Peak District Trip 11-15 July: Macclesfield - 4 Nights, 4 Walks

The walks in their likely order, with their likely start times:

(and with preliminary bus times where buses are required)

 

12 July (Friday) – SWC 380 Macclesfield to Leek A strong candidate for one of the top walks on the website: A tour de force of highlights in the Cheshire/Staffordshire borderlands - Reservoirs, Macclesfield Forest, the 'Cheshire Matterhorn', lonely Wildboarclough, the Dane Valley, Lud's Church chasm and the Roaches gritstone escarpment. The Riverside Café in Gradbach ought to be open for lunch, this being summer. The Crag Inn won’t be, unless we arrange it to open just for us well ahead of time. 9.30 start from the station. Return by Bus Line 109 (last at 17.40!!!, i.e. no dawdling). Miss that bus and a bus to Stoke beckons, then a train journey back up to Macc.

13 July (Saturday) – SWC 381 Macclesfield Circular via the Dane Valley The Dane Valley, pastures and wooded valleys, and ridges with views of the Cheshire Plain, high moors and gritstone ridges. 9.30 start from the station. Lunch in Wincle, either at The Wincle Beer Company or The Ship Inn. Then passing 5 more pubs before getting back to Macc.

14 July (Sunday) – SWC 389 Buxton to Macclesfield via The Cat & Fiddle An exciting route from the fringes of the White Peak to the fringes of the Dark Peak, or from Spa Town to Silk Town via the wild Goyt Valley, Shining Tor, lonely moorlands down the Clough Brook Valley to Macclesfield Forest and through Tegg's Nose Country Park. 9.20 Bus Line 58 from Macc Bus Station to Buxton Station. Lunch at The Peak View Restaurant & Tea Room. The Cat & Fiddle Distillery Bar is 550m off route. The Stanley Arms Hotel/Pub further along may or may not be still in business. Tea at Tegg’s Nose Tea Room.

15 July (Monday) – SWC 384 Buxton Circular via Combs Moss A mini Kinder Scout Circuit, kind of: Exciting but short and easy circuit of a quiet moorland plateau above Buxton. Green valleys, reservoirs, Castle Naze hillfort, far views and dramatic gritstone edges. Picnic lunch unless you descend steeply to a pub 1.8 km away. Perfect walk for departure day, as it gives enough time to explore Buxton at the end and still get one of the last buses back to Macc (15.25, 16.25, 17.05, 18.05) and a decent timed train back to The Smoke.

Accommodation 

Travelodge Macclesfield Central. Plus guesthouses, cottages and B&B’s.

 

Travel 

Trains from Euston (Manchester service).

 

Definitive walk posts will go up once the bus schedules have been confirmed, i.e. late June.