Furness Vale

  

November 27, 2024.

 

THE SOLDIER DICK AT FURNESS VALE, RINGSTONES CARAVAN PARK, WHALEY MOOR, HIGH PEAK SCHOOL, LYME PARK, LANTERN WOOD, LYME HALL, LYME CAGE, RED LANE, THE WHITE HORSE AT DISLEY, PEAK FOREST CANAL, NEW MILLS, FURNESS VALE MARINA

 

Distance: 9.5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy to moderate.

Weather: Dry with cloudy start becoming brighter.

 

Walkers: Peter Beal, Clive Bothel, Steve Brearley, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross, Andy White with Berta.

Alternative walkers: Mike Cassini, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Jock Rooney with Milly.

Apologies: Andy Blease (D-I-Y duties), Alastair Cairns, Mark Enright (w*^king in Kuala Lumpur), Chris Owen and Jim Riley (recovering from ops), Dean Taylor (entertaining family), Keith Welsh (in Cornwall), Simon Williams (chauffeuring duties)

Leader: Hart. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Outside The Soldier Dick150-152, Buxton Road, Furness Vale SK23 7PH.

Starting time: 9.40 am. Finishing time: 2.15pm.

 

This used to be known as The Phallic Walk, starting at The Soldier Dick in Furness Vale and calling at The Dandy Cock in Disley before returning. Sadly the Soldier Dick is now closed and being sold at auction, possibly never to return as a pub. Furthermore we have now switched our allegiance in Disley to The White Horse, where the new landlord and landlady have given us a warm welcome. So The Phallic Walk may have reached a premature evacuation.

The route itself remains, however, and on this occasion we enjoyed excellent weather  as we hiked across moors, through a wood and alongside a canal, passing historical sites and buildings during our journey.

There were seven wanderers at the outset and we were joined by three comrades at The White Horse. They had opted for shorter walks, as some recovered from injury. 

 

From our assembly point outside The Soldier Dick The Magnificent Seven walked alongside the A6 towards Buxton for 80 yards before turning right into Yeardsley Lane. At its end we turned right just before the entrance to Ringstones Caravan Park (7mins) and followed a track which later swung left towards a farm. 

Proceeding through a metal gate with the farmhouse on our left and stables on our right (13mins) we followed the track to another metal gate which we went through and turned right, walking through a field with a drystone wall on our right. We crossed a wooden stile (22mins) and then a second stile brought us to a road (26mins)

 

Turning left we walked along the road for 100 yards before turning right to follow a green footpath sign for Bowstonegate. The path brought us to a wooden stile (35mins). Instead of crossing it immediately we walked downhill a few yards to an ancient rock called The Dipping Stones.

             Julian, Steve, Hughie, Andy (with Berta), Clive and Pete 

 

In the late 1660s, when Europe was gripped by a plague known as The Black Death, this was where men desperate for food for their infected farms or villages would leave coins soaked in vinegar as a disinfectant. Healthy neighbours would leave food in return for the money.

 

We returned to the stile and followed the path across Whaley Moor. After climbing a ladder stile (46mins) we reached a gravel track and turned right (51mins). This took us past High Peak School on our right. This is an educational establishment for children with behavioural difficulties.

 

Until 14 years ago it was The Moorside Hotel, a popular venue for weddings and anniversaries, and where legendary soap actress Pat Phoenix held her farewell party for Coronation Street colleagues when she gave up her role as Elsie Tanner in 1984. It was also the hotel where Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had extra-marital trysts with club physiotherapist's wife Mary Brown. The affair cost him his job.

 

The track reached a road which we crossed (55mins) and headed uphill passing Hill View Farm on our right (58mins). Beyond this substantial house in a stunning setting we reached a green public footpath sign (62mins) and turned right.

 

 

The footpath led us over two wooden stiles to a stone step stile (70mins). We crossed this and immediately on our right crossed a ladder stile which took us into Lantern Wood in Lyme Park. In the trees we stopped for pies and port (72mins).

