Whaley Bridge

 September 25, 2024.

WHALEY BRIDGE, TODD BROOK RESERVOIR, TAXAL BEECHES, TAXAL RIDGE, WINDGATHER ROCKS, DUNGE VALLEY, CLOUGH FARM, THE SWAN AT KETTLESHULME, HARDY GREEN, TODD BROOK, WHALEY BRIDGE CANAL BASIN, THE COCK AT WHALEY BRIDGE

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry with early cloud ending in sunshine.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Steve Brearley, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Alan Hart, Simon Williams.

Alternative walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett, Mike Cassini, Julian Ross and Steve Welsh (sailing hols), Andy Blease (in Anglesey), Alastair Cairns (housework), Mark Gibby (away), Chris Owen (recuperating from hip replacement operation), Dean Taylor (hols), Cliff Worthington (in Valencia)

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free Tom Brad's Croft car park, Whaley Bridge Canal Basin (SK23 7LX)

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

 

                                                               Your diarist surveys the vista

Having assured wanderers by text yesterday that the weather would be guaranteed to stay dry until 6pm, Tom announced there had been a revised prediction and informed us when we assembled that rain was expected at 2pm. Consequently your leader and diarist set a brisk pace in the hope of finishing before we got a soaking.

In fact, the rain did not fall until 2.20pm so I apologise for transforming what might have been a leisurely stroll through attractive scenery to a rapid route march. In my defence I can only repeat that old northern proverb: tha never knows before till after.

Although this is a popular route we have tested many times in the past, I decided to amend the start so we could monitor the progress being made in repairs to the Todd Brook Reservoir dam. This alternative approach also gave us a longer view of the valleys on either side of Taxal Ridge as we headed for Windgather Rocks. It has the added advantage, in my opinion, of making the climb less steep than the usual ascent via Taxal Nick.

From the car park we walked away from its entrance and turned right just before the bridge over the Goyt, passing The Goyt Inn on our right as we reached the main road.

We turned left and used the pelican lights to cross the main road, turn left and then right into Wharf Road.

This took us through a tunnel under the Manchester to Buxton railway, first swinging left and then turning right past a house with a stone dog in its front garden (8mins). We soon turned left along a path between a hedge and a fence until we reached the bank of the River Goyt.

Here we turned right with the river on our left, and followed a path through woods until we emerged in Whaley Bridge Memorial Park. We turned right at a wooden footpath sign following a path uphill marked Play Area (11mins). This brought us to boards hiding the “work” being done to repair the reservoir dam.

Todd Brook Reservoir, created as a feeder for the Peak Forest Canal, was opened in 1838. It is interesting to note from historical records that a year before its official opening the waters were successfully diverted around the reservoir into the canal and consideration was given to abandoning the reservoir project.

The dam was built with an earth and puddle clay core, but over the years there had been misgivings about leaks and damage caused by old mine workings.

In August, 2019, concrete panels on the reservoir spillway were dislodged after heavy rain. An estimated 1,500 residents from Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale and New Mills were evacuated from their homes because of the danger of the dam collapsing.

We watched on News At Ten as RAF Chinook helicopters dropped 400 tons of aggregate to shore up the damaged area. The owners, The Canal and River Trust, employed contractors Kier Group overseen by civil engineers Mott MacDonald to repair the dam at a cost of £15million.

In the five years since the damage a hamlet of portakabins and portaloos have been erected while scores of men in hard hats, armed with hi-viz jackets and clipboards have been seen on the bank of a reservoir used solely for sailing and angling. One can only wonder what they have been doing and how far over budget they have run to date !

At the protective boards we turned left and then right at the side of a soccer pitch. We walked through a playground and emerged through a gap on the right to a footpath where we turned left. The path led to a lane and on the left was a yellow arrow on a high wooden fence which gained entry to a housing estate (15mins)

We walked straight ahead passing cul-de-sacs on our left and right until we reached a road on our left which ran for 80 yards to a main road. On reaching the main road outside the estate we crossed it and turned right uphill. At a chevron marking a right bend in the road we turned left up a track (20mins) and swung left to enter Taxal Beeches. This gave us a view to our left of the new homes which, despite fierce local opposition, had been built in the valley below.

