Kinder Reservoir

 October 26, 2022

KINDER RESERVOIR

SPORTSMAN INN HAYFIELD, HAYFIELD VILLAGE, GIGGLE-GAGGLE PATH, FIVE-LANE ENDS, MATLEY MOOR, HOLLINWORTH HEAD, CARR MEADOW, MIDDLE MOOR, WHITE BROW, FOOT OF WILLIAM CLOUGH, KINDER RESERVOIR, BROAD CLOUGH, FARLANDS BOOTH, HILL HOUSES, BOWDEN BRIDGE, SPORTSMAN INN

Distance: 10 miles Total ascent/descent: 2,145ft

Difficulty: Fairly strenuous

Weather: Dry, sunny and mild with some wind

Walkers: Peter Beal, Mark Gibby, Hughie Hardiman, Jock Rooney with Milly, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams, Cliff Worthington

Apologies: Turkey Lycian Way walkers (details elsewhere on blog), Tom Cunliffe (sorting recent house move)

Leader: Beal Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Sportsman Inn, Kinder Road, Hayfield

Starting time: 10.48am Finishing time: 2.12pm

Today’s outing could be called the Not The Turkey Walk Walk. We enjoyed a fairly rigorous

10-mile trip in brilliant weather including a circuit of the Kinder Reservoir and finishing at the welcoming Sportsman Inn.

Six walkers who had not made the Turkey journey turned out – joined by Cliff, who had done the Turkey walk but returned earlier than the others. He was pumped for information and entertained us with accounts of our chums’ epic adventures, walking and otherwise.

Your leader’s original plan had been to complete an anti-clockwise circuit of Kinder Reservoir and call on the way back at the Lantern Pike, the former domain of our friend Tom. But enquiries found they were not open Wednesday lunch. They are so on the ball that their website lists their contact email as Tom and Stella @ Lantern Pike. One fears for its future.

Plan B saw us leave the Sportsman to turn right down into Hayfield village, and opposite the Pack Horse pub take the track left under the relief road into the May Queen field to emerge on Swallow House Lane. We turned left here and after a short walk swung right to pass the football pitch (1 mile).

At a group of houses, we turned left, following a sign for the Giggle-Gaggle Path. This path between Hayfield and Little Hayfield takes its name from the groups of girl mill workers who would use it to go to work from Hayfield to the Clough Mill at Little Hayfield, presumably giggling all the way.

We climbed up a narrow path and at a gate turned right with Hollinworth Brook far below us on the right. We continued up a track to a house and crossed a stile to take a narrow path that brought us to the open moor at a stile below Lantern Pike (2 miles).

We bore right here across open land, reaching a gate at the junction known locally as Five Ways. We turned left along a track, reached the farmhouse of Matley Moor, turned right and then left and crossed a stile to reach open moorland again. We swung right, crossed the moor and came to a stile where we turned right onto a track that took us down to the Monk’s Road (3.5 miles).

A right turn here on the road for a short distance brought us to the main Hayfield to Glossop road, which we crossed precariously to reach a stile. We turned right down a path that brought us to a small quarry where pietime was declared.

Continuing down, we came to the bridge crossing the stream at Carr Meadow (4.5 miles) and carried on over the moorland on a gentle climb to reach the white-painted shooting cabins on Middle Moor (6 miles).

Here we could have turned right to descend to Hayfield village for an early finish but chose to complete the circuit of Kinder Reservoir. We carried on down a footpath to the left, ignoring a bridleway sign on the right and took a narrow path through the heather, descending with the much-depleted reservoir below us on the right.

At a junction of tracks where we could have descended steeply to the foot of William Clough we took the easier option and carried on, descending more gently to reach the stream bed, where we turned right downstream to reach the footbridge at the foot of the clough (7 miles), a spot where in times long ago a smith called William plied his trade in a small forge.

We crossed the bridge and followed a narrow path through a copse with the head of the reservoir on our right. This brought us to a stream, which we crossed on a bridge and climbed on a path ascending diagonally on the far bank. Near the crest of the hill we took an unsigned path on the left which soon brought us to a gate at the top of a steep descent on a grassy path. During the descent, your leader for the day took a rather crashing fall after slipping on mud but escaped with nothing worse than a bruised shoulder.

