High Lane

 June 19, 2024.

HIGH LANE VILLAGE HALL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, MIDDLECALE FARM, PLATTWOOD FARM, ELMERHURST WOOD, LYME PARK, GREEN FARM, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, THE COPPICE, MIDDLEWOOD WAY, THE BOAR'S HEAD AT HIGHER POYNTON, JACKSONS BRICKWORKS NATURE RESERVE AT MIDDLEWOOD, MACCLESFIELD CANAL

Distance: 10 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry and moderately warm with cloud and sunshine.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Mike Cassini, Alan Hart, Julian Ross, Keith Welsh.

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Apologies: Micky Barrett (on the Danube), Peter Beal (Skiathos hols), Tom Cunliffe (sciatica), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Enright, Chris Owen and Dean Taylor (at Royal Ascot), Mark Gibby (monitoring Royal Ascot), Jim Riley (w*^king), Jock and Keiran Rooney (in Austria), Simon Williams (Lake Garda hols), Cliff Worthington (fluttering heart)

Starting point: High Lane Village Hall car park, off Windlehurst Road (SK6 8AB), High Lane, Disley.

Starting time: 9.40am. Finishing time: 2pm.

From the car park, we walked away from the car park entrance, passing the village hall and a children's playground on our right before going through a gap in the hedge to reach the bank of the Macclesfield Canal. We turned right with the waterway on our left and walked along the towpath beneath the A6.

At Bridge 13 (20mins) where a Second World War pillbox has been disguised with a collection of ornamental knick-knacks, we turned left to cross the canal and headed up the lane, passing Middlecale Farm on our right.

The decorated pillbox

We turned left at a T-junction (23mins) aiming for Lyme Cage in the distance and then turned left again at Plattwood Farm (35mins)

The tarmac lane swung first right and then left, then right again as we went through a gate into Lyme Park (52mins). After 50 yards we went right over a wooden ladder stile and entered Elmerhurst Wood (54mins).

Elmerhurst Wood just outside Lyme Park

A well-trodden path took us across a pair of footbridges to a stone step stile over a wall to return to Lyme Park with the distinctive Lyme Cage above us 200 steep yards away (69mins). Turning right along a footpath we reached Lyme Park cafe on our right and stopped at a picnic table for Pietime (79mins)

Our view heading for Pietime

Resuming we passed the lake on our right and the car park on our left before going right across a cattle-grid and swinging right at decorative rocks. A few yards later we turned left along a dark gravel path (88mins). After 250 yards we turned right (91mins) and started to descend a path of well-trodden grass to a wooden ladder stile.

After crossing this we went right over a wooden stile and followed the footpath signs through Green Farm.

At a T-junction (97mins) we turned right towards Green Farm House. Opposite the house, we turned left downhill (98mins). Just before a farm we turned left at a footpath marked with a yellow arrow (101mins) and followed this path through a metal kissing gate until it emerged through another gate into a field.

Turning left downhill we reached the Macclesfield Canal and crossed it by a footbridge (106mins). We turned right but instead of following the towpath we immediately followed a footpath on its left which swung left away from the canal,

After passing a large house on our left and finding the public footpath towards a footbridge still closed without minor repairs after two years, we walked a further 30 yards and turned right at a stile. Another stile brought us out on a road where we turned right. On our left we entered The Coppice car park (120mins)

At the far end of it we turned left to enter a public footpath, taking the right fork and passing above a verdant valley on our left below. At a kissing gate we carried on along the path until it emerged with a tarmac road where we turned left just before a barrier blocking the road to traffic (128mins)

We walked past the barrier and continued until a footpath sign on our left indicated a footbridge over a stream. Opposite was another footpath sign showing a narrow path uphill between two houses. We followed this path, crossed a wooden stile and followed a well-trodden path across a field. In the middle of the field was the remains of a tree which had been struck by lightning (133mins)

We passed the tree and crossed another wooden stile to enter another field and followed another well-trodden path leading to a footbridge which brought us out on Coppice Road (138mins)

Here we turned right along the road until we reached a sign for kennels on our right (142mins) where we turned right. Following a lane we reached a footpath on our left which took us past the kennels and back to the kissing gate which was the exit/entrance to The Coppice. We entered (147mins) and soon turned right down a flight of steps into the valley we had previously admired from above. Another flight of steps tooks us back up the Coppice car park (157mins). We turned left along the Middlewood Way and left it at the former Higher Poynton railway station to enter the Boar's Head (169mins)

To celebrate the 59^th anniversary of his birth next month Keith bought a round of drinks which included excellent pints of Wainwrights and Timothy Taylor Landlord at £4-75. There were also two limes and soda and a pot of tea! We wish Keith many happy returns as he and Simon now represent the Wednesday Wanderers' youth policy.

Suitably refreshed we headed out of the pub to join the Middlewood Way, turning left towards Marple. After going under three bridges we turned off diagonally right beyond the fourth bridge to enter Jacksons Brickworks Nature Reserve (189mins). After exiting we turned left through two gates before swinging right to reach the Macclesfield Canal (204mins) at Bridge 13.

A pair of Canada geese with three goslings

Turning left with the canal on our right we retraced our earlier footsteps, going under the A6 then turning immediately left to skirt a children's playground on the way back to our cars.

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the car park of Brabyn's Park, Marple Bridge (SK6 5LB). The entrance is opposite The Midland pub. We will be aiming to reach The Devonshire Arms at Mellor (SK6 5PP) around 12.20pm for a bracer with an optional final drink at The Norfolk Arms, Marple Bridge (SK6 5DS)

Happy wandering !