{"id":1003349,"date":"2021-04-01T21:18:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.half-daywalker.com\/?p=1003349"},"modified":"2025-04-17T15:43:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T14:43:48","slug":"three-shires-head-or-three-shire-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.half-daywalker.com\/?p=1003349","title":{"rendered":"Three Shires Head or Three Shire Heads?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Which is it? The former is in common use, but the latter is as stated on the OS Map. Whichever, it is a beautiful spot, where I have walked several times, and yet today, I completed a 7 mile walk, with just a few hundred yards of path that I had walked before. And I did indeed walk in three counties – mainly in Cheshire, about 20 paces in Derbyshire, and about half a mile in Staffordshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel time \u2013 40 minutes each way. Walk time \u2013 3hrs, plus half an hour for lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather was cloudy and cold (5 deg C at the bottom in the sheltered car park), with a very brisk north-easterly wind giving a significant wind chill on the moors. And to think it was over 20C a couple of days ago!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This walk is 7 miles, and it rises 1350 feet, 411m., so a good test for my recovering knee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The walk is not dog friendly, as witnessed by this sign near the start.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Of course, this was fine for birdwatchers, and this is a great time of year to see and hear some of our less common feathered friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OS Explorer Map OL24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I parked in the free car park at Clough House Farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cumberland Brook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leaving the car park at the top end, I crossed the road and headed up the pretty valley of Cumberland Brook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking back to Clough House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On Up The Wooded Valley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the wood , a waterfall appeared, and a choice of directions, and I took a left to head up Danethorn Hollow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, I had seen no-one since leaving the car park. It’s a wild and lonely spot.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Looking Back Down Danethorn Hollow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A Sheltered , Pretty Waterfall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I had walked up a south-west facing slope, well protected from the northeasterly wind, but I was now almost out onto the flat moors. So it was fortuitous that I came across this spot, and I decided to sit and eat lunch here. As I sat, two curlews flew above me, with their extraordinarily long downturned bills prominent, and their unique whirring call echoing around me. Glorious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sheltered picnic spot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Close up of mossy waterfall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View from above<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Danebower Hollow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I pressed on up the hill, now on the bitterly exposed open moor. The path eventually reached a bridleway which comes down from the Cat and Fiddle Inn. Here, the Footpath Society’s sign adopts the common usage for my destination.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I headed right, towards the A54trunk road. This exposed stretch of moor gave sightings of red grouse, with their loud throaty call, numerous meadow pipits, a skylark singing its classic trill high above in the cloud, an occasional lapwing, and then, a flock of about 12 of the lapwing’s close relatives, the golden plover, in summer plumage. A first for me! <\/p>\n\n\n

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Library picture – Golden Plover – Pluvialis apricaria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dane Valley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crossing the A54 I headed down past a disused mine shaft to the headwaters of the River Dane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was back in more sheltered conditions now, and the cattle were also appreciating the peace, down by the river.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Beauty Spot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’d still seen very few people but this spot where the 3 counties meet is always popular, and plenty of folk had ventured here for their picnic lunch. I approached from the north in Cheshire, turned left over the first bridge into Derbyshire, then immediately right, over the second bridge and into Staffordshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Continuing down with the river on my right, I took the right fork at the cross wall, the path heading down to the riverside, and a bridge, where I almost got to photograph a dipper sitting on a rock – alas the one that got away!<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Final Stretch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crossing the river, back into Cheshire, I headed up to a farm with the odd name, Knar, and followed the road round to Hole-edge, where a path and track to the right took me back up onto the open moor. Behind me was an expansive view across the Dane Valley to the ridge of The Roaches<\/p>\n\n\n

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There was then a tricky corner where the path isn’t signed, but goes seemingly into the back garden of a cottage where there is a sign on a gate.<\/p>\n\n\n

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And, as I continued uphill, the unmistakeable outline of Shutlingsloe appeared like an old friend weloming me back.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Traversing the moor, the weather began to offer glimpses of the sun. I crossed back over the A54 and down a lane, where another sign erected by the Footpath Society offered the alternative name – confused? I am!<\/p>\n\n\n

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I reached Crag Hall with its imposing backdrop of Shutlingsloe, turned right and headed back to Clough House Farm.<\/p>\n\n\n

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And Finally<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Those windy moors led me to this classic……<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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