We crossed a stile at the foot of the hill, forded a stream at the foot of Broad Clough, crossed another stile and took a track with woods on our right (8 miles). A large group of young cattle were approached cautiously but proved to be docile.

We dropped down across the field to reach a road facing the reservoir’s earth dam and had a brief lunch stop. We turned left through the hamlet of Farlands, took a track on the left past Booth Farm and arrived at the charming collection of cottages at Hill Houses (9 miles). A short descent here brought us to the road leading to Bowden Bridge and the Hayfield campsite.

It transpired that Jock and Keith, slightly adrift at the rear of the group, turned left instead of right here. They soon realised the error but your leader should have been paying more attention. Mea culpa.

From Bowden Bridge it was a short walk down Kinder Road to the cars outside the Sportsman(10 miles), where the beer drinkers among us enjoyed the Theakston’s Gold at £4-20 a pint.

Arrangements were being made for next week’s walk when it dawned on your leader and temporary diarist that he would not be available so no conclusion was reached. Stay tuned for further information.

Happy Wandering!

Turkey

THE DIRTY DOZEN

Pete

Chris

Alistair

Alan

Mark 

Micky

Julian

Dean

Lee

Andrew

George

For information about Turkey, why not read Twelve Canels For Your Wife….. http://tinyurl.com/kktvp25p

Styal

 October 12, 2022.

THE OLD SHIP AT STYAL, STYAL CROSS, BOLLIN VALLEY, CHAPEL WOODS, KINGFISHER BRIDGE, OXBOW BRIDGE, GIANT'S CASTLE BRIDGE, AIRPORT INN, MORLEY GREEN, NEWGATE NATURE RESERVE, LINDOW MOSS, LINDOW COMMON, THE KING WILLIAM AT WILMSLOW, BODDINGTON PLAYING FIELDS, THE CARRS, QUARRY BANK MILL, STYAL COUNTRY PARK

Distance: 10+ miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Mostly dry and bright with occasional drizzle.

Walkers: Micky Barrett, Andy Blease, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Dean Taylor with Tommy, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams.

Apologies: Peter Beal, Alastair Cairns, (domestic duties), Tom Cunliffe (preparing to move house), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Enright (w^*king), Hughie Hardiman (leg injury), Julian Ross, Dave Willetts, Cliff Worthington.

Non-walking drinkers: Colin Davison and Laurie Fairman.

Leaders: Micky Barrett and Chris Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Road outside The Old Ship Inn at Styal.

Starting time: 9.34am. Finishing time: 2.05pm.

The start of this walk was a cross between a rural idyll and a Royal Marines commando exercise. In the most picturesque of settings, we endured a roller-coaster ride of climbs and descents as we successfully negotiated a difficult route along the lovely Bollin Valley.

It has never been an easy course because of the twists and turns of the river which can be disorientating as you find yourself first on one bank and then the other. Past failures were a useful guide as Micky and Chris managed to rise to the challenge and emerge triumphant. Not without some anxious moments.

The River Bollin

The second hour of the work involved a rather tedious hike through suburbia but we were rewarded with a surprise visit from Wednesday Wanderers' living legend Laurie Fairman, when we reached The King William in Wilmslow. He defied doctors' orders to sink a pint and demonstrate his independence of Geordie spirit.

Laurie under interrogation from Mark and inspection from Tommy

For the return journey we were soon back along the banks of the Bollin in the Cheshire countryside as we passed the historic Quarry Bank Mill on the return journey.

From the road outside The Old Ship we headed uphill and turned left at a sign for the Methodist Church, passing a thatched cottage on our left before dog-legging left and right to continue (1min). At the first path on our right marked with a red arrow we turned right and reached Styal Cross on our right (3mins)

Styal Cross was originally located at Cross Farm, Styal. Around 1860 it was moved to Holly Lane where it stood until 1980 when it was demolished by a runaway lorry.

The base, thought to be medieval, was rebuilt. The upper column remained a truncated stump until 2010 when the cross was restored to its original state.

Styal Cross

We turned left toward Chapel Woods taking the right fork marked with a red arrow and then turned left to walk down and cross a metal bridge (6mins). After heading up steps on the far side we turned right and crossed Kingfisher Bridge (10mins) and then Oxbow Bridge (17mins) before turning left and heading first up and then down steep flights of steps before walking along duckboards.