Resuming we followed the path out and kept left within the wood until we intercepted a major path and turned left along it. This soon brought us to The Lantern on our right (85mins)

 

This is a belvedere (structure built to take in a view) comprising three storeys, the top of which is a spire which dates from 1580. The folly resembled a lantern in shape and is a Grade 11 listed building.

 

                       The “Lantern” which gives Lantern Wood its name 

 

We then followed a path downhill, swinging left to a gate and following the path as it passed the former stables on our left and emerged outside Lyme Hall.

 

Lyme Hall was first built in the 16th Century on land granted to Sir Thomas Danyers in 1346 for his valour at The Battle of Crecy. The land passed by marriage to the Legh family who owned it for more than 500 years. It was given to The National Trust in 1946 by Richard Legh to pay death duties.

 

From outside the hall car park we turned right uphill to head for Lyme Cage, a landmark which can be seen for miles from every direction. This started life as a hunting lodge. It later became a useful lookout post for poachers, who could be held in a locked room (the cage) before they were brought before magistrates for punishment.

From Lyme Cage, which is known to have existed in 1580 and been rebuilt in 1737, we headed downhill towards the entrance hut with Bollinhurst Rerservoir on our right and the village of Disley to the north below.

 

 

 

                    Looking down on High Lane and Disley 

 

We continued towards the park's entrance hut (122mins) and turned right to exit the park and start climbing Red Lane. This brought us by a right fork to the grounds of St Mary's, parish church of Disley. Instead of walking down to the church we took a path right behind a bench which brought us by a footbridge to Ring O' Bells Lane.

On our right was the former pub sign showing a set of church bells. The pub itself is now a Friends' meeting house. We turned left down the lane and soon reached the back door of The White Horse on our right (140mins). 

The pub was taken over earlier this year by Geoff and Diane Broomfield. Diane, the cheerful landlady, welcomes dogs and hikers, as she pulls pints of Robinsons' Unicorn or Citrus cask bitters. Her hubby Geoff slaves over a hot stove in the kitchen where he is the chef. I can vouch for the quality of the food. Unusually, the pub's diners and customers with thirsts but no appetites are treated equally well.

 One of the pub's eccentric clients 

 

 

From the front door of the White Horse we turned left to reach the main  traffic lights, crossed the road and turned right towards Buxton. Just before we reached The Dandy Cock we turned left and went under a railway bridge before swinging right. We turned left at Sherbooke Road and headed down to The Peak Forest Canal.

On reaching the waterway we turned right along a path in front of houses and ascended a flight of steps to reach the canal bridge. We walked over it and turned left to go under the bridge and reach the towpath with the canal now on our right.

Keeping the canal on our right as we passed the aromatic Swizzels' sweet factory in New Mills on our left we reached Furness Vale Marina.

 

                   A commercial passenger boat on the Peak Forest Canal

 

Here we exited at Bridge 31 before turning right to cross the bridge This took us over the level crossing to the A6 with The Soldier Dick diagonally on our right (215mins).

 

Next week's easy walk will start at 9.40am from High Lane Village Hall, off Windlehurst Lane, High Lane SK6 8AB (Turn off the A6 at The Horseshoe traffic lights). We will be walking along the Macclesfield Canal before heading towards Lyme Park again but visiting other parts of it via Platt Fold Farm and Elmerhurst Wood. We aim to reach The Boar's Head, Shrigley Road North, Higher Poynton SK12 1TE for a bracer around 12.15pm. There will be the option of further refreshment at The Bull's Head, Buxton Road,  High Lane SK6 8BH, at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !   