After crossing a stone step stile we turned immediately right uphill and reached a footpath leading to a lane. Continuing uphill we turned left at a wooden public footpath sign and then went immediately right after passing an electricity sub-station.

To the left was a footpath which brought us to the start of Taxal Ridge (30mins). We were now rewarded for our exertions by views across the valleys on both sides of the footpath.

A view from Taxal Ridge

The ridge took us to Taxal Nick (50mins) and the steep path on the left which has led us to this point on previous expeditions from St James' Church. We carried on along the ridge through a gate and reached a farm gate on our right. We went through this and another in quick succession, then turned left to follow a well-trodden path uphill to Windgather Rocks (65mins)

Our view from Windgather Rocks

After pausing to admire the view, we turned left with the valley on our right and made our way to a sheepfold, which provides shelter from any wind during Pietime (75mins). After pies and port we left the sheepfold by a gate, descended to a road and turned left towards Pym Chair.

When we reached Pym Chair car park on our left (95mins), we turned right at the crossroads towards Salterford. The road led gently downhill until we reached a footpath on our right (105mins) leading to a ladder stile which we crossed.

The well-trodden path led us to a road opposite a farmhouse (109mins). We turned right along the road briefly and then went left with the farmhouse on our left to cross a wooden stile in the corner. We crossed this and another stile before passing a derelict barn on our right (115mins)

Yellow arrows then guided us to the right of the path and we emerged at a metal kissing gate which we went through before soon turning right over a wooden stile (120mins) to go along a public right of way into the former Dunge Valley Nursery (for plants and not children),

After leaving the property via a cattle grid (132mins), we reached a junction and crossed it, taking the left fork (straight on) where the road divided. After passing the gateway to Clough Farm on our left we went left through a metal kissing gate marked with a yellow arrow (139mins)

The path took us through woodland and downhill, over a stone step stile (148mins) and we turned right to go through a six-barred metal gate. We swung right passing a farmhouse on our right and ignoring a metal kissing gate with a yellow arrow on our left.

When we arrived at the crossroads we went over a bridge and turned left (155mins). We reached the back of The Swan (156mins) and descended a flight of steps to reach the front door where Jock and Keiran awaited us. Showing iron discipline we left after one (expensive) drink to head back to our cars and reach them before the predicted rain.

Swan Inn

We crossed the road directly opposite the front door of the pub and went through the grounds of a garden centre to emerge opposite a church and turn right. At the end of Paddock Lane, we turned left into Kishfield Lane (163mins) and followed it, passing the cottages at Hardy Green on our left.

When we reached a wooden public footpath sign on our right (174mins), just before a bridge over Todd Brook, we turned right. This took us over a footbridge to a junction of footpaths. We followed the central path, which brought us to a difficult set of obstacles in the way of fallen trees before we reached a makeshift bridge across Todd Brook (189mins)

On the far side was a tarmac lane with a water channel on our left. As we made our way along the lane there was much vegetation on our right, which was once the lake known as Todd Brook Reservoir.

Returning to Whaley Bridge

We crossed a road by a footbridge and witnessed the lack of work being carried out on the dam repair site.

A hive of inactivity

From here we soon reached the main road through Whaley Bridge, which we crossed to return to our cars (211mins) at 2pm precisely. But it was only after we visited The Cock for a final drink with Jock and Keiran that the rain began to fall 20 minutes behind schedule.

Next week's walk will start at 9.50am from the spare land opposite The Wheatsheaf in Well Gate, Old Glossop SK13 7RS. We will be walking over the moors towards Hadfield where we will be stopping for a bracer in The Anchor on Hadfield Road SK13 1NR at about 12.30pm. We expect to return to The Wheatsheaf around 2.25pm but as this pub is closed a final drink in the nearby Queens Arms, Shepley Street, Old Glossop SK13 7RZ is an optional extra.

Happy wandering !