At a T-junction (26mins) we turned right and crossed Giant's Castle Bridge (28mins) before turning left up a flight of steps. No sooner had we stopped climbing than we went down another flight of steps to cross a footbridge (32mins), then passed a wooden bridge on our left to follow a red arrow with the Bollin on our left (40mins)

Ignoring a path on our right with a red arrow (47mins) we continued to keep the Bollin on our left as we left the woods and turned left across a bridge. On the left was The Airport Inn, formerly The Valley Lodge Hotel where Thursday night discos were once popular with ladies of a certain age.

Crossing the main road we turned left and proceeded until we reached Morley Green Road (61mins) where we turned right. When we reached a pair of benches on the village green at the end of the road (71mins) we stopped for pies and damson gin kindly provided by Chris.

Resuming we crossed the T junction to follow a green public footpath sign by the side of a lane marked “Except for Access.” Where it forked we went left (77mins) and entered Newgate Nature Reserve (82mins). We forked right (84mins) and reached a lane where we turned right (86mins)

This brought us to a junction where we carried straight on ahead with Sylvia Cottage on our right (89mins). After swinging left (92mins) we turned left before a farm (96mins), crossed a footbridge and then turned right (98mins). We crossed another footbridge and turned left (102mins)

After forking right towards woods (106mins) we turned left at a path leading into them (107mins). On reaching a T-junction we turned right (110mins) and soon began to approach the outskirts of Wilmslow. After passing Don's DIY store on the right we turned left into Moor Lane (115mins). Just before we reached The Farmers Arms on our right we turned left into Buckingham Road (128mins)

At its end we turned right (135mins) then headed left just before Water Lane Clinic to enter Hale Road (141mins). Turning right into Hawthorn Park (142mins) we then turned left just before Wilmslow Conservative Club into Kennerley Road. At its end we turned right (145mins)

With the HSBC ahead we were now in the heart of Wilmslow's shopping centre. We turned left, passing Waitrose on our right and then turned right uphill to reach the rear entrance of King William (This may be a treasonable offence one day !)

Inside (151mins) we found Colin and were soon joined by Laurie, who has been having chemotherapy treatment. He has lost some weight but was in good form.

Suitably refreshed we turned left out of the pub and crossed the busy roundabout to head left passing a church on our left before turning left into Boddington Playing Fields (154mins). Beyond the playground we turned right with the Bollin on our right and walked through an area known as The Carrs.

This comprises 70 acres of a picturesque linear walk linking Styal Country Park and Dean Valley. It was bought in 1935 by Wilmslow Urban District Council to mark the jubilee of George V.

We crossed a footbridge and turned right following a sign for Lindow Common (161mins) before pausing for lunch under the shelter of a tree (164mins). Continuing we ignored one bridge on our right and carried on until we reached Twinnies Bridge (176mins) which we crossed to enter a car park on the left.

Following a sign for Styal with the Bollin now on our left we went through a metal kissing gate (178mins) and crossed Heron's Pool Bridge (184mins) before reaching Quarry Bank Mill on our left (193mins)

This was a former cotton mill built in 1784 by Samuel Greg, where adults and children worked 72 hour weeks until 1847 when a new law made such long working weeks illegal. The National Trust now uses the mill as a museum.

Beyond the mill we turned left (197mins) towards Styal, then turned right (200 mins) to reach the road from where we had started (202mins). A short walk right brought us to The Old Ship on our left (203mins)

As most of the Wednesday Wanderers will be in Turkey from October 18-26 no walks for October 19 and 26 have been planned. Those not taking part in that adventure should liaise with each other to make any arrangements in the absence of our international formation drinking team.

Happy wandering !

Youlgreave

 October 5, 2022

YOULGREAVE

LAY-BY AT ALPORT NEAR YOULGREAVE, BRADFORD DALE, LIMESTONE WAY, MEADOW PLACE GRANGE, LATHKILL LODGE, LATHKILL DALE, CONKSBURY BRIDGE, ALPORT

Distance: 6 miles Total ascent/descent: 970ft

Difficulty: Easy

Weather: Wet throughout

Walkers: Peter Beal, Micky Barrett, Alastair Cairns, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney with Millie

Apologies: Alan Hart (hospital chauffeuring duties), Tom Cunliffe (preparing for house move), Andy Blease (wet weather), Dean Taylor (unwell), Cliff Worthington (simulated flight on Vulcan bomber), Simon Williams and Keith Welsh (both unspecified), George Dearsley (Turkey)

Leader: Rooney Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Lay-by at Alport near Youlgreave

Starting time: 10.45am Finishing time: 1.05pm

We were small in number for today’s walk from one of the Wanderers’ more far-flung starting points. But given the forecast which even included severe weather warnings, it was perhaps a surprise that as many as five of us chose to venture out.

