(S/E) From the front door of the Hare and Hounds, turn right. Turn almost immediately right over a bridge into a lane marked with a footpath sign. Walk past a house on the right and continue along the lane, which shortly bends to the right to meet the River Goyt. Follow it to a house, where it leaves the river again to reach a farm. Walk through the farm and rejoin the lane on the other side. Climb the hill to meet the A626 at Offerton Green.
(1) Turn right past a petrol station and the entrance to a sand and gravel supplier opposite the end of Bean Leach Road. Cross over and continue downhill past the entrance to Foggbrook Drive, crossing back over the main road at the bridge at the bottom of the valley. Turn right into Holiday Lane and cross the stream again. At a junction, take the track straight ahead, then turn left onto a path. In front of some garages, follow the path to the right. Continue along the obvious path down the valley to a footbridge.
(2) Cross here and climb obliquely up the opposite bank of the stream. Just after the brow of the hill, turn off to the right, descending to a bridge over the River Goyt to the right of some low sandstone cliffs. Cross the river and follow the path rightward and uphill through trees, then cross a narrow field to meet a track. Turn left and follow the track to Goyt Hall.
(3) Keep straight on past the farm, then when the track bends left climb a stile on your right into a field. Cross the field to a double stile, beyond which turn sharp right up a small valley. Almost immediately, climb out of the valley up the bank on your left and follow the woodland edge uphill, with the valley on your right. Cross a stile and continue to a crossing path, where you turn right to drop down to cross the stream. The track continues uphill then bears right along a hedge.
(4) When you meet a farm road, turn left into a housing estate. Follow the road (Clapgate) past Bredbury Green Primary School and a row of shops to a junction. Turn right (Bredbury Green) and walk out to the main road, ignoring the turnings into The Ridgway and Greenhead Fold on your right.
(5) At the main road (Hatherlow) turn right. At the Spread Eagle pub, turn left before the church and follow Green Lane downhill. Just before the canal aqueduct, climb the steps on your left up to the towpath. Turn right, over the aqueduct. Follow the towpath for three-quarters of a mile, crossing another small aqueduct above Chadkirk and passing an industrial building on the far bank, until you reach the entrance to the Hyde Tunnel.
(6) Here the towpath curves over the canal, passing under an archway to emerge into a track. Turn right past the entrance to Hyde Bank Farm, then turn right into Hyde Bank. At the end of the track, to the right of the entrance to The Haven, descend steeply to rejoin the canal beyond the tunnel. Continue along the towpath, passing under bridge no. 15 and through a stone-lined cutting to Marple Aqueduct. Cross the aqueduct, past an industrial building, and go under the railway bridge.
(7) At the next bridge (16), cross the canal and turn right along the towpath, now on the other bank. Climb past locks 1–6 of the Marple Flight. At lock 7, turn right over the bridge and go straight across a private drive onto a path opposite. When you emerge by a mini-roundabout, go straight ahead into Grosvenor Road. At the end of the road, cross and take the footpath opposite, which leads to the right of some allotments to reach another road. Cross straight over into the continuation of the path, which bears left round an electricity substation and then left between houses and cricket pitch to the end of a cul-de-sac. Keep left along a tarmac path to another cul-de-sac. Another tarmac path, beyond a metal barrier, leads out to Seven Stiles Drive; turn left to a T-junction.
(8) Turn right past Rose Hill Primary School and cross the railway. Turn right along Dale Road to its end, ignoring turnings to left and right. The road narrows, passing the entrance to Marple Dale Care Home on the left then descending through woods to meet the River Goyt. Pass Middle Dale Farm then, before the entrance to Lower Dale Farm, keep right of the wall onto a path close to the river.
(9) Follow the riverside path for a quarter of a mile to Chadkirk Bridge. Continue along the riverside path. After a bridge over a sidestream, ignore a stepped path on the left, continuing along the main track, which climbs to a hairpin bend. Leave the track along a path ahead that climbs through the trees, before turning right at the top of the wood. At a fork take the right-hand path, which descends to a footbridge. Cross the field ahead to the main road. Turn left to return to the Hare and Hounds.(S/E)
