Stunning Stockport

Introduction

A bold title for this week’s walk. Those who don’t know the borough will, I hope, be surprised, as I take a one-way hike from the heart of the town, following the majestic River Goyt and the Peak Forest Canal to finish at our son Jordan, and his fiancee Adele’s, new home near the border with Derbyshire. The journey was completed by cycling back, after dropping my bike off at their house yesterday. I’m sure they’d be very accommodating if anyone wants to follow in my footsteps! Or, after lockdown, you could walk on a little further to Disley, and catch a train back to Stockport.

Travel time 10 minutes each way. I decided this was OK under lockdown rules for a short journey to start my day’s exercise. I would have gone on the train, 3 minutes from Cheadle Hulme, but the lockdown restrictions prevented this.

Walk time 3.75 hours with a short lunch stop. 45 minutes to cycle back to Edgeley.

The walk is 9 miles, gradually uphill most of the way with a total ascent of 1022ft, 311m. Once the first town section is complete, the walk is suitable for dogs, particularly the middle park and river section. The last third is mainly on the canalside.

Weather – a quite dull , still, and quiet day.

OS Explorer Maps 277 and OL1

Parking – I walked somewhat further than the map shows as I didn’t want to pay to park so drove to Edgeley, near the back entrance to the station for roadside parking.

Town Centre

The magnificent 19th century railway viaduct with its 11million bricks is prominent to any visitor to the town, or anyone driving through on the M60 which passes through 2 of its 27 arches.

Walking through the arches past the Hat Museum and into Mersey Square brings the iconic art deco Plaza Theatre into view. Here it is as I saw it today, though the night time view is certainly superior!

Continuing on to Great Underbank, you pass the Stockport Air Raid Shelters, hewn from the rock face to save the population in the second World War.

Continuing ahead you pass the olde worlde Little Underbank with the bridge above to the market place – well worth a visit especially on the Foodie Friday evenings that happen monthly in normal times.

The next landmark is the 15th century NatWest bank!!

Moving on, and bearing left you see a typical 1960s shopping centre, except this one has a great chasm fenced off at one end.

Yes, in the 60s Town Planners decided it was far more preferable to concrete over the river running through your town, rather than clean it up and create a wonderful feature, and so the Mersey flows under the Merseyway Shopping Centre!

Continuing on, a short detour left at the traffic lights by Asda and Sainsburys leads to a narrow road on the right which takes you over a stone bridge to the confluence of the Rivers Tame and Goyt, as they become the River Mersey. Some nice artwork celebrates the spot, as the M60 traffic rushes by

And so, I head on, past the edge of town shops known as the Peel Centre to Junction 27 of the M60, Portwood roundabout. Now, I’ve been round there hundreds of times, but on foot I notice that there are some ruined walls in the middle of the roundabout with an information board. As I’m on the outside of the roundabout I don’t venture across to look, but can anyone shed light on what this building was?

Vernon and Woodbank Parks

Continuing ahead on Carrington Road, I soon cross the River Goyt at the junction with New Bridge Lane and New Zealand Road, and enter Vernon Park on the opposite corner.

Vernon Park is a classic formal civic park, it seems every town had to have one in 19th century northern England.

The park has a well known fountain, which, perhaps surprisingly, has not drawn the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. The text below the images is copied from a 2015 article I found. To me, it is an inappropriate symbol for our town to have recreated in modern times.

At the top of the hill,, passing the cafe, I passed through a gate into Woodbank Park, a more modern open space with many large trees, particularly along the top of the river valley where views of Pear Mill can be seen through the leaves.

Just before the now empty Woodbank Hall, I turn right then left down a steep tarmac path to the river valley. A sharp right at the bottom then leads into the Poise Brook Woods, alongside the River Goyt, passing the pretty ground of Offerton Cricket Club, before eventually reaching Jim Fernley Bridge. This is a beautiful section of the walk.

There’s a rather unsavoury moment on my walk as I pass a man with a lurcher type dog; the man is attempting to remove what I think is a large stick from the dog’s mouth. As I pass he succeeds, and throws a now ex-squirrel into the trees. Ugh!

Crossing the bridge and leaving the woods I turn right and follow the river valley towards Chadkirk. More great views of the river along the way.

As I approach the A627, I come to Stockport Hydro’s Archimedes Screw generating electricity with the power of the river, and take a short video.

Chadkirk

Turning left at the road, then right I enter Chadkirk Country Park. I could head up through the woods, but elect to get a couple of pictures of the ancient church with its carved monk!

Peak Forest Canal

Carrying on up the narrow road a short steep section leads to a flight of steps on the right which I take to reach the canal. I turn right and head towards Marple.

Marple Aqueduct

What a magnificent structure it is. The pictures tell the story!

Marple Locks

The 16 locks rise to the suburban village of Marple, and the junction with the Macclesfield Canal, which takes boaters south to Macclesfield, Congleton and Kidsgrove where it meets the Trent and Mersey Canal.

I take a leisurely walk up the flight, including a lunch stop along the way.

There’s a handy sign, and I head off past the marina, towards Whaley Bridge.

The Last Leg

I’m in open country now, with pretty cottages and views across the Goyt valley. Smoking chimneys in the distance are the Swizzells sweet factory in New Mills.

And then I arrive at what in my circles, is now known as “Denise’s Bridge”, where, on my 60th birthday boat hire trip from Whaley Bridge to Marple, a minor incident occurred!!

And So To Jordan and Delly’s

Shortly after the bridge, a path down to the left is signposted to Strines. After descending, a right turn takes me under the canal up a short track, where a right turn leads to their front door, and a cheery welcome!

I’m grateful that the cycle ride back to Edgeley is almost all downhill, after the first climb past a house that used to be The Romper Inn, which gives impressive views out from Marple Ridge.

And Finally….

The drive home is only 10 minutes, but time to share Stockport’s favourite sons, Blossoms, whose February concert at The Plaza was one of the last I attended! And a video of last year’s Edgeley Park concert, which was amazing, is coming soon.