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Start : From the Brigend Center 104 Palmerston St, Bollington, Macclesfield (SK10 5PW). Grid ref. SJ 935 779
(S/E) With your back to the Bridgend Centre, turn left and then left into and through the Memorial Gardens. Emerge to cross the road at the traffic lights and walk under the aqueduct, then cross over the road and enter the recreation ground. Turn left down the steps and along the path following the River Dean, with a handsome avenue of old sycamore trees.
(1) Follow the right fork, go down the steps and over the bridge and turn left. Emerge from the recreation ground, cross over the road (Adlington Road) and go through the car park to climb the steps on the right onto Middlewood Way.
At the top turn left (South) and cross over Bollington viaduct, then follow the right-hand path above the Way for around 400 m. At the bridge turn right (West) and walk down onto Hawthorn Road, turning left at the bottom onto Wellington Road (B5090).
(2) Cross over and take a right down Albert Road, passing two schools. Just after the second school, turn left along a ginnel between houses, then follow right to walk in front of Long Row Cottages to where the track meets Moss Brow.
(3) Take a left and then turn right to go into Moss Lane. As the road bends to the right, take a grassy footpath on your left. Follow this round to cross over a stile into a field. Keep forward to the left-hand corner, where you join a track going straight ahead, along the side of another field. (This track can be very muddy!)
Ignoring the turn into the farmyard, go ahead through the kissing gate with an upright stone in front and into a field, where you follow a hedge and then a fence on your left. Cross over a stile next to a stone slab and climb diagonally uphill (North-West), between a hedge and trees towards farm buildings.
(4) At the last tree go sharp right past the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society sign to Whiteley Green. This point links up with Tree Trail 2.
Walk downhill, follow the fence line on the left and maintain this overall direction after diverting slightly to cross a stile to the right and go forward through a large metal gate.
Cross the field, with the river on your left, to a metal bridge over the river, gated at each end, in the left-hand corner. To your right you will see a row of stately alder trees, hugging the river bank.
(5) Cross over the bridge and go with the hedge on your right for around 150 m. Follow the hedge sharp right (East) and continue round to a stile next to a gate. This stile brings you out at a bend on Hole House Lane where you follow the lane to the right for around 500m. Continue forward and look for the bay trees just above the holly hedge just before Holly Bank House. Walk along the lane, passing Whiteley Green Farm on the right.
(6) Just after Rose and Laneside Cottages on the left, enter the ginnel between holly hedges and go forward into Whiteley Greenwood. Look out for silver birch, oak, and ash. holly and sycamore trees. Emerging from the wood, go through a kissing gate and forward, with a couple of trees on your left.
Now drop down steps to a bridge and kissing gate over a brook. Head slightly diagonally left across the field and go over a kissing gate on the left of an oak tree. Follow the hedge on your right to cross over a stile and bridge.
(7) Walk forward, keeping the hedge on your right, and still forward, past the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society sign, to the right-hand corner of the field, where a hedge comes in from the left.
Keep straight ahead with the hedge on your right, continuing over a bridge and stile. Keep forward with a hedge on your right, then left down the track and over a stile by a gate, following this track round to the right. Before entering the farmyard there are dogwood shrubs on your right. Walk through a gate next to Harrop Green Farm.
Go straight ahead through a metal gate and then turn right through another gate and onto a track, where you go right.
(8) Ignore the first footpath on the right and, where this track bears left and uphill, go right over a stile then diagonally left over a field to cross a stile hidden in the hedge. Follow the fence on the right down to a stile and then straight ahead. Look for the weeping willow on your right. Carry on to a kissing gate in a holly hedge.
Cross over the road and turn right. On the far side of the grass triangle take the permissive path into Hibbertbrow Wood in front and go through it, walking parallel to the road. You will emerge onto the road, where you turn left and almost immediately down steps onto the Middlewood Way.
(9) Turning right under the bridge, you walk along the Way, with woods on either side, until you cross over a bridge. Soon the Trail arrives at kissing gates on the left and right.
You can continue forward for 50 yards to see a wild crab apple tree in the middle of the two paths. Returning, go through the kissing gate now on your right, and follow a holly hedge on your left to reach a stile by a gate and then a bridge over the Macclesfield Canal. This track leads to Sugar Lane.
(10) Turn right. After 100 yards cross the road and enter the track to Styperson. Where the track forks, go straight ahead, walking along the side of Styperson Pool, where you will see rhododendron bushes.
Go right up the steps, where you will find a chair carved to resemble an oak leaf, then carry on then forward uphill. Keep to the right following the wall on the right and continue uphill to follow the main path round the edge of the quarry to reach Long Lane.
(11) Turn left and walk to the end of the lane, where you cross over Shrigley Road turning right to follow the pavement into the hamlet of Pott Shrigley.
You are passing the wooded hillside, Holme Wood, on the grounds of Shrigley Hall Hotel on your left. Cross over the road just before the church and go through the gate into St Christopher's churchyard, graced with ancient yew and lime trees.
Leave the churchyard through the old lych gate, turning right down Shrigley Road, and take the left fork into Spuley Lane After about 35 metres you will see an old horse chestnut on your left. A little further on carry on straight, passing a footpath sign to Charles Head on the left. This point links up with Tree Trail 4.
Continue along the lane for just over a kilometre, where you take the right-hand fork. Walk down Blaze Hill and round to the mini-roundabout at the end of Ingersley Road.
(12) Cross over Church Street and forward along Palmerston Street to return to the Bridgend Centre. (S/E)
Tourist office
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