Introduction
With a busy day on the golf course due tomorrow, I kept my walk quite short today.
The weather was cloudy, but bright, warm and dry – great for walking.
This walk starts at the top of the hill above Frodsham, a 40 minute drive from Cheadle Hulme.
It’s 4.7 miles with 475feet of ascent .
It took a leisurely 3 hours to complete, plus 15 minutes for lunch.
For dog walkers, the walk has plenty of off-road, stretches, no cattle (today), and no stiles. However, some farmland sections needed detours due to being overgrown and there are exceptionally steep open cliffs towards the end.
I walked in a clockwise direction.
The walk is on OS Explorer Map 267.
I parked at the Sandstone Trail car park, postcode WA6 6HQ, What 3 Words ///proud.requested.spinners
Sandstone Trail Car Park To Newton
I set off down Simons Lane, passing the entrance to the former Frodsham Golf Club, of which more later!
Then I took a path to the right. Initially the hedges were well trimmed, and alive with birds.
A little further on, the path became quite overgrown, but I found my way through fairly easily. A gate took me into a field and the splendid views over the Mersey estuary to a distant city of Liverpool.
After crossing a couple of roads I came to Crow Mere.
The path then led through a woody glade before reaching the sleepy hamlet of Fivecrosses.
A track took me up to a small paddock with stables and a couple of small ponies.
I passed through the gate into the next field where a 10m wide section had been left to go to seed with thistles and other weedy plants next to the hedge. It was alive with small birds, and I managed to get pictures of a greenfinch and a whitethroat.
The map appears to show the path crossing to the other side of the hedge, but I couldn’t find a way through, so keeping the hedge on my right, I followed the route around a couple of fields before an opportunity to clamber through a gap arrived, and I found a fallen signpost!.
I walked down to the road at the hamlet of Newton.
Newton To Snidley Moor Wood
I should have taken a right turn onto a path, but this was overgrown with nettles, so I went a little further up the road, around a sharp right bend to find a well signposted track that led back to my intended route.
I crossed a couple of fields that led to a communications mast that is part of the UK National Air Traffic System (NATS).
Of more interest was the display of blue flowers in the field opposite the mast.
With some quick research I established that this is chicory.
I crossed Manley Road and down a track. From above came the unmistakeable sound of a party of ravens. One came quite close!
At ground level, there were plenty of butterflies, but I haven’t quite got the knack of getting good photos before they flutter away!.
This one is, I think, a gatekeeper.
So, moving on, I entered Snidley Moor Wood.
Snidley Moor Wood To Frodsham Woods
The Woodland Trust manages the connected woodlands of Snidley Moor Wood, Woodhouse Hill Wood, and Frodsham Woods. It is a stunning area, with beautiful woods, a nice bench for my lunch, and sandstone cliffs giving panoramic views over the Mersey estuary to Liverpool and across to Helsby Hill.
The Sandstone Trail runs through the woods.
As I made my way along the path, the high pitched call of a buzzard caught my attention, and amazingly, there was the bird on a branch about 15 yards away. It didn’t see me, so I crept around and got a nice picture of it before it quietly swooped away.
On previous visits to this end of the Sandstone Trail, it has hugged the edge of Frodsham Golf Club, a course I played and enjoyed quite often.
The course and club closed during the Covid pandemic, and sadly, it never reopened. However, in stepped The Woodland Trust who acquired the land and have now planted over 30,000 trees here, on 95 hectares of countryside, and have named it Frodsham Woods. More information about the project can be found via this link –
Walking across the land, I could picture some of the holes as they were.
This hole was a short par 4 slight dogleg left with the trees on the right adjoining the Sandstone Trail and out of bounds! The bench is at what was once the tee.
The two pictures below show the same piece of land. On the left, I think this was the 3rd or 4th hole, heading downhill towards the clubhouse from a high point behind the camera position. The trees nearest the camera, centre right of the left picture, are now mature on the right of today’s picture (taken from lower down the hill) with the dry grass now planted with new saplings.
It will be fascinating to see how this landscape develops over the next decade.
From here it was a short stroll to Simons Lane, and the car.
This was a very enjoyable walk, the first two-thirds being new to me, and the last third being in a familiar, gorgeous spot with the added intrigue of the old golf course.
And Finally….
We went to Castlefield Bowl to enjoy The K’s earlier this month. They had two support bands. Fletchr Fletchr were fantastic.
This is the brilliant Messing With My Head.
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