 

Bollington

 Bollington

November 20 2024

BOLLINGTON REC CAR PARK, PALMERSTON STREET, CHURCH STREET, INGERSLEY VALE, WHITE NANCY, KERRIDGE HILL, KERRIDGE END, BULL HILL LANE, BRINK FARM, WALKER BARN, HORDERN FARM, LAMALOAD ROAD, TOWER HILL RAINOW, ROBIN HOOD INN, SUGAR LANE, FLAGG COTTAGE, VIRGINS' PATH, INGERSLEY VALE, CHURCH STREET, VALE PUB IN ADLINGTON ROAD

Distance: 9 miles Ascent/descent: 1,600 ft

Difficulty: Moderate with one sharp climb

Weather: Very cold but sunny. Snow and ice underfoot in many places

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Keith Welsh, Julian Ross, Clive Rothel, Cliff Worthington

Alternate walkers: Jock and Keiran Rooney with Milly

Apologies: Mark Enright (w'**ing from home), Tom Cunliffe (domestic duties), Mike Cassini (not yet fully fit), Dean Taylor (chauffeuring duties), Simon Williams (unspecified)

Leader: Beal Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Free car park opposite Bollington rec, Adlington Road

Starting time: 9.53am Finishing time: 2.21pm

The ten walkers who joined today's outing were rewarded with brilliant sunshine and marvellous views, tempered only by some tricky underfoot conditions from the recent wintry weather. The snow however only contributed to the impressive scenery.

The day was also notable for the return to Wednesday action of our comrade Chris Owen, around ten weeks after his hip replacement at the start of September. Any thoughts that a new right hip might have slowed him down significantly were soon dispelled by him being the first to arrive at the top of the stiff climb to the top of White Nancy.

Chris did admit however at the end of the day that the climbs in tough conditions had taken their toll. He will soon be back on top form on this showing.

We left the Bollington Rec car park and took the familiar route under the canal aqueduct to follow the town's main street past Smith's renowned pie shop, although strangely today there were no takers. Are our walkers turning into diet-conscious,pie-free, health fanatics?

Looking down from Kerridge

We turned right into Church Street and at the bottom swung left into Ingersley Vale. Shortly before the track reached the derelict Ingersley Vale mill, also known as Clough Mill, we took a signed path on the right which took us up a flight of wooden steps. We went through a gate into a field and stuck out up the snow-covered grass slope to reach a bridleway that runs below the prominent monument of White Nancy, erected to mark victory at the Battle of Waterloo. It stands at 918 feet above sea level (1 mile).

We followed the bridlepath to reach the foot of rough stone steps on the left, thankfully free of ice, that took us steeply up the hill to reach the monument, which appears to recently have been given a fresh coat of white paint that makes it visible from miles around (1.6m).

After Alan successfully asked a very obliging and pleasant lady who had been enjoying a flask of tea at the foot of the obelisk to take a team picture of us, we continued along the ridge of Kerridge Hill, with magnificent views below us. On our left were the village of Rainow and the Cheshire hills, while to the right we could see as far as North Wales and the Clwydian hills.

View from White Nancy

At the foot of a snowy climb that would have taken us up to the 1,026-foot trig point marking the high point of Kerridge Hill (2m), Chris decided the descent at the other side might place unfair demands on his new hip, so led us down to join a bridleway running along the foot of the hill to emerge on Lidgetts Lane just above Kerridge End cottages at the junction with the main Rainow Road, where pie time was declared at 11.06am.

Resuming we turned right for a short distance before crossing the road to well-concealed stone steps and a stile that led us up through a path along the side of two fields to emerge on the minor road of Bull Hill Lane (3m).

We turned right uphill here for a little over a quarter of a mile before reaching the main A537 Buxton New Road. Chris, joined by Alan, decided to follow the pavement alongside the road here to our next objective of Walker Barn, while the rest of the party crossed a stile a short distance along the road on the left.

This led to a stile which we crossed and turned left through two fields covered in snow, with a stone stile in between, before reaching Brinks Farm (4m). We passed the farm buildings and continued along a track to soon reach the main road again just short of Walker Barn on our right. This was the former site of the Setter Dog pub, which before its closure in 2007, was said to be the last pub in England also functioning as a post office.

After passing the building, now a house, on our left we turned left down a track and at the foot bore left down a path, crossing a stream and continuing left to join another track near the converted farm buildings at Hordern Farm. An icy track at the other side climbed slightly before we turned left over a stile to descend through snow-covered fields over a series of stiles to emerge on Lamaload Road, the road serving the Lamaload reservoir and its water treatment works (5m).

