St Paul's Rambling Group Heaton Moor

Ashworth and Norden, Rochdale. St Jame's Church, Ashworth A party of six set out from Norden, Rochdale for this 5 mile ramble through the local countryside.From the car park we turned into Black Pits Lane and very soon arrived at the footpath alongside Naden Brook. At the bridge next to remains of the old mill, we crossed the river, and then began the climb out of the valley to a farm track which leads up to the ancient church of St James Bamford and the former pub known as the Chapel House, which is now a private residence. Here we stopped to admire the old church with its interesting grave stones and the views across Lancashire to Manchester and Derbyshire. We then crossed the fields to the old schoolhouse before joining Ashworth Rd to take us down to Simpson and Gelder Cloughs. Unfortunately we found the road closed because of a landslide and we had to retrace our steps and take an alternative path down to the valley. Not wishing to miss out the scenery...

Lymm - Byeways and canals On a sunny Saturday morning eight of us set off from the Henry St car park in the centre of Lymm for a walk around the surrounding countryside. For the first leg of the route we followed the tow path of the Bridgewater Canal heading towards Manchester. After about 1.5 miles we left the path to join the B5159 which took us under the canal. After continuing along the road for about half a mile we reached a stile on the left which took us into a field of sugar beet where we made a stop for a coffee break. The path then continued along the sides of the field and eventually we entered  Spud Wood. After a short walk through the trees the route followed along the byeways of Lymm until we finally arrived at St Mary's church. From here we joined the pathway  to walk around Lymm Dam and finally back to our start in Lymm.The walk was about 5 miles and there is plenty of interesting scenery and wildlife along the track. Lunch was at the Spread...

Barley Circular Village Hall Barley   We left St. Paul’s Church under a threatening sky towards the beautiful village of Barley in Lancashire only to find the rain had set in on our arrival about an hour later. Six of us left the car park for the old water works building which now boasts a glorious conversion to apartments.Next over the footbridge to our first climb of the day over a rather boggy, clumpy set of fields. As expected, the path proved a little difficult to follow here but after a bit of team work, we were back on track passing a farmhouse and over the hill towards Newchurch, The village is famous for its ‘Witches Galore Shop’ and usually has three old stuffed crones sitting outside but their absence probably reflected the extreme weather conditions that proved too much, even for them! Originally the village was called Goldshaw Booth but the Newchurch name came into use in October 1544 when John Bird, Bishop of Chester, consecrated the new church of St. M...

Marple Bridge A slightly larger than normal group of 11 walkers started the 3.5 mile circular route from Brabyns Brow Park in Marple Bridge. The walk took us past the site of the demolished Brabyns Hall which had been used as a military hospital in the First World War. We followed the course of the River Goyt, taking time to look at a discarded foundation stone from Monsal, to stop and admire the listed Iron Bridge. This was built in 1813 by the Salford Iron Works. A team of Friends of The Park were hard at work on keeping it free from weeds.  We took a short diversion to look at the point of confluence of the rivers Goyt and the Etherow before crossing the river at Compstall and continuing into Redbrow Wood. After heading across farmland we reached the steps leading up to the Marple Aquaduct which is 100ft above ground level.  Following the Canal, we passed the start of of Marple’s 16 locks and descended a path back to Brabyns Park. After the interesting walk the gro...

The group started the walk from the Nelson Pit Visitor centre car park. The miners here used to work 400 feet underground for the princely sum of £1.95 for a 5 1/2 day week! We walked a short distance along the Macclesfield Canal which had been used to ferry the coal by barges pulled by 14 horses.  We followed a circular route utilising part of the Middlewood Way which was originally the Macclesfield to Marple railway which was open from 1869 to 1970. We walked through two woods (Elmerhurst and Crow) leading to the National Trust owned Lyme Park. A short refreshment break was taken in the grounds before completing the circuit to have lunch at the Boars Head pub where the pies are to be recommended.    Nelson Pit Start Point Along Macclesfield Canal Crossing canal to enter Lyme Park No muddy paths here Elmerhurst Woods Lyme Park We begin our way home Boars Head - waiting for the pies to come!