing under Bridge 27 we met Chris on Bridge 28 (19mins) where we turned right, crossed the bridge on our left, then headed right along a path. This brought us to a T junction where we turned right and immediately left up Higher Lane (28mins) After passing a house with a giant working clock on its wall we turned left (33mins) at a green public footpath sign on our right pointing up a flight of endless steps.

 

We emerged for a brief respite at a road, turned left for 50 yards along its flat surface and then turned left again uphill towards Bridge House and a further stiff climb to reach the ridge which gives Kerridge its name (42mins). Here we turned right with the Hurdsfield Industrial Estate including Astra Zeneca below on our right and the village of Rainow below on our left. After passing through a kissing gate your original diarist wrongly took the higher path to the Trig point from where he took this photo looking down on Rainow.

  Looking down on Rainow in the valley below

 

As I waited in vain for the main peloton to rejoin me, I saw them taking the path 100 yards below. There was no phone signal at that point and my efforts to rejoin them in Rainow failed as we passed like ships in the night. I walked along the road from Rainow through High Hurdsfield Village into Macclesfield, pausing for Pietime at trestle tables outside the unopen Flower Pot pub (90mins) and taking a stroll around the town centre waiting for The Jolly Sailor to open at noon.

 

The remainder of this diary will be written by Alastair who led the rest of the wanderers from Rainow to the pub via Tegg's Nose Country Park.

 

Unlike Mr Hart the main body of the Wanderers followed the leader’s chosen route avoiding the trig point by turning left at the kissing gate and following the path down on the far side of the ridge, passing through another kissing gate and a five bar gate before reaching the A5002 near Rainow.  

 

During our descent, we mused over why, despite my request for Alan to wait for the last men to finish their climb to the ridge at Kerridge, he chose to isolate himself from the main peloton of walkers. Many opinions were offered, some polite, some not so, but in the end, we agreed that it was most probably the last minute route change predicated by the late arrival of Mr Owen which resulted in Alan’s bizarre behaviour, oh and being starved of theopportunity to make a purchase from Bollington’s orgasmic pie shop. Anyway, after speaking with Alan who seemed very confused and was loitering in a bus stop in Rainow he advised he would be making his own way to the half-way house. Clearly carbohydrate deprivation hit hard, not only was Alan displaying signs of severe disorientation, but on our arrival at the Jolly Sailor he was seen to be drinking a mug of tea in favour of his regular pint of draught Bass….What has the world come to?

 

 

Turning right on the A5002 and after 60 yards as we turned left up stone steps at a public footpath sign to enter a field keeping to the right of an electric fence. The path took us to a road where we turned right uphill. We walked to the end of Bull Hill Lane turning left along the A637 for 30 yards before turning right at a Gritstone Trail marker to head up stone steps and a wooden gate to enter a field. After crossing a wooden stile, we carried on uphill, through a metal gate, crossing a stone step stile and turning left for five yards to reach a road. Turning right we walked along the road before turning left into Tegg's Nose Country Park for a belated pie time. Suitably refreshed we proceeded to a path called Saddlers Way and started our descent along the rocky track to turn right and cross a stream by stepping stones before reaching Bottoms Reservoir. 

 

 

From the reservoir we continued walking downhill until we reached a road and turned right, passing the St. Dunstan Inn (closed at lunchtime) and Langley Village Hall on our right before turning right onto The Hollins where we climbed through fields and came to Macclesfield golf course. We descended on a track to reach a lane, where a narrow path took us across the canal and through the Windmill recreation ground and on to The Jolly Sailor on Sunderland Street.

 

 

 

As always, The Jolly Sailor proved to be a most welcoming little pub with an excellent range of cask ales (Bass, London Pride and Farmers Blonde) and mugs of tea. All of which were reported as being on form save the Farmers Blonde, which according to Tom was a little too tarty.

 

 

Turning right out of The Jolly Sailor we took the first road left and crossed the traffic lights over the main road to Leek. After passing the wharf on our right we also went past the former Hovis factory before joining the right bank of The Macclesfield Canal at bridge 37. In anticipation of making last orders at The Vale Inn we decided to forgo lunch and push on along the towpath where Mr Heron was spotted. Leaving the canal at bridge 30 where, after a short diversion we turned left to join the Middlewood Way back towards Bollington and The Vale Inn.

 

 

As the majority of wanderers will be away on May 8 and 15 there will be no formal walk until May 22, details of which will be announced later.  

Happy wandering!