It had been the leader and diarist-for-the-day's plan here to go right on a route through fields to reach our objective of the Robin Hood Inn. But the leading six of our party were now some way ahead and took a stile down a path immediately opposite that led down to the River Dean.

The remaining four – me, Chris, Clive and Cliff – decided instead to turn left down Lamaload Road to reach Tower Hill in Rainow, where we turned right, up the hill past the church, to arrive at the Robin Hood Inn (6.5m) a few minutes after our companions at 12.43pm. We were met here by Jock, Keiran and Milly who had walked from Bollington and were to join us on the return journey.

We have been disappointed in the past with this pub's erratic opening – or not opening – times. But we were treated to a warm welcome despite only one cask beer being on offer – two others not having been replaced. On the plus side, the one still available was the Wincle Brewery's excellent Hen Cloud pale ale at £4.50 a pint.

Resuming at 1.30pm, we took the back road of Stocks Lane from the pub car park, turning right past houses into Chapel Lane and again to Sugar Lane before reaching Flagg Cottage on the right, where we took the familiar path on the right, climbing down steps across a stream and up the other side to reach the flagged Virgins' Path through the fields to the derelict Ingersley Vale mill (8m).

Many development plans have been discussed for this extensive site in recent years, but except for one modest block of 24 apartments, none have yet come to fruition.

From the mill we rejoined our outward route through the town to reach the Vale Inn near the car park, where Alan and I were joined by Alastair, Jock, Keiran and Milly for final refreshments.

This fine pub has an excellent initiative of serving beer on a Wednesday at £3 a pint and we took advantage of enjoying the Vale's own Bollington Brewery's fine Long Hop pale ale.

Next week's walk will start outside the currently-closed Soldier Dick pub on Buxton Road in Furness Vale (SK23 7PH) at 9.40am. Parking is available on the main road or on Yeardsley Lane nearby, opposite Station Road. Alan will lead us over Whaley Moor and through Lyme Park to the White Horse in Disley, returning along the Peak Forest canal.

Happy Wandering!

Looking down from Kerridge

View from White Nancy

Rowarth

 November 13, 2024.

ROWARTH, KINGS CLOUGH HEAD FARM, KNARRS FARM, MONKS ROAD, CARR MEADOW, MIDDLE MOOR, SHOOTING CABIN, TWENTY TREES, THE KINDER LODGE AT HAYFIELD, CALICO TRAIL, CARNIVAL FIELD, GIGGLE GAGGLE WAY, BLACKSHAW FARM, THE LITTLE MILL INN AT ROWARTH

Distance: 9.5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry with early mist clearing.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Steve Brearley, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Julian Ross, Andy White with Berta, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.

Alternative walker: Mike Cassini.

Apologies: Alastair Cairns and Tom Cunliffe (domestic duties), Chris Owen (gout), Keith Welsh (waiting for electrician)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Free public car park at Rowarth, near Mellor, Peak District.

Starting time: 9.55am. Finishing time: 2.38pm.

We welcomed another new boy and his canine friend to the ranks of the Wednesday Wanderers for this walk. Andy White is from Brighton and there is no getting away from the fact that he is a southerner. However, he more than makes up for that deficiency because he spent most of his working life as a pub landlord.

His three-year-old bitch Berta also has a colourful background. She was the only survivor of a litter found next to the bodies of her mother and siblings in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The mother had been poisoned and her litter were still being weaned and became infected. Berta recovered and was brought as a rescue dog in a crate to England. What a lucky girl !

Andy and Berta

Once again Peter had the poisoned chalice of leadership thrust upon him at the last minute when Tom, who had suggested the walk, was unable to attend because of family illness. We wish Stella, her sister Lynn and Lynn's husband Steve well.

Fortunately, the area covered was where Peter exercised during his fell-running days and he had no trouble creating a suitable route.

