The Gritstone trail is a 35 mile trek through Cheshire and Staffordshire, starting at Disley and ending at Kidsgrove. There is an 1800 metres of ascent over the route. The start and end are bothe railway stations. I used directions printed off from Cheshire council web site, OS map download to my phone and some printed off map sections. This was time well spent during the winter covid lockdown doing this prep. When doing the final planning the problem I found was no B&Bs on the route itself, so I ended up with solution of a Premier Inn in Macclesfield and taxi journeys too and fro to the start and end points on each day. Despite the extra cost this worked out well. I used my Osprey Atmos 65 rucksack, which although large enough to carry wild camping gear is ridiculously comfortable. The other great success (in my opinion) was my new Panasonic Lumix compact TZ90. This attached to my belt in a pouch, and was so much better than the Lumix DZ300 in terms of weight and size. I followed the reccomended 3 day itinerary, and was glad that I did. The weather was very hot and the climbs (although none of the hills are very high compared to Lake District or Peak District) were hard.
Day 1 June 7th. Disley to Langley 12 miles
Anne gave me a lift to Langley Mill Station, and after a two hour jurney and two changes I arrived at Disley just before 9.00 AM.
The route directions from Visit Cheshire website, and the signage along the route were excellent. In summary the day 1 Route was :-
- Disley Station
- Green Lane
- Lyme Park
- Sponds Hill (highest point on the whole route 410 m)
- Bakestondale Road
- White Nancy
- Kerridge Hill
- Tower Hill (road name)
- Teggs Nose Country Park
- Bottoms Resevoir ,Langley
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| Green Lane |
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| Hunting tower in Lyme Park |
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| Manchester in the distance |
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| The House at Lyme Park |
The views from the Sponds Hill ridge were terrific - all the western edge of the magnificent Peak District.
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| The track climbing oot of Lyme Park |
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| the views across to the Peak District |
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| Sponds Hill Ridge |
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The viewpoint on Sponds Hill
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| White Nancy in the distance |
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| Lovely footbridge over Harrop Brook |
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Approaching top of White Nancy. Killer climb in the heat!
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The climb up to White Nancy was a killer ! At the top I stopped for a break and some food and enjoyed the fantastic views from the top. White Nancy monument is a memorial to the victory at Waterloo at the end of the Napoleonic wars.
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| Quarry equipment at Teggs Nose |
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| Rare breed in Teggs Nose CP |
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| Teggs Nose from the other side of the CP, the end of the walk. |
Just before reaching Teggs nose I hit the 'wall'. My legs turned to jelly, but on any hike you have to carry on - no one is going to pick you up !! When I finally got there I decided to walk up Teggs nose and down to the other side at the resevoirs at Langley, saving me a good 45 minutes on day 2.
Day 2 Langley to Timbersbrook 14 miles
Breakfast at the hotel was a disappointment - I was expecting full english, but tea and toast instead! My taxi was on time and dropped me off at the resevoir at 8:15. The weather continued as yesterday - hot, clear and sunny.
This was my favorite day. Two climbs (Croker Hill and the Cloud), a canal section, woods, and fabulous views. I feel lucky.
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| Radio tower on Croker Hill |
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| Hawthorn trees showing off on the hillside |
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| First high point of the day |
In summary the route today was :-
- Langley - Bottoms Resevoir
- Fields across to Meg Lane
- Croker Hill (radio tower)
- The Minn
- Shell Brook Valley
- Canal feeder along bottom of valley
- Cross the A523
- Raven Clough
- The Cloud
- Timbersbrook
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| Jodrell bank in the distance |
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| He/She stayed still long enough to get this shot |
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| Shutlingsloe in the distance on the climb up Croker Hill |
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| Shutlingsloe on max zoom |
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| Top of Croker Hill |
I couldn't find anywhere decent to sit for a break so I carried on for a while and found a great place to stop looking across the valley to the Cloud.
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| Approach to the Cloud |
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| Approach to the Cloud |
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| The Bridge over River Dane |
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| River Dane |
I am sure I took some pics of the canal feeder but can't find them. I'll update the blog when I do.
Rest before Cloud
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| Final approach to the top |
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| Radio tower from the top of the Cloud |
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| Trig Point with radio tower in the distance |
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| End of day 2 |
Taxi back to Maccelsfield for a rest before day 3.
Day 3 Timbersbrook to Kidsgrove 9 miles
I was dropped off at Timbersbrook Picinic Area at 7:15. I had cancelled the breakfast at the hotel and made sure I had something for breakfast. shout out for the taxi drivers from Silvertown taxis Macc - they were all on time, and great characters.
Today was my least favorite day, but thankfully not much climbing with sore feet and ankles. Leaving Timbersbrook there were a few farm fields to traverse before reaching the Biddulph Valley Way railway track which was a lovely 2km of flat easy walking and benches (for a breakfast stop).
I didn't like the road section after Nick i th Hill. but after that it was a gentle climb to Mow Cop.
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| The old man of Mow |
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| Mow cop folly |
After Mow Cop there were some footpaths leading to The Bank village before joining the canal towpath.
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| End of the trail - 35 miles. |
It was super hot when I arrived at the end. Kidsgrove station was full of contractors doing building work and making lots of noise. also, I couldn't find a rail employee who could tell me which station I needed.
Fortunately, my rail ticket was an off peak open ticket so I could get the 12:21 back to Derby.
What a fantastic mini adventure. A lovely trek through Cheshire and Straffordshire.
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