Bollington

Bollington

August 28th 2024

BOLLINGTON, WHITE NANCY, KERRIDGE RIDGE, RAINOW, BULL HILL LANE, WALKER BARN, THE ROBIN HOOD AT RAINOW, SUGAR LANE, FLAG COTTAGE, THE VIRGINS' PATH, INGERSLEY VALE WATERFALL, THE VALE AT BOLLINGTON

Distance: 8.5 miles.

Difficulty: A tough start followed by less strenuous terrain apart from Mr Beal’s shortcut to the Robin Hood Public House.

Weather: Mainly dry although a few spots of rain were encountered

Walkers: Peter Beal, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Jonny Hart, Cliff Worthington, Julian Ross, Simon Williams, Steve Brearley, Alastair Cairns.

Alternative walkers: Jock Rooney with Milly.

Apologies: Andy Blease (Anglesey hols), Tom Cunliffe (Hospital Visiting), Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh (Physiotherapist appointment) Mike Cassini (Hospital appointment) Chris Owen (Family visiting) George Dearsley (Turkey)

Leaders: Hart and Beal. Diarist & Photographer: Cairns

Starting point: Free car park on Adlington Road overlooking Bollington Recreation Ground.

Starting time: 09:40 Finishing time: 14:15 ish.

                                          

                                                                            White Nancy

                                           

                                                                      Bollington Village 

This week’s wander started with three pieces of good news, firstly, the roadworks opposite the Bollington Recreation Ground are now complete, secondly, Smith’s Bakery (aka the orgasmic pie shop) had product available for purchase and last, but by no means least, the Robin Hood public house is once again trading on a Wednesday lunchtime, although it is suspected this may change during the winter months ahead.

From the car park, we headed to the main road through Bollington and turned left toward Smith’s bakery where Hart senior, junior and virgin pie man Steve Brearley purchased meat and potato pies to sustain them during their wanderings around Bollington and Rainow. 

From the pie shop, we made our way through Bollington Village before turning right, past the Turners Arms on our right toward Ingersley Vale before making a sharp right towards the lung-busting ascent to White Nancy, the landmark on Kerridge Hill, which is visible for miles in all directions.

White Nancy was built around 1815 and it is thought to have been in celebration of Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. It was built by John Gaskell, who lived below the hill in Ingersley House, now Ingersley Hall. The 18 feet high onion-shaped building, which originally had a window with seats and a table inside, has an elevation of 920 feet. The origin of its name is uncertain, although John Gaskell had a sister called Nancy. It is also believed that the grey horse, which pulled the stonework uphill was called Nancy.

The Wanderers at White Nancy 

 We reached White Nancy in around 45 minutes by taking the direct route up the left side of the hill. On reaching White Nancy we stopped for a breather, to take on water, and have photos taken before walking along the ridge passing Astra Zeneca on our right. After passing through a kissing gate, we forked to the right on the higher path which brought us to the Trig Point. From here we followed the path down to the point where Lidgetts Lane meets the main road through Rainow. It was at this point on a previous walk that a very confused Alan Hart decided to go off-piste, announcing he would be making his own way to the halfway house. It remains unclear why Alan chose to take this action but we are putting it down to carbohydrate starvation brought on by a lack of meat and potato pies at Smith’s the bakers. 

Turning right, we eventually crossed the road by Brae Cottage taking some easily missed stone steps to a path along the side of a field protected on one side by an electric fence and clumps of nettles on the other. This irritating and slightly painful path took us to Bull Hill Lane where a slightly delayed pie time was declared. Looking up Bull Hill Lane from our perch we could see the lane had been closed by some contractors who were replacing overhead electricity poles and cables across the lane and beyond. At this point,  Mr Hart was dispatched to enquire if we could walk through the fenced-off road closure in favour of a diversion via who knows where. Anyway, after some discussion with the contractors, Alan delivered the good news that we were indeed able to pass along the side of their vehicles as long as we took care to avoid any loose wires and greasy stuff on the side of the truck.  

From the T-junction at the top of the hill, we turned left for 50 yards where we crossed the A537, then climbed some steps on our right. Following the footpath to the left and crossing a couple of stiles we again reached the A537 by the long-closed Setter Dog public house. After passing The Setter Dog (now a house) we turned left at a green public footpath sign we followed a yellow arrow on our left to leave the farm track and reached a wooden stile which we crossed and turned left following a well-trodden path downhill through a farmyard and a cluster of cottages downhill towards Rainow and the Robin Hood public house which is once again open for business on a Wednesday (summer opening hours).

At the Robin Hood, the Wanderers enjoyed pints of Wainwrights Bitter (reported to be on good form) and other refreshments before heading down Chapel Lane, before turning right into Sugar Lane. At Flag Cottage we followed a public footpath sign around the back of a row of cottages to emerge on The Virgins' Path leading us to Ingersley Vale Waterfall where we stopped for lunch.

Also known as The Bridal Path this was so-called after a local farmer laid a series of flags across his fields so that the maidens of Rainow who, without a church of their own had to walk two miles to Bollington, did not sully their white dresses. Prior to the path being laid the mud on gowns led to smutty sniggering in the Bollington Church about the brides' virtue.

Lunch at the Ingersley Vale Waterfall

     

  After passing the waterfall and a former mill pond on our left we turned right and passed a derelict church on our left to reach a mini roundabout with The Turners Arms on our right where we turned left and walked along the main road through Bollington. When Bollington Recreation Ground appeared on our right, we walked back through it returning to our cars, prior to de-booting and taking refreshment at The Vale Inn. White Nancy or Longhop were on offer at £3.00, both of which were on excellent form.

Next week's walk will start at 0945 outside The Sportsman pub on Kinder Road, Hayfield, which is best reached via Chinley because of the closure of the main road between New Mills and Hayfield. We will be passing Kinder Reservoir on our right before climbing Williams Clough to reach the Kinder escarpment. After walking along Kinder and passing the downfall we will descend at Red Brook and return to The Sportsman for refreshment at about 2.15pm.