It was another week of early mist which gradually disappeared as the day wore on, so the walk was more a source of healthy exercise and camaraderie than spectacular views.

Although we assembled in the car park of The Little Mill Inn at 9.40am as planned it was decided to relocate to the free public car park nearby in case some walkers decided not to buy drinks at the end of the journey. From the car park, we headed towards the row of houses in the centre of Rowarth and followed the public footpath by the side of a red phone box. This led to a wooden stile which we crossed and went over a lane to follow the path, fording a stream and emerging at a fork in a road (10mins)

We took the left fork, and after passing Kings Clough Head Farm on our left we turned right at a wooden public footpath sign towards Lantern Pike (20mins). Turning left through a wooden five-barred gate (24mins) we followed the path through a field and exited it by another wooden gate before turning immediately right at a metal gate (31mins)

The path then took us uphill until, after passing Knarrs Farm on the right of a drystone wall, we crossed a stone step stile with the farm on our right and turned left along a gravel path (39mins). We turned right into Monks Road (44mins) and continued until we reached the A624 Glossop to Chapel Road (51mins)

Opposite was a wooden stile which we crossed and followed the path on our right which led us to the footbridge at Carr Meadow where we paused for Pietime (64mins). We continued across Middle Moor passing a cairn until we saw the distinctive white shooting cabin emerging through the mist on our left. Just beyond us was a crossroads (97mins) where we turned right. This path took us through a metal kissing gate and past the landmark Twenty Trees on our right.

Twenty Trees (of which there are 19)

Following the path through gates and stiles we reached Kinder Road and turned right (125mins) heading downhill into Hayfield. En-route we passed a small white house on our left which was once Hayfield Grammar School.

The old Hayfield Grammar School

The school was founded in 1604 and built in 1719. Further along Kinder Road on our right was a site of more modern history. A plaque showed this was the terrace where actor Arthur Lowe was born and raised.

After a mundane career in rep he finally achieved fame as shopkeeper Leonard Swindley in Coronation Street. He then earned even greater celebrity as Captain Mainwaring, the pompous bank manager, in the Second World War sitcom Dad's Army. Ironically Lowe is probably least known for winning a BAFTA as best supporting actor in the movie O Lucky Man. The star-studded cast included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Ralph Richardson and Rachel Roberts.

Hayfield's famous son

In Hayfield centre we crossed left over the River Sett and turned right immediately after St Matthew's Church to cross the A624 at the pelican lights. We then turned left with the bus terminus and start of the Sett Valley Trail on our right. At the main road, we turned left and The Kinder Lodge was on our left (134mins)

Mike, who had walked to the pub from Birch Vale as part of his recovery programme, was awaiting us. The barman was suitably affronted when he had to break off from pulling pints to pouring tea.

On leaving the pub we re-traced our footsteps past the terminus now on our left and followed a sign for The Calico Trail on our right (137mins). This took us across the River Sett and into the Carnival Field.

The Sett, which started its life as River Kinder

Exiting the field we turned left uphill and turned right into Bank Vale Road (142mins). Passing Swallow Bank Farm on our right we reached the start of the Giggle Gaggle Path (147mins)

This was so named because of the local girls, who formed a laughter-filled crocodile as they went to and from their work at Clough Mill, Little Hayfield.

We reached a crossroads of well-trodden paths (167mins) where we turned right and then carried straight on through gates and stiles, passing The Lantern Pike hill on our left as we proceeded towards Blackshaw Farm. At a junction we followed a sign for Monks Road (173mins)

This brought us to a concreted lane (186mins) and over a stream before we went left at a wooden stile (193mins) to retrace our earlier steps back to The Little Mill Inn (202mins) for pints of their own cask bitter.

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the free Bollington Recreation Ground car park on Adlington Road, Bollington (SK10 5JT). We will be going over Kerridge and up to Walker Barn before arriving at The Robin Hood in Church Lane, Rainow (SK10 5XE) at about 12.30pm. We aim to return to our cars around 2.20pm with the option of a final quencher at The Vale on Adlington Road (SK10 5JT)

Happy wandering !

