Sunday 30th April 2023
At the start of my second day on the Gritstone Trail I returned to Tegg’s Nose Country Park where I had parked on day one and where the second stage begins. I was trying to take advantage of one of the bank holiday Mondays in May to do a long distance trail and I was taking my time because I wasn’t feeling great at the time and hoped this walk would refresh me, but the weather on this day was poor, grey and overcast with a strong, cold wind coming off the hills and rain was forecast. Soon after leaving the car park beside the visitor centre I reached the hilltop known as Tegg’s Nose where formerly quarrying was carried out and some relics of that era have been left behind and information boards revealed how the landscape was previously worked. Now the hill has been taken over by nature and heather, bilberry and gorse decorated the slopes below bare gritstone rock faces. After taking my time wandering around the hill I slowly made my way steeply down the hill past gorse bushes filled with yellow flowers that brightened the hillside under the grey skies to the two reservoirs at the bottom of the hill. The path across the dams brought me to Clarke Lane where a turning up a track led me to a stream where celandines, wood anemones and bluebells decorated a lovely dell that beckoned me towards it so I was frustrated when I discovered that the Gritstone Trail ignores Macclesfield Forest and instead turned south past Greenbarn Farm and Lees House Farm.
The contrast between the sylvan beauty of Bollin Brook with the dull grassy farmland was depressing and the scenery failed to improve except beside the occasional stream where wildflowers distracted me from the monotony, most notably beside Rossendale Brook where newly emerging bluebells raised my spirits. Eventually I began to climb again, up Fox Bank to the top of the Hill of Rossenclowes where I had extensive views west across the Cheshire plain, but it was very hazy and difficult to see anything, so it was to my left where the more interesting views were to be seen, into the Peak District. The ridge continued to climb until I reached the top of Croker Hill where a large radio transmitter dominated the scene and soon after passing that I dropped down the hill to reach the A54 road. My inspiration for doing this trail was the video on YouTube by Abbie Barnes who did the thirty-five mile walk in two days and stopped at this point, camping at the nearby Wild Boar Inn, which was so warmly praised I decided to stay there myself on the two nights either side of this walk. Unfortunately the pub is no longer open but I was still able to camp in the field behind and the facilities were very good. Since I was taking three days on the trail I didn’t stop at this point like Abbie and instead I continued along the trail over the top of Golden Hill on a road that provided me with nothing of interest underfoot and a strong headwind.
Soon it started to rain and would rarely stop until after I’d finished this stage of the trail, which didn’t help with my enjoyment of the walk, however at the bottom of the hill I encountered the tree-filled valley of Shell Brook but I was disappointed at the lack of wildflowers and it didn’t help that the path was very muddy underfoot. The trail took me across the eastern bank above Cartlidge Wood before finally descending into the Dane Valley where Barleigh Ford Bridge took me over the River Dane and up to the course of what at first I took to be an old railway and then an old canal, but is in fact a conduit for feeding the Caldon Canal. The overgrown sides of the conduit provided me with pleasant walking that proved to be so enthralling I missed the turning off and had to retrace my steps when I realised. The path now took me across some fields, a road, an actual disused railway line and along the bottom of the Dane Valley where I went the wrong way again. Generally the Gritstone Trail was very well signposted but it was not so clear at this point as I missed the turning and started to climb out of the valley. When I realised I took advantage of stopping to have my lunch before returning to the bottom of the valley and back along the trail through the thick grass of the meadow beside the river before turning up beside a beautiful little dell that carries Ravensclough Brook.
Many woodland flowers decorated the slopes starting with wild garlic then bluebells and later the white flowers of stitchwort that produced a beautiful scene that was over all too soon as I climbed out of Raven’s Clough. With the rain continuing to pour I climbed a grassy bank that brought me to the prominent hill and National Trust property of the Cloud that was attracting many people despite the weather so I didn’t linger and quickly made my way past the crags that adorn the northern edge of the summit. A good path took me through the heathland and into a wood until eventually I reached a road near the village of Timbersbrook where the second stage of the Gritstone Trail ends, but I stayed on the trail for a short while longer until I reached Brookhouse Lane where I came off to walk down to the Macclesfield Canal which took me to Congleton railway station. However when I got there I was dismayed to discover that the next train was in two and a half hours, but I tried to not let this ruin the walk which I had felt had gone well, despite the weather and some dull scenery, as there had been some enjoyable moments at the top of several hills and at the sight of many woodland flowers. With hindsight I should have parked at Timbersbrook and caught a train back to Macclesfield at the start of the day, so instead I wandered into the centre of Congleton and had a look around the museum.
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