Mellor March Route : Rowarth Loop

(S/E) With your back to the pub, turn right and walk up Longhurst Lane past the 20 mph speed-limit signs. Turn left down Knowle Road (signposted Mellor Primary School), passing Mellor Sports Club on the right and the school on the left. Cross a stream and follow the road through Slack Wood, passing a left-hand turn to Townscliffe Lane, until you reach Knowle Farm. From the farmyard, take the footpath on the right uphill across fields to reach Mellor Church via a flight of steps.

(1) On leaving the churchyard, turn left over the stile in front of the old Hearse House, passing the roundhouse on your left. At the end of the field cross the stile by the gate and turn left, following the public footpath sign to Greenhill. Follow the path downhill, crossing two stiles, to reach a track by a gate. Swing right and left above some duckponds, then pass the buildings onto a metalled drive. At the entrance to Primrose Mill cross the stream and swing round a righthand bend, following the drive uphill to the Hare and Hounds at Mill Brow. Turn right, then shortly afterwards turn left into Gird Lane. Walk past the former chapel and continue along the rough track beyond the last house.

(2) When the track bends left, take a footpath over a stile on the right. Cross the field beyond diagonally to a stile in the corner and walk along the bottom of the next field. Follow a fenced track to reach a road by Smithy Lane Farm and take the track opposite. Follow the track above the trout farm, a lake on the right-hand side. The path curves to the left and crosses a stream by a muddy ford. By two trees, fork to the left and remain close to the line of the gorse bushes to your left. Look out for a stile hidden behind a holly tree in the corner of the field, before the remains of a wall; cross the stile and turn right to a further stile. Skirt the fence around Cloughend Farm crossing two more stiles, the second into the farm drive. Exit the drive to the road, then turn immediately right onto a track.

(3) Follow this track for about 80 yards then, just after two lines of pylons, turn left over a boulder bridge onto a narrow path between wire fences. As you head uphill, cross a footbridge between two ponds and pass a small old quarry on your right. Keep along the fence to reach Gun Road. Cross the road onto a broad track. Continue along the track, past Robin Hood’s Picking Rods.

(4) Turn right at a stile and pass Far Slack Farm. Cross a stile by a metal gate and walk alongside a fence towards Near Slack Farm. Take the left-hand path, keeping to the left of the fence, as you approach the farm, passing above the farm and a small conifer plantation. At the end of the field cross a stile in the corner. Follow the path through the little hills downhill to Rowarth, crossing a stile partway down and finally passing between gardens to a metalled road.

(5) Turn right for 50 yards then turn left. Walk down the road, picking up a limestone chipping footpath on the right beyond the phone box that leads down the side of the White House. Follow the path past a smallholding to the Little Mill Inn.

(6) From the Little Mill walk up Hollinsmoor Road to the Children's Inn, passing the end of Goddard Lane on the right. Turn left down a track towards Hollins Farm. Before you get to the farm, cross a stile on your right next to a metal gate and follow the track. Walk along the right-hand edge of the field beyond to a Public Footpath sign on your right. Ignore the right-hand turn and keep straight on over a stile by a gate and along the edge of the next field until the field edge kinks right. Leave the field edge and walk straight across the field past some piles of rubble to a footbridge and stile concealed behind some gorse bushes. Climb the bank opposite and head towards a wall stile to the left of a gateway directly in front of you. Beyond the stile, follow the wall on your right-hand side, skirting a series of damp depressions in the field, the last by an old gateway.

(7) In the right-hand corner of the last field before the gardens of Briargrove Farm, cross over a stile on your right and head up half-left to another stile out into the road. Turn left downhill for a short distance, then turn right (opposite the entrance of Briargrove Farm) into a stony walled trackway.

(8) On reaching Mellor Road, turn right and walk uphill for a short distance. Leave the road to follow a trackway on your left, along the edge of a wood. On reaching the road at the top of the track, go straight across onto a Restricted Byway to rejoin the Main Route. Pass Knapkin Piece Farm then lookout for a stile on your left by two metal gates (Peak and Northern Footpaths Society sign no. 482). Cross the stile and walk straight across the field to a stone stile; beyond this follow the wall on your left. Cross another stile and head towards a large boundary stone.

(9) Turn right here following a stone wall then a fence beyond the trees. Cross another stile then turn left towards Shaw Farm, keeping to the left of the field. Enter the farmyard and pass a couple of barns to reach the entrance. Cross to a gate opposite, keeping along the wall in front of the farmhouse. Beyond a further gate keep to the wall, with a small wooded valley to your left. Just before a gate, cross a stile on your left, down a few steps into the wood. Cross a small wooden bridge then follow the path down to the stream, which you cross on another footbridge (with a footpath sign pointing in the opposite direction). Walk up the other side of the valley and turn right through a stile. Walk downhill along a fenced path, then briefly divert left round the garden, along a permitted path (white arrow). Follow the drive down to the Fox.

(10) From the Fox car park near the telephone box, follow the track downhill marked Goyt Way. Go under the railway bridge and pass Strines Station.

(11) After a short stretch of cobblestones, turn right by Strines Hall, following a bridleway uphill towards Greenclough Farm. 28 By the farm, cross a stream and follow the Goyt Way on your left. When the track splits, keep to the Goyt Way on the right (slightly uphill). 29 Stay alongside the railway, ignoring a signposted bridleway on your right. 30 Pass Windybottom Farm then go through the tunnel under the railway to meet the River Goyt. Beyond Roman Bridge (on your left) you go under the railway viaduct, then pass Roman Lakes on your right-hand side.

(12) At the junction with Lakes Road, turn right for a short distance and then turn left following an uphill path opposite the Old Hall. 32 At the top of Old Hall Lane, turn right back to the Royal Oak.(S/E)