Brabyn's Park

 November 6, 2024.

BRABYN'S PARK, MARPLE BRIDGE, LONGHURST LANE, TOWNCLIFFE LANE, MILL BROW, HOLLYWOOD END, GUN ROAD, SHILOH ROAD, POLE LANE, CASTLE EDGE FARM, SHAW FARM, FOX INN AT BROOK BOTTOM, STRINES STATION, ROMAN LAKES, MELLOR MILL, LOW LEA ROAD, THE NORFOLK ARMS AT MARPLE BRIDGE

Distance: 9.5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Dry but mainly cloudy.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Steve Brearley, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Colin Davison, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Jonathan Hart, Julian Ross, Clive Rothel, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington.

Apologies: Mark Enright (attending EU conference), Chris Owen (recovering from hip replacement op), Jock Rooney (in Cyprus)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Brabyn's Park upper car park, Marple Bridge.

Starting time: 9.40am. Finishing time: 2.26pm

When this walk was last tried in July, 2022, diarist Peter Beal described the turn-out of 12 walkers as good. On this occasion, we had 14 which was an outstanding number for November. Sadly Peter as leader was only able to guide three of us back to Marple Bridge.

The first casualty was Colin who fell behind after little more than a mile. When his absence was noticed and he was contacted by Tom he claimed to know the way and said he would see us later. However, he failed to materialise.

The other nine disappeared when Peter announced a lunch stop at Strines railway station. Those without any food formed a breakaway group, which carried on without the four lunch munchers. They were never seen again either.

Peter, who had stepped in as leader at Tom's last-minute request, would have fretted over such absences in the past. But with steely resolve, he has pledged to ignore such strays in the future. This seems eminently sensible because it enables capricious wanderers to disappear without any onus of responsibility falling on the shoulders of the leader.

For the above reasons this diary records the movements of all bar Colin for the first 7 miles, and of Peter, Steve, Jonathan and your diarist during the last 2.5 miles of our journey.

The weather throughout was unseasonably warm despite the lack of sunshine. It had its amusing moments when Daisy doggedly (no pun intended) defended her honour against a randy terrier twice her size. We were also happy to report a dramatic improvement in the quality of the Robinson's Unicorn cask bitter at The Fox Inn which was on top form.

On the ornithological front, we spotted a pair of jays, a cormorant and a pair of herons as we enjoyed the scenery in the Goyt Valley on a route which is named The Mellor Boundary Walk.

The River Goyt on the right of Town Lane

We left the higher level of the free car park in Brabyn's Park, turned left at the main road and immediately right at traffic lights to enter Town Street, Marple Bridge. This led us to Longhurst Lane and on the brow of the hill where a postbox is set into the wall, we turned left and then right into the roughly-surfaced Towncliffe Lane.

At the top of the lane are cottages where we bore left along a track signed Mill Brow. We went through a cobbled courtyard next to cottages before taking a narrow path on the left. This went through a gate with the wooded valley of Mill Brook below us on the left.

Heading for Mill Brow

A second gate brought us to an open field and we descended to reach a stile. Crossing this we reached a track coming downhill from our right. We turned left and left again at another surfaced track to cross a bridge over Mill Brook and go up a surfaced lane.

This emerged on a minor road with the Hare and Hounds pub on our left (36mins)

It was around this time we realised Colin was no longer with us or in sight. Tom called him and reported Colin knew the way and would see us later.

When we reached a road with a “no through road” sign branching off on the left we swung right to cross a bridge and took an unsigned track on the left past cottages at Hollywood End.

We went through a gate into fields where a green footpath sign indicated the way to Cown Edge via Ludworth Moor. The path went through a garden in front of two picturesque cottages. Soon after we ignored a track in front of us and turned left to drop down and cross a stream by a small wooden bridge.

It was at this stage that Daisy had to fight off the unwanted attentions of a frisky terrier who wanted to be more than just friends. Despite several rebuffs of the barking variety by Daisy, this sex pest continued to make advances until our outraged toy poodle upped her game by biting him.