There were difficulties from the outset. A combination of rail strikes causing more motorway traffic and the confounded Buxton roundabout roadworks saw Alastair’s journey from Silverdale, collecting Micky en route, take an epic near-five hour.

Jock’s original plan was for a ten-mile route taking us up into the mist-covered heights, but the weather and our late start meant his alternative of a six-mile lower walk was voted for unanimously. It was as well, for the rain never stopped, despite easing occasionally.

There was disappointment at the end as none of the three pubs in Youlgreave, described as one of the Peak District’s largest and busiest villages, was open for business.

Confusion surrounds the village’s name. The village sign has it spelt Youlgreave so we’ll go with that. Yet the road signs pointing to it omit the ‘e’. The OS Landranger map has it as Youlgreave. Yet the larger-scale OS Explorer uses Youlgrave, but inserts the ‘e’ to denote the parish. Businesses in the village all use Youlgrave in their title – but Youlgreave in their addresses. Most puzzling and there appears to be no explanation.

Anyway, we were parked just outside the village in the hamlet of Alport, close to the point where the rivers Lathkill and Bradford converge. We crossed the road and the River Bradford and headed west along a track close to the riverbank. We crossed the river (15 minutes) on a lane that would have taken us uphill into Youlgreave (or Youlgrave) village, but turned immediately left along the river bank. We were now on the Limestone Way.

We soon crossed to the southern bank and continued along the river, the bed of which was almost completely dry following the recent drought, as far as a stone bridge (43 min).

We crossed here, following a Limestone Way sign, and took a short but steepish climb through woods to emerge on a minor road.

We turned right here up the road and then took a stile on the left to climb briefly to another road crossing (60 min). Following a green footpath sign to Over Haddon we climbed gently through fields over five stiles to come to the minor road of Moor Lane which was covered in nearly a foot of water from the heavy rain. We crossed this and soon came to another road, which we crossed to follow a straight and well-marked footpath through fields to arrive at the muddy (and other stuff) farmyard of Meadow Place Grange (85 min).

A short walk through a field ahead saw us enter a wood and descend on a broad track that zig-zagged left to arrive at a small bridge over the River Lathkill at the house of Lathkill Lodge (105 min).

Lathkill Dale is one of the White Peak’s ‘occasional’ rivers, sometimes disappearing underground for stretches according to rainfall and the hidden water levels. This effect is added to by the many lead-mining workings along the valley.

My trusty Peak District Companion says of it: ‘Lathkill Dale’s striking yet restful loveliness inspires much affection. Its basic rocky format is impressive: the ancient seabed contorted and cracked by earth movements; the scree slopes created by the pulverising erosion of water, frost and general weathering; and the delicate dignity of the trees that clothe it.

‘And the heart of all this is the Lathkill itself – innocently clear water, trout pools behind little weirs, just-submerged mosses and mischievous disappearing acts. The charm of Lathkill Dale spans all the seasons.’

We turned right and continued downstream with the attractive river on our right to reach Conksbury Bridge, where we turned right to cross the river, climb uphill on a lane for a short while and then take a path on the left through fields to reach the road a short distance from our cars (140 min).

The late start and poor weather meant we had stopped for neither pietime nor lunch. But our hopes for refreshment in Youlgrave were dashed after driving there when we found both The George and Bull’s Head firmly closed, indeed looking rather abandoned.

We headed off in various directions and your diarist linked up with Chris, Alastair and Micky purely by chance at the Duke of York in Pomeroy on the A515, where the Robinson’s Dizzy Blonde and Cumbria Way were pronounced excellent.

Next week’s walk, which might be labelled by Tom as ‘white handbags’, will start at The Ship Inn at Styal near Wilmslow at 9.30am. There is roadside parking. Chris and Micky will devise a route taking in Styal Woods and Lindow Common to call at the King William in Wilmslow at 12.30pm to finish at The Ship around 2.30pm.

