Introduction
It was a gloriously sunny day today, but… wow it was cold!
Chadkirk Estate Park is 20 minutes from Cheadle Hulme.
It took 2 hours 30 minutes to complete the 5.5 mile walk, plus 15 minutes for lunch.
About 25% of the work is on roadside footpaths, but the rest is great for dog walking.
I walked in an anticlockwise direction.
The walk is on OS Explorer Map 268..
I parked in the Chadkirk Estate car park on Shrigley Road, postcode SK6 3LE, What 3 Words ///purely.sofa.summer
Sadly, I was to find that the wonderful riverside path around Dale Farm and Dale Hall is closed due to serious erosion, and so I had to take a route through the Marple Hall housing estate, as shown by the purple line on the map.
And to add to my misfortune, on downloading my photographs, I’ve found that I had inadvertently left the flash set to on, resulting in some strangely dark results.
Chadkirk To Marple Golf Course
I set out with a half mile walk up the A627 Otterspool Road, via the spectacular views of the River Goyt as I crossed the road bridge.
I crossed Stockport Road and entered the drive through a copse towards the Marple Skip depot.
Unsurprisingly, the land near the depot was marked by plenty of discarded waste products, of which this small tractor was the most interesting.
Soon, I was in more open countryside, sharing it only with a flock of Canada geese.
The path then meets the northern end of The Middlewood Way near to Marple Rose Hill Station where the line from Manchester now terminates.
I followed the trail for a short distance, then took the Cown Edge Way footpath with a pretty clough on my left and Marple Golf Course on my right.
Macclesfield Canal To Marple Village
I emerged from the golf course on the canal towpath.
Goyt Mill is a magnificent structure looming over the canal.
At the village I left the canal by one of those looping escape paths for which this canal is famous.
Coming out on Church Street, I was taken by the view to the skyscrapers in Manchester City Centre.
Marple To Chadkirk
After meandering through Marple, I crossed the Rose Hill train line, only to meet the disappointing road sign that would thwart the plan to walk alongside the River Goyt.
So, after a walk through a housing estate I took a path along the high bank above the river, and then down towards the riverside.
The river is very full following recent rains.
After a quick stop for lunch, near the weir, I made my way back to the car.
This is a very varied walk, and would have been excellent had the riverside path not been closed. Let’s hope it is able to be repaired at some time in the future.
And Finally….
No new music today, so I found this song title to sum up the final quarter of today’s walk –
“Change My Way” by Howlin’ Wolf.