The distraction may have affected our stand-in leader because there followed a series of miss-steps, before Peter decided to abridge the walk by cutting out a loop northwards. Instead we headed due east, stopping for Pietime at Lower Bradshaw Farm (82mins)

On reaching Gun Road we continued to the junction with Shiloh Road, passing four apartments which were once a pub called The Moorfield Arms, where WWs Frank Dudley and Barry Williams celebrated 150 years of life. Dud, as he was known by his many friends, contributed 90 of them and lived a further nine years.

Turning right onto Shiloh Road, we continued to a road junction known locally as Five Lane Ends where we followed the track immediately ahead marked on maps as Pole Lane. This took us past a covered reservoir on the left and reached a junction of tracks. We went straight on, along a surfaced road and almost immediately turned right towards Castle Edge Farm.

We took a stile on the left through a small gate. The path went through a series of small fields and over four stiles, after the last of which, at the foot of a copse of trees, we swung left downhill towards Shaw Farm.

At the farm buildings, we crossed a stile into the yard and at the other side went over a stile and took a small gate along a track. On reaching a stile on our left we crossed it into a wood and descended steeply to cross a wooden plank bridge.

After climbing the bank opposite we went through a gap in the wall to descend on a stepped path, skirting a house and going down a drive which brought us to the familiar whitewashed sight below us of The Fox Inn in the hamlet of Brook Bottom (149mins)

Twelve thirsty men

It is a sad sign of recent times that those of us drinking beer were in the minority. Our order included five cups of tea. Happily, those of us who did choose to support the British brewing industry were rewarded with pints in excellent condition. Previous recent visits had found the quality of the cask ale wanting.

Suitably and differently refreshed, we left the pub and turned right at a rocky path adjoining the beer garden. This led steadily downhill until we reached Strines Station on our left, where Peter announced we would be stopping for lunch (162mins) at 1.20pm.

Those who were already ahead and those who had brought no snacks chose to continue while four of us used the platform facilities to sit down for a comfortable brief picnic.

Strines Station and the area around it is believed by some to be the inspiration for the much-loved novel The Railway Children, by Edith Nesbit. The book, published in 1906, has been made into two major films, four television series, a film sequel and a play.

Edith is known to have visited her sister Saretta, who lived high above Strines at a house called Paradise. Next door is a house called Three Chimneys, which is named in the narrative as the family home. Both survive to this day.

In the book, the children have adventures on the canal with its coal wharf, the flight of 16 locks and the aqueduct, which are all still there.

Returning a few yards from the station we continued to the end of the cobbles and took a track on the right signed Goyt Way. This climbed steadily to cross the Manchester to Sheffield railway line over a bridge.

At a junction of tracks, we bore left after some buildings. At another junction, we kept right following a well-hidden Goyt Way sign on a fencepost. The path took us again under the railway line and we soon reached Roman Lakes on our right.

These two lakes have no Roman connection, nor does Roman Bridge, but were so named by Victorian marketing entrepreneurs anxious to turn the area into a tourist attraction. This followed the destruction by fire in 1892 of the giant Bottoms Mill built by Samuel Oldknow in the late 18^th century. In its day the six-storey building had been one of the biggest mills in the world.

We continued along the good track, soon reaching the remains of the mill. We turned right through the remnants of the mill along Bottoms Mill Road which merged into Low Lea Road.

Homeward bound

This brought us back to Town Street where we turned left and continued down to the traffic lights. On the right was The Norfolk Arms where we enjoyed a choice of cask ales.

Next week's walk will start at 9.40am from the car park of The Little Mill Inn, Hollinsmoor Road, Rowarth (SK22 1EB). We will be aiming for a livener at The Kinder Lodge, New Mills Road, Hayfield (SK22 2JG) around 12.15pm before finishing at The Little Mill around 2.30pm. Those who leave their cars in the pub car park will be expected to buy a drink before they leave.

Happy wandering !