Happy Wandering!

Barber Booth

 September 28, 2022.

BARBER BOOTH, CHAPEL GATE, RUSHUP EDGE, LORD'S SEAT BARROW, MAM TOR, HOLLINS CROSS, HOLLINS, THE OLD NAGS HEAD AT EDALE, NEWFOLD FARM, SHAW WOOD, UPPER BOOTH, BARBER BOOTH CAR PARK

Distance: 7.5 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry with early chill giving way to blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney with Milly, Dean Taylor, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkey hols), Alastair Cairns (domestic duties), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (visiting Welsh relatives), Chris Owen (recovering from covid), Cliff Worthington (hols)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Barber Booth car park, near Edale, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 9.44am. Finishing time: 1.55pm.

September 28, 2022.

BARBER BOOTH, CHAPEL GATE, RUSHUP EDGE, LORD'S SEAT BARROW, MAM TOR, HOLLINS CROSS, HOLLINS, THE OLD NAGS HEAD AT EDALE, NEWFOLD FARM, SHAW WOOD, UPPER BOOTH, BARBER BOOTH CAR PARK

Distance: 7.5 miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Dry with early chill giving way to blue skies and sunshine.

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney with Milly, Dean Taylor, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Turkey hols), Alastair Cairns (domestic duties), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Mark Gibby (visiting Welsh relatives), Chris Owen (recovering from covid), Cliff Worthington (hols)

Leader: Beal. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Barber Booth car park, near Edale, Derbyshire.

Starting time: 9.44am. Finishing time: 1.55pm.

After a chilly start in the shade of a tree-lined road, we emerged into bright, warm sunshine as Peter led us on a steady climb towards Rushup Edge. We were rewarded with stunning views across the valleys and a fabulous panorama from the summit of Mam Tor.

Setting out towards Rushup Edge

On top of that, we were treated to an aeronautical display by six paragliders who ran off the hillside a few feet from where we had stopped for Pietime and launched themselves off the ridge. Although the route was shorter than usual our ascent totaled 1,560 feet.

Aeronautical entertainment

From the car park we walked back up the minor road from which we had arrived and went under a railway viaduct before turning right across a wooden stile (4mins). The path took us through a small wooden gate (7mins) before we dog-legged left and right (8mins) to cross another wooden stile. The route continued through a series of gates and stiles towards Chapel Gate.

On our right at the top of a hill we could see a ventilator shaft from the Cowburn Tunnel on the Hope Valley Line linking Stockport with Sheffield. The tunnel, at the western end of the Vale of Edale, is 3,702 yards long. It lies 875 feet beneath the hillside and is the deepest railway tunnel in England.

Ahead in the distance we could clearly see the towns of Whaley Bridge and New Mills.

When the path reached a T junction we turned left (48mins) and went through a new wooden kissing gate (58mins). Another wooden kissing gate (61mins) brought us to Lord's Seat Barrow at 1,804 feet.

Barrow boy Peter

This is believed to be a late neolithic or Bronze Age burial site used between 3000 and 1500 BC. It is 55 feet in diameter and seven feet high.

After going through another wooden kissing gate (68mins) we stopped on the edge of the ridge for Pietime (76mins) at 11am sharp. As we did so six paragliders put on a bravura display above us.

Up up and away

Continuing our journey along the ridge we headed right and downhill through a gate to reach a road (82mins). We turned left for 20 yards then crossed to the far side to head up stone steps passing the sign for Mam Tor (84mins). A steep climb up the steps took us to the Trig Point at the summit of Mam Tor (92mins)

Mam Tor stands 1,696 feet above sea level and its name means Mother Hill. It is also known as Shivering Mountain because its shale content has led to many landslips over the centuries. In 1979 the prolonged battle to maintain the A625 road between Sheffield and Chapel-en-le-Frith was abandoned because of subsidence and the road was officially closed.

We began our descent, going through two wooden gates until we reached Hollins Cross (115mins) which is marked by a memorial stone. As we did so we had one last visit from a paraglider.

