Descending from Clarke’s Lane to the Middlewood Way. Many of the group are captured in this photograph.
This medium walk started locally in Macclesfield and attracted 22 walkers and with no long on offer walk today, a large group of walkers had assembled on this fine sunny but frosty morning to be led by Michael Murphy. Setting off from Whalley Hayes Car Park we first headed through West Park where we tried to avoid the worse of the slippery conditions underfoot and pausing briefly at the large 30 ton erratic (boulder) which was brought to this area during the last ice age. Its original location has been traced to near Ravenglass in Cumbria. Our walk then passed through Macclesfield Crematorium before following a short section of path through the Riverside Park then making our way across to the Middlewood Way which was followed north to the wooden footbridge over the Silk Road. A little beyond the far side we stopped for our morning break at Woods Bridge over the Macclesfield Canal before following the muddy towpath north to Clarke Lane Bridge and here we diverted to follow a short section of the Middlewood Way and later descending via Tinker’s Clough to rejoin the Macclesfield Canal Towpath at Greens Bridge.
In the bright sunshine we continued north passing the Adelphi Mill then over the Grimshaw Lane Aqueduct and leaving the towpath to follow a short section of Hawthorn Road to get back onto the Middlewood Way via the Bollington Viaduct which once carried the Macclesfield, Bollington & Marple Railway. It was opened to passenger traffic in 1870 but was a casualty of the Beeching cuts. With the former railway lying dormant it was eventually bought by Macclesfield Borough Council and a program of works over the following years developed it into a recreational trail called the Middlewood Way. There were even plans to demolish the Bollington Viaduct but there was much local opposition.
Our walk headed east now through the Recreation Area then along Water Street and High Street in Bollington before making the biggest ascent of the day up to White Nancy. The majority of the group took the more gradual but longer ascent to the summit via the Millennium Steps whilst a smaller group took the hill direct up the muddy and slippery slopes. White Nancy was our lunch stop by which time a cool breeze had sprung up and there was more cloud around now and the deep blue skies of earlier in the day had turned hazy.
We set off along the Kerridge Ridge where in places a better path surface had been implemented but part of the path was a sea of mud due to heavy footfall. The descent at the southern end was muddy and very slippery and so progress was slow. We joined the B5470 briefly before joining Carlofold Lane then taking a muddy path over the shoulder of Cliff Hill. At the end of this path we turned left uphill on Cliff Lane then along another very muddy path down to the B5470 once more. Heading towards Macclesfield we soon struck out along the Macclesfield Canal towpath to the Buxton Road before heading into the town via Victoria Park.
