Walk from Bollington to Lyme Park
The walk starts and ends at the Middlewood Way Car Park in Bollington. If travelling by car, take the main road out of Macclesfield towards Stockport (A523). Turn right to follow the sign to Bollington (B5090). Continue to follow the main road (B5090, Wellington Road) through Bollington, until you pass under the first viaduct. Take the next left, which is Adlington Road. Car parking is available in the Middlewood Way car park. When I did this walk it took about 5 hours.
| Fact File | |
| Distance: | 8 miles (14 km) |
| Terrain: | Mainly footpaths and bridleways, a few small inclines, can be muddy in places. |
| Maps: | OS Explorer Map 268 |
| Start: | Adlington Road, Bollington. |
Route Guide
The Macclesfield Canal was one of the last narrow canals to be built, indeed, it was very nearly built as a railway! A variety of ideas were proposed and the present canal was approved by Act of Parliament in April 1826. The route of the canal was surveyed by Thomas Telford and construction was engineered by William Crosley. The completed canal was opened on 9th November 1831 at a cost of GBP320,000. Commercial carrying finished only in the 1960's. However, although in need of maintenance, the canal remained navigable and did not require restoration when leisure use began. Indeed, the UK’s very first narrow canal cruising club, the North Cheshire Cruising Club (NCCC), was established on the canal in 1943! This photo is bridge number 16, where the walk leaves the canal to head up to Hase Bank Wood (near Lyme Park).
Hase Bank Wood is at the western side of the Lyme Park estate. The walk through Hase Bank Wood is a wide path going gently downhill, past many tall trees. Half way through this wood, the route takes you up onto the moors. There is an old isolated house (strangely in the middle of nowhere), at the top of the hill here, which is adjacent to a steep-sided valley, Cluse Hay. A stream tumbles down Cluse Hay, past streaks of black shale exposed by erosion. A path takes you around the edge of Cluse Hay, and onto Knights Low woods. The Gritstone Trail is joined in Knights Low woods, which leads you up to the Bowstones.
The Bowstones are actually the upper parts of the shafts of double Anglo Saxon Crosses, dating to the 9th or 10th century AD. The crosses were probably destroyed shortly after the Reformation in the mid 16th century. Two cross heads, now in Lyme Park, were ploughed up in a field near Disley Church in the 19th century and may belong to these shafts. The stones were probably erected in their current position at Bow Stone Gate by Sir Piers Legh in the late 16th century perhaps as boundary markers or guide posts. Having passed the Bowstones, the Gritstone Trail now takes you back via Bakestonedale moor to Bollington.
Directions
| 1 | From the Middlewood Way car park, cross straight over the road (Adlington Road) into the recreation ground. Walk along the right hand edge of the recreation ground, with the River Dean to your right. Cross the bridge over the river, and turn left to follow the river. At the end of the recreation ground, bear right to walk up to the main road. |
| 2 | Turn left along the main road and then immediately left up a bridleway. This takes you up to the canal towpath, opposite Clarence Mill. |
| 3 | Bear left along the canal towpath, so that you are walking away from Bollington with Clarence Mill on your right. |
| 4 | Now walk for a few miles along the towpath. Eventually you will pass the Lyme View Marina (where there is a cafe). After a few more bridges you will get to bridge number 16. |
| 5 | Cross over the bridge, and bear right to cross the field. |
| 6 | Follow the footpath, keeping to the left hand side of the field. Ignore the footpath off to the left. Go through the kissing gate - you should be passing to the right of the Throstlenest Farm buildings (just visible through the hedge). |
| 7 | Pass through another kissing gate, and follow the path round to a lane. Turn right along the lane. |
| 8 | At Green Farm, bear right to pass in front of the farm house. Turn left at a junction to pass behind the farm buildings. Go through a gate, and pass to the left of an outbuilding. Follow the footpath as it turns right to pass to the left of the outbuilding. |
| 9 | Pass through a gate, and walk round to a tall ladder stile. Cross the ladder stile - a sign now indicates that you are in the grounds of Lyme Park. Turn right up hill, walking just to the left of a fence. |
| 10 | Walk straight up the hill, going straight on at a crossroads of paths. |
| 11 | At the top of the hill, you will meet the corner of an enclosed wooded area. Down below you will see a small car park - head down to this. |
| 12 | Turn right when you get to the car park, and go through the gate to enter Hase Bank Wood. |
| 13 | Walk gently down hill along the wide path through Hase Bank Wood. |
| 14 | Turn left at a junction to follow a bridleway up hill. You are soon out on open moorland. Turn left up a grassy path to head towards the tall, somewhat dilapidated house at the top of the hill. |
| 15 | There are several paths to choose from when you reach the house, but take the path that passes just to the left of the house. You should be heading downhill to a large wall. |
| 16 | Turn right when you get to the wall, and follow the path adjacent to the wall (with the wall on your left). |
| 17 | Eventually you will reach a large ladder stile over a wall into Knights Low wood. Cross the ladder stile, and turn right, to follow the path that skirts around the edge of the wood (with the boundary wall to your right). |
| 18 | When the path meets a main path, turn right to pass through the gate to exit the wood. You are now on the Gritstone Trail, which you will follow all the way back to Bollington. All Gritstone Trail signs are a ’G‘ in a boot, in a yellow arrow. Follow the sign (only just readable) to the Bowstones, which leads you away from the wood, along a wide path up hill. |
| 19 | At the top of the hill there is a farm house. Just after the farmhouse, the Gritstone Trail turns right, but a short diversion to the left will lead you to the Bowstones. Take the Gritstone Trail, but don't follow the sign to East Lodge. There is another sign here, indicating that you will be walking in the direction of Charles Head. |
| 20 | Follow the bridleway out across the moors for a few miles now. You will pass a viewfinder part way along, indicating all points on the horizon. Eventually the bridleway forks off to the left, and downhill slightly, to meet Bakestonedale Road. |
| 21 | Turn right along Bakestonedale Road. Just after a few houses, the Gritstone Trail turns left along a path, away from the road. |
| 22 | Follow the Gritstone Trail as it heads out across moorland. Bear left to pass to the left of a large pond. |
| 23 | Bear left where a confusing sign indicates several directions. After crossing a stile onto a tarmac lane, cross the cattle grid, and bear left away from the lane, to follow a wall down hill, along a grassy path. |
| 24 | Cross a stile by a gate, to follow the path (still the Gritstone Trail) down between a wall and a wooded area. Bear left after the wall, to cross a field, downhill. A farmhouse is up to the right. |
| 25 | At the bottom of the field, bear left. Eventually the Gritstone Trail passes through a wooded area, and heads down hill to cross a stream. |
| 26 | Follow the Gritstone Trail up hill now across a field, until you meet a lane (Hedge Row). Turn right down the lane, past houses. |
| 27 | At the end of the lane, you will meet Spuley Lane - turn left here. Bear right at a junction (with a house to the left) to walk down into Bollington, along Ingersley Road. |
| 28 | At the end of Ingersley Road there is a roundabout. Continue straight on along Palmerston Street (the main road through Bollington). |
| 29 | Palmerston Street passes under the canal viaduct. Now the park (recreation ground) is on your right. Walk across the park, to Adlington Road, and return to your starting point. |