Middlewood Way & Styperson Pool

(S/E) From the hotel, follow the drive out to the road. Turn right and immediately right again through a kissing gate into a field. Follow a line of trees down the shallow valley and walk along a short path between hedges, then follow the right-hand field edge to a wooden kissing gate into a track. Turn right down the track, then follow it to the right between houses and to the left of a pair of gateposts.

(1) Cross the canal bridge and turn right down the steps onto the towpath. Follow the towpath past Adelphi Mill and over the Grimshaw Lane aqueduct. Shortly after the canal bends to the right, leave the towpath through a gate in the wall on the left into Hawthorn Road.

(2) Follow the road over the former railway bridge and turn right onto a footpath running along the rear of some gardens. Bear right onto the Middlewood Way and turn left to cross the former railway viaduct. Pass the distance marker in the shape of a railway wheel, reading “Macclesfield 3 miles Marple 7 miles”, and pass under a stone over-bridge. Continue beyond another bridge and pass a Line Hut on the left with a wooden rabbit carving.

(3) At the next distance marker (“Macclesfield 4 miles Marple 6 miles”), turn right onto a footpath with an NCW waymark that leads through a kissing gate. Walk up the field to a stile onto a bridge over the canal (for a shorter walk, turn right along the towpath to the bridge 25). Continue to Winterfold Farm and turn right along the road.

(4) After 200 yards, turn left into a driveway with a sign reading “Footpaths to Long Lane and Shrigley Road”. Pass between houses and follow a footpath with the lake on your left. Turn right onto a waymarked concessionary path that leads up steps into the woodland, passing some old stone quarries. Keep right to the edge of the wood and follow the path uphill within the trees, then walk through a brackeny area to emerge on Long Lane.

(5) Turn right along the road, with views to Alderley Edge and beyond to your right. After 300 yards, as the lane descends slightly, turn right onto a footpath through a stone squeeze stile. Walk down the left-hand side of a couple of fields, then go through a gate and past a former chapel to the road. Turn left, then right into Holehouse Lane. 

(6) Walk down to the canal; cross the bridge and turn left onto the towpath. Notice the defaced canal milestone. Follow the towpath for a third of a mile (with views of White Nancy) to bridge 26, and beyond for further ¼ mile to Clarence Mill. Beyond the mill, pass under bridge 26A and continue along the towpath across another aqueduct.

(7) At bridge 27, leave the towpath and cross the canal. Walk uphill along Hurst Lane (passing the entrances to Highfield Road, Poplar Grove and Ward Avenue on the right and Gleave Avenue on the left).

(8) At the junction with Grimshaw Lane turn left, then right into Jackson Lane, signposted “Hotels”. The entrance to Hollin House is on your right after 150 yards.(S/E)

Mostly level along the canal towpath and a former railway, but with one optional climb through woodland.

A stepped footpath follows a section of the Rally Road, a former tramway used to carry stone from the quarries on Kerridge to a wharf on the Macclesfield Canal. The tramway was constructed in the 1830s and was in use until the 1860s. The incline passes under Windmill Lane via Victoria Bridge, dated May 24th 1837 (the birthday of Queen Victoria in the year she was crowned).

Clarence Mill (built in various phases from 1834) is a former cotton-spinning mill on the Macclesfield Canal. The earliest steam-powered mill in Bollington, it was built by the Swindells family, who dominated the local cotton spinning industry and also built the later Adelphi Mill. The prominent tower on the front of the building is a former water tower and incorporates a staircase.

Bridge 29 is a roving bridge. These bridges, a speciality of the Macclesfield Canal, occur where the towpath changes sides, the spiral ramp allowing the towing horse to switch from one bank to the other without having to be unhitched from the boat.

The Middlewood Way is a combined footpath, cycling and horse-riding route that follows the former Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple railway for 11 miles. It forms part of National Cycle Network Route 55 from Ironbridge to Preston.

Tegg’s Nose is a country park operated by the Cheshire East Ranger Service. The quarried hilltop offers superb views over Macclesfield Forest to Shutlingsloe and includes historical exhibits explaining the processes and traditions involved in extracting the hard local stone known as Chatsworth Grit. There is a visitor centre and café with public toilets next to the car park.

The attractive slab paths running along the base of the Kerridge hill were built to provide access to the quarries to workers living in the nearby villages.