September 18th
HIGH LANE, MACCLESFIELD CANAL, GREEN FARM, LYME PARK, LYME HALL, LYME CAGE, THE WHITE HORSE AT DISLEY, RED LANE, LYME PARK, THE LADYBROOK TRAIL, MACCLESFIELD CANAL AND THE BULL'S HEAD AT HIGH LANE
Distance: 9 miles.
Difficulty: Easy.
Weather: Dry with blue skies and sunshine.
Walkers: Andy Blease, Steve Brearley, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Stuart Hogg, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Simon Williams.
Non-walking drinker: Peter Beal (pulled calf muscle)
Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Mike Cassini, Julian Ross and Keith Welsh (on a sailing trip), Mark Enright and Jim Riley (w*^king), Mark Gibby (hols for three weeks),
Chris Owen (recovering from hip replacement op), Cliff Worthington (heavy cold)
Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: High Lane Village Hall, off Windlehurst Road, High Lane SK6 8BH.
Starting time: 9.40am. Finishing time: 2.12pm.
The decision to postpone this journey from last week, when weather forecasts of dire conditions proved justified, was vindicated again with glorious conditions as we approach autumn.
A clear blue sky and sunshine were the order of the day as we took a new route which comprised many familiar paths which had been stitched together to create a different walk.
It was an opportunity to welcome a new recruit to our ranks as well as the return of a prodigal, who has been missing for too many months. In addition, we passed and greeted an old comrade whose home is now a narrowboat on the Macclesfield Canal.
The new boy is Stuart Hogg, another product of our Burnage Rugby Club connection.
As luck would have it three of his former playing colleagues were missing as they took part in a sailing holiday.
The prodigal was Hughie Hardiman, who had been absent for many weeks because he had been collecting a child from school. The boy is the son of a Ukrainian woman whom Hughie and his wife Mary have been hosting since they fled the Russian invasion of their country.
The old friend is John Jones, alias JJ, who has bought a narrow boat called Eden. He lives there now after returning from a property in Cumbria. It is always a pleasure to encounter old comrades and make new pals.
JJ greeting his Wednesday Wanderers' comrades
From the car park, we walked away from the entrance passing High Lane Village Hall on our right and then a playground before reaching the towpath of the Macclesfield Canal (3mins). Here we turned right and walked through a tunnel under the A6 with the canal on our left.
As we walked beyond the decorated pillbox at Bridge 13 we passed a narrow boat called Eden which was recognised by Tom. He used his dulcet tones to lure JJ to a porthole where greetings and insults were exchanged before we journeyed onwards.
After passing Lord Vernon's Wharf (35mins) we reached footbridge 16 where we crossed to the far side (44mins). We headed uphill and went through a metal kissing gate on our right (45mins). The footpath then delivered us to a lane with a farm to our left. We turned right uphill (51mins), swung right in front of a house and then turned sharply left through the yard at Green Farm. With the farmhouse on our left, we crossed a wooden stile on our right and then immediately went over a ladder stile (58mins) on the left to enter Lyme Park.
The park is managed by the National Trust and consists of a mansion house surrounded by gardens and a deer park. The house, which lies in the Peak District National Park, is the largest in Cheshire.
The estate was granted provisionally to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 by the Black Prince after Sir Thomas had retrieved his royal standard during The Battle of Crecy. It passed to Piers Legh in 1388 by his marriage to Margaret Danyers and remained in the Legh family until 1946 when it was given to The National Trust to avoid death duties.
The oldest parts of the current hall date from the 16th Century with improvements made by different generations of the Legh family.
Simon marches towards Lyme Hall
We climbed uphill from the ladder stile following a path which led us over a cattle grid, passing a public car park and Lyme Hall on our right. We proceeded past a pond on our left to reach trestle picnic tables where we paused for Pietime (75mins)
We then retraced our footsteps and headed left towards the front of Lyme Hall before following a footpath uphill which brought us to Lyme Cage, a former hunting lodge with panoramic views covering hundreds of square miles.