Last sighting

Waiting for Jock and Milly at Hollins Cross

From Hollins cross we turned left down a rocky path, taking a right fork (117mins) and passing a farm on our right as we went through a wooden gate (124mins). We followed a sign for Edale downhill and went through a wooden gate (130mins). Not far beyond the gate, a path appeared on our left off the main track (131mins)

After some 20 yards the path led us to a new wooden gate in front of a road. We crossed the road and followed a public footpath sign opposite to head along a fenced path (132mins). After passing through a wooden gate and gap stile (134mins) we crossed a field diagonally right and headed towards a tunnel.

The path led through the tunnel under the Hope Valley railway line and towards a wooden gate (137mins) which led to a flagged path. At a T-junction (143mins) we turned left through a gap stile and almost immediately right at a path marked with a yellow arrow.

Emerging at a road opposite Edale Parish Church (145mins)we turned right and reached The Old Nags Head on our right (148mins). Outrageously there were no apostrophes on the pub's name or on its doorway marked Hikers Bar. The consistently poor punctuation continued at the bar itself where staff polo shirts also lacked an apostrophe in Nags. (Stop me if I'm nagging).

Three draught ales were on offer and I can vouch for the quality of the English Pride. Others were not happy with the pale ale. Pints cost £4-40 on average.

Suitably refreshed we left the pub. Turning left for a few paces in the direction from which we had come we then turned immediately right at Newfold Farm. We swung left passing a campsite on our right as we saw the distinctive outline of Mam Nick on our left across the valley.

Mam Nick on the skyline

Before reaching a farm we turned left (154mins) through a wooden gate and headed diagonally right across a field. The path then took us through a series gates and fields until we reached a pile of log ends on our left and stopped for lunch (159mins)

Resuming we followed a sign for Barber Booth (160mins) and went through another wooden gate and a wooden public footpath sign for our destination (162mins). Another series of gates led us into a field occupied by a flock of unusually spotted dark brown and white sheep.

We spotted spotted sheep

After going through another wooden gate we turned left across a bridge over the railway line (169mins), reached a lane and turned right towards Upper Booth. After passing The Old Dairy on our right (171mins) we turned right at a sign for Upper Booth (173mins).

This narrow road took us under the railway viaduct (177mins) and back to our cars (179mins)

Next week's walk will start at 10am from Alport, near Bakewell, Derbyshire. To reach Alport follow the A6 through Buxton and Bakewell. Two miles out of Bakewell a sign will appear for Alport on your right. In Alport park at the side of the road near a red phone box. We aim to stop for refreshment in Birchover either at The Red Lion or The Druids Inn at about 12.15pm. A final glass will be taken at The George in Youlgrave around 2.30pm.

Happy wandering !

Allgreave

 ALLGREAVE

September 21, 2022

ROSE AND CROWN AT ALLGREAVE, BURNTCLIFF TOP, GRADBACH, FOREST WOOD, HANGING STONE, DANEBRIDGE, THE SHIP INN AT WINCLE, ALLMEADOWS, ROSE AND CROWN

Distance: 6.5 Miles Ascent/descent: 1,350 ft

Difficulty: Very easy

Weather: Dry with lots of sun.Warm

Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Jock Rooney with Millie, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams

Apologies: Alan Hart (bowling), Chris Owen (Covid), Hughie Hardiman (physio), Julian Ross (Portugal hols), Cliff Worthington (Spanish hols), Mark Enright (working), George Dearsley (Turkey)

Leader: Rooney Diarist: Beal

Starting point: Rose and Crown pub car park on A54

Starting time: 9.43 am Finishing time: 1.29pm

It doesn’t get much easier than today’s walk. Deprived of our scheduled leader Chris, struck by Covid, we nevertheless cobbled together what can be described as a leisurely ramble around the Cheshire and Staffordshire hills.

The start was the Rose and Crown at Allgreave, the domain of the fearsome landlady Luda, formerly of the Hanging Gate, one of our former favourite haunts. In fact, the Rose and Crown has effectively been boycotted by the Wanderers for many years after what went down in history as The Great Chip Robbery. This was when the effusive Luda sold two of our number reasonably-priced bacon butties and then persuaded them to have some chips which turned out to be £5 a bowl. Not that we bear grudges. (or chips on the shoulder, Ed)

Luda was nowhere to be seen today and it has to be said the pub is delightful inside and in the splendid beer garden where we all enjoyed post-walk drinks.

