Introduction
No heatwave this week, but with a tennis match to play this evening, I opted for another local, shorter walk this week.
Rolo is 3 today, and his treat was a Thursday walk with Gramps!
It was great walking weather, around 16deg C, cloudy after overnight rain, with little wind.
It’s less than 20 minutes drive from Cheadle Hulme.
The walk is just under 4 miles with almost 380 feet of ascent. It took 2 hours.
It was the first time in ages that I was joined by Rolo, so I chose a route I knew would be fine for dog walking, with a couple of short sections of fields, Lyme Park, and a short road section.
I walked in a clockwise direction.
The walk is on OS Explorer Map 268.
The car park is on Shrigley Road, use postcode SK12 1UE. The car park is on the right just before the sharp left bend.
Middlewood Way To Lyme Park
Leaving the car park by the entrance, I crossed the road to take the steep path down the side of the house named Hideaway.
Down there, it’s a wet jungle!
I wondered why Rolo was looking a little apprehensive.
It turned out that the bridge over a small tributary stream has collapsed, and closed the path.
Across the main brook we spotted another “couple”.
They had crossed the shallow brook – easy enough (and good fun) for the dogs, and, it turned out, not too hard for humans either. So, we made our way up to the drive of Hagg Farm, a little damper than we’d started out.
It’s a short walk from here to the canal.
Over the canal, we crossed the corner of a sheep field, and then took the fenced path up to Throstlenest Farm.
After passing Green Farm we entered Lyme Park.
Lyme Park
A complete change of scenery, as we were now in open country. We spotted a kestrel, perched on a nearby post. well, it was perched when I lifted the camera!
There are always great views over Stockport to Manchester from here, but it was pretty grey today.
We soon reached the top car park.
From here we could take the track down through Hase Bank Wood.
It was noticeable that autumn is showing its hand.
It’s a lovely walk down here, and unusually, we were on our own today.
Macclesfield Canal & Middlewood Way
After leaving the park via West Parkgate, we had a short walk down the road. The canal is at a higher level, with steps up beyond the aqueduct tunnel.
It’s a lovely canal, and popular with the herons from nearby Macclesfield Forest heronry.
Unlike the kestrel, this bird gave me time for a photo, before taking off!
Rolo also wanted to strike a pose by the canal – well, it is his birthday.
We made our way to the bustling Adlington Marina.
Leaving the canal, we passed the Lyme Breeze café / restaurant, and took the high level path on the Middlewood Way (former railway line from Marple to Macclesfield).
Dropping down to the former track bed, we enjoyed the stroll back by the woods to the car park, in a little milky sunshine.
This is a lovely short walk, with several changes of scenery. If you’ve got a spare 2 hours, I’d highly recommend it (whether or not it’s your birthday)!
And Finally….
This is not a style of music I’d automatically choose to listen too, but the guy is clearly very talented as both singer and songwriter, and could be destined for much bigger things. From his eponymous album, this is Keir with “Say Love”.