Stuart, Hughie, Tom, Alastair, Dean, Andy, Simon and Steve
After posing for a team photo in front of Lyme Cage (90mins) we began our descent towards the entrance hut (105mins) where we turned right and exited Lyme Park (106mins) to head up and down Red Lane. Where the road forked (115mins) we turned right and after 50 yards turned left into the graveyard and grounds of St Mary's, the parish church of Disley.
St Mary The Virgin, Disley, was founded by Sir Piers Legh, of Lyme and Haydock. Born in 1455 he had lived through the turbulent years of The Wars of the Roses and had been dubbed a knight baronet by his king for distinguished service.
In 1511 Sir Piers gave up this office and entered a monastery where he was ordained as a priest. He then retired to the house and park at Lyme where he started to build a chapel. Work began in 1510 and was completed in 1524. The church was consecrated in 1558 and then rebuilt in the 1820s and 1830s.
There are many monuments to the Legh family in the churchyard together with the grave of Joseph Watson (1648-1752) who was park keeper at Lyme for 64 years. Watson once drove 24 stags from Lyme to Windsor as a gift to Queen Anne and to win a 500 guineas wager for his master.
The White Horse
With the church on our right, we walked to a gate where we exited via a winding cobbled path which brought us out near Disley's main traffic lights. We turned right away from the lights and soon reached The White Horse, a Robbies' pub, on our right (122mins). We were given a warm welcome by landlady Diane Broomfield, whose husband Geoff is the landlord and an excellent chef. They took on the tenancy five months ago.
Suitably refreshed we turned left out of the pub and immediately left up Ring o' Bells Lane. At the end of this road the building, now a Friends Meeting House for Quakers, still bears the sign of the pub which gave the road its name.
We turned right here, crossing a footbridge and then right again to return to Red Lane and turn left to walk back into Lyme Park (137mins). After passing the wooden entrance hut we reached a fork in front of a former estate cottage. We headed right, passing a sign for Plattwood Farm and stopped at a fallen tree where we could sit to have lunch (139mins)
Afterwards, we continued along the well-trodden path to a ladder stile which we climbed to exit Lyme Park (140mins). On the far side, we turned left and crossed a wooden footbridge over a stream which starts as Bollin Brook, changes its name to Norbury Brook and ends its life as Ladybrook before emptying itself into the River Mersey.
We now had the brook on our right as we headed along a footpath which took us through a tunnel under the Manchester to Buxton railway line. After turning left we crossed a wooden stile to reach a right of way over the same line (153mins). On the far side, we descended a flight of steps, turned right for ten yards and then left over a ladder stile to enter a field (155mins)
This took us into a field where we passed two derelict summer houses – one with a tall tree growing out of it – as we followed the path along The Ladybrook Trail.
Tom strides purposefully alongside Andy on The Ladybrook Trail
The path led us to a wooden stile and footbridge which we crossed (164mins) and followed a path which emerged on the bank of The Macclesfield Canal (168mins). We turned left with the waterway on our right and reached the pillbox at Bridge 13.
This relic from World War 2 was erected, presumably, in case Hitler and his stormtroopers had decided to invade England by narrow boat. It must have been comforting for our citizens to know the likes of Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones and Private Pike were ready and waiting for any such armada.
A passing narrowboat
We used the bridge to cross to the far side of the canal and turned right (173mins), now retracing our earlier footsteps for the final leg of our journey. Just before the tunnel under the A6 some of our group turned left (193mins) to enter the Bull's Head at High Lane for a final drink. We joined Peter who had been incapacitated by a pulled muscle. Happily it did not affect his drinking arm.
Returning to the canal we walked through the tunnel and turned left to pass the playground and hall on our way back to our cars (198mins)
Next week's walk will start at 9.40am at the free Tom Brad's Croft car park next to the Canal Basin at Whaley Bridge (SK23 7LX). We will be heading on a 9-10 mile hike up to Taxal Edge and Windgather Rock before passing through Dunge Vally to reach The Swan Inn, Macclesfield Road, Kettleshulme (SK23 7QU) around 12.15pm. We aim to return via Todd Brook Reservoir to Whaley Bridge at about 2.15pm from where we can drive to The Cock on Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge (SK23 7JE) for further refreshment if required.
Happy wandering !
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