(S/E) From the entrance of the Pheasant Inn, with the pub at your back, turn left, and then left again at the crossroads (into Fowlers Bench Lane). At the next crossroads, turn left into Rock Lane. At a fork, keep right (Hill Lane), shortly afterwards passing Rock House Farm on your left. Keep straight ahead at the next junction (indicated by a Sandstone Trail sign to Bulkeley Hill).
(1) When the road becomes a track, keep straight on. The track descends under a stone archway and becomes cobbled. Beyond a barrier, at a junction of tracks turn left for a few steps to find a concealed footpath that doubles back on itself to the right before entering a field via a stile. Walk down the field to a second stile through a hedge, and cross a second field beyond to meet the road.
(2) Turn left. Just before the gatehouse to Peckforton Castle on your left, turn right to leave the road along a footpath on the opposite side. Follow this path along the field edge with views over Peckforton Mere to the right and to Peckforton Castle to the left. The dotted line on the Ordnance Survey map may suggest that the path goes across the middle of the field, but in practice, it skirts along its right-hand edge. Ignore a path that leaves via a kissing gate on the right then follow the field edge along the near side of the woodland beyond, before turning right into the wood at a stile. At the far end of the wood turn right over a stile, then immediately left, passing a pond on your left. Beyond this, head to the right of the farm buildings ahead of you. You emerge into a farm drive and then into the road on the edge of Beeston village.
(3) Turn left. Turn left at the next road junction by Beeston Old Farm (signposted Beeston Castle) and then right at a pretty black-and-white cottage. Take the next right and follow this vergeless road for a quarter of a mile past a number of cottages until you reach the entrance of Beeston Castle. Whether or not you visit the Castle itself, continue by following the Sandstone Trail behind the English Heritage café and through woodland to emerge in a road by a house.
(4) Turn left then immediately right through a kissing gate and cross the field beyond, with Peckforton Castle on the hilltop ahead of you. The path drops down to cross a stream via a footbridge then climbs some steps and continues in the same direction along a field edge on the other side. Look out for a kissing gate on the right that leads to a diagonal path across a further field.
(5) When you reach a lane at the foot of the wooded slope of the Peckforton Hills, turn right along the lane, once again following the Sandstone Trail. After passing a number of houses on your right, leave the road through a metal gate to enter the wood on your left, again indicated by a Sandstone Trail sign. Follow the trail as it climbs gradually, mostly enclosed by woodland, but sometimes with open areas and views to the right. A path crosses at right angles above a house. Beyond this path the track continues in a similar vein until the Sandstone Trail departs up the slope to the left; keep to the track, which descends between high banks to a gate. Beyond the gate follow the metalled lane beyond, with a series of cottages on the left and some final views to the right, until you reach the Pheasant Inn.(S/E)