In the absence of our planned leader, Jock emerged as the person with a really impressive- looking map marked with what looked like a route so he was appointed leader for the day.

We left the top of the car park above the pub and turned left along a minor road. The pub unfortunately has no link to any footpaths. We followed this road for 1.25 miles as far as Burntcliff Top, where a plaque told us the house was at one time the Eagle and Child pub.

We turned right here through a gate and dropped steeply downhill on a grassy, and at times stone-stepped path to cross a footbridge over the River Dane to emerge at Gradbach Mill. This imposing building was once a busy silk spinning mill before closing around 1900. In 1978 it became Gradbach Youth Hostel and later a local authority education centre. Now it is an up-market conference and events centre called The Mill with a seven-bedroomed luxury self-catering farmhouse next door.

We crossed the courtyard and went through a gate to a path alongside the river. A series of gates and stiles brought us to Forest Wood, where a sign pointing uphill to the left indicated Lud’s Church. This 60-foot deep moss-covered chasm was a secret meeting place in the 1400s for the persecuted religious group the Lollards, followers of dissident John Wycliff.

We climbed uphill through the woods to reach a rocky outcrop at a junction of tracks. Left would have taken us to Lud’s Church and on a longer route planned by Jock, who was valiantly leading from the rear, but our group decided to press straight on along a path just east of the ridge to come to a gate at a track junction, where pie-time was called.

We turned right through the gate along the ridge, soon dropping down to the rocky outcrop of Hanging Stone (3 miles). This was not a place of execution but more likely named because of its rock overhang, or from the old English ‘hangra’, meaning wood.

We descended stone steps to the right of the rock. From here we could seen plaques on the two outward-facing slabs of the rock, both placed by the Brocklehurst family, former owners of the nearby Swythamley Hall.

One – a memorial to a gundog – read:

‘Beneath this rock August 1^st 1874

Was buried

BURKE

a noble mastiff

black and tan

faithful as woman

braver than man

a gun and a ramble his heart’s desire

with the friend of his life

the Swythamley squire’

The other plaque read:

‘Lt Col Henry Courtney Brocklehurst

10^th Royal Hussars

pilot in the Royal Flying Corps 1916-18

Game Warden of the Sudan

Born at Swythamley May 27^th 1888

Killed on active service

in Burma on commando 1942’

It was Henry Courtney who introduced wallabies to the Swythamley estate. After the hall was sold in the 1970s they escaped and the colony made its home in the nearby Roaches rocks, where one could occasionally be spotted. They died out in the 1980s, many victims of cars on the nearby busy A53.

His brother Philip was a geologist on Shackleton’s 1907 Nimrod expedition, where he lost toes to frostbite but went on to have a distinguished military career.

We descended from the rock to a nearby track, where we turned right and almost immediately left over a stile into a field, where we dropped down into a wood. A path dropped down with a stream below on the right to emerge on a track close to the road at Danebridge, where the bridge marks the Cheshire-Staffordshire border.

We turned right across the bridge and climbed through the village to the Ship Inn at Wincle (4 miles). Our direct route meant we had arrived before it opened but we waited at a table at the rear and the beer drinkers were soon enjoying John Willie Lees’ Dragonfly pale ale, which was pronounced excellent at £3-80 a pint.

Leaving the pub we turned right up the road and almost immediately right up stone steps in a gap in the wall. We crossed a private drive and went straight ahead through a kissing gate in to fields. We followed the path through a wood to cross Hog Clough on a small bridge and then carried on through stiles and gates through fields with the Dane below us on our right.

This path emerged on a minor road at Allmeadows Farm, where we turned right to soon come to the A53. An unavoidable short stretch on the main road took us right, up a hill to reach the Rose and Crown after a few hundred yards.

All nine of us sat in the beer garden, where the Isobar IPA, from Macclesfield’s Storm Brewery, was declared top-class, again at £3-80.

Next week’s walk will take us to Edale. The starting point, at 9.45am is the free National Park car park at Barber Booth. For those who might not have been there before – take a left off the Castleton road, towards Edale and at the bottom of the hill, where the road turns sharply right, turn left. This lane goes under a rail viaduct and soon after is the roadside car park. We intend to cross Rushup Edge and Mam Tor before refreshments at the Nag’s Head in Edale.

Happy Wandering!