Macclesfield to Buxton walk

Tegg's Nose Country Park, Macclesfield Forest, lonely moorlands up to Shining Tor, and the wild Upper Goyt Valley to the historic Spa Town

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date	Option	Post	#	Weather
Sun, 10-Oct-21		Sunday Walk - Macclesfield to Buxton	15	sunny with a cold wind on the tops

Sun, 10-Oct-21 : Sunday Walk - Macclesfield to Buxton 15

Thomas G

Length: 25.2 km (15.7 mi) [shorter and longer walks possible]

Ascent/Descent: 971/805 m

Net Walking Time: ca. 7 hours

Toughness: 9 out of 10

For the Morning Shortcuts: 09.20 Bus Line 58 from the Bus Station

For the Full Walk: 09.15 Start at the Train Station

Return Bus: Buxton Colonnade (in Lower Buxton) 17.04, Buxton Market Place Stand D (in Higher Buxton) 17.10, Burbage Way 17.14, Burbage Level Lane 17.17, Cat & Fiddle 17.26.

A taxi won’t cost the earth. Note: the bus does not call at the train station on Sundays!

An exciting route from the fringes of the Dark Peak to the fringes of the White Peak, namely from the historic Silk Town of Macclesfield in Cheshire to the even more historic Spa Town of Buxton in Derbyshire.

You climb steeply out of town along residential roads to quickly emerge amongst pastures and rolling hills and ascend further to Tegg’s Nose, a formerly quarried hill, with its handful of fine viewpoints, from where you descend through the Walker Barn Stream valley and rise again through Macclesfield Forest to the isolated Forest Chapel. Cross the Tor Brook valley and ascend along the Clough Brook valley over open moorland along permissive paths, then steeply up the moorland wall to the ridge separating Cheshire and Derbyshire.

From the ridge, divert for an out-and-back ascent of Cheshire’s highest top, Shining Tor, then descend into the lonely Upper Goyt Valley, passing the Goytsclough Quarry and crossing the Goyt River. You rise over Goyt’s Moss’ moorland and up along the Berry Clough onto the British watershed between the Irish Sea and the North Sea, i.e.: between Goyt and Wye. From here descend into the Upper Wye Valley via Burbage to Buxton, along residential roads and through the Pavilion Gardens, where the gritstone and limestone arms of the Wye meet.

Return by bus. The bus line also offers multiple ways of reducing the length of the walk

Walk options:

Late Morning Shortcut: from Forest Chapel, descend along Oven Lane to Bottom-of-the-Oven instead of routing down and up through the far north easterly corner of Macclesfield Forest (cut 1.5 km and 40m ascent).

Easier Route in the Chest Hollow open moorland: avoid the very steep ascent to the Cat & Fiddle.

Mid-walk Shortcut: cut out the out-and-back ascent of Shining Tor (cut 2.0 km and 75m ascent). [Note: the ascent of Shining Tor also features on Monday’s walk.]

Bus Line 58 (Macclesfield – Buxton via Cat & Fiddle), offers various stops on - or close to - the route to either shorten the walk by cutting out a stretch at the start or by finishing the route early, and in any case of getting back faster from Buxton to Macclesfield (or London) than via the railway. See the pdf or the webpage for more details and the route map for the location of the stops.

Elenvenses

Tegg’s Nose Tea Room Tegg’s Nose Country Park. The Tea Room is located 5.8 km (3.6 mi) into the walk. Open 09.00-17.00.

Lunch

The Forest Distillery Bottom-of-the-Oven. The distillery is located 11.3 km (7.0 mi) into the walk. Bar open most afternoons.

The Stanley Arms Hotel Bottom-of-the-Oven. The Stanley Arms is located 200m off route, 11.5 km (7.2 mi) into the walk. Food served 12.00-18.30. A Marston’s pub with accommodation.

Lunch and Tea

The Cat & Fiddle Buxton New Road. The Cat & Fiddle is located 150m off route, 14.2 km (8.8 mi) into the walk. Open 11.00-17.00. Built in 1813, and long England’s second highest pub, it closed in December 2015 with an uncertain future. Robinson’s Brewery have recently sold it to the Forest Distillery though, who have opened it as Britain’s highest altitude distillery, with a pub attached.

Peak View Restaurant & Tea Room Buxton New Road. The Peak View is located 14.0 km (8.8 mi) into the walk, if cutting out the direct ascent to The Cat & Fiddle, or 250m off route and 14.6 km (9.1 mi) into the walk, if not. Open 10.00-17.00.

Plenty of options in Buxton, either around the Market Place or close to the Train Station. T=swc.383

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

Thomas G

10-Oct-21

4 people returned to London this morning, 7 started as posted, 7 others took the 9.20 to Buxton, explored the town and walked the route in reverse, all to avoid a dash for the last bus from Buxton (an hour earlier than Mon-Sat).
As we climbed out of Macclesfield, the hills ahead (Blakelow, then Tegg's Nose) were still shrouded in low clouds, but by the time we had gotten to the top, those had burned off and we had stunning views in blue skies. Manchester was visible for the first time on this trip, the Jodrell Bank Observatory, plenty of hills in every direction, although the Welsh ones were lost in the haze.
5 viewpoints there are on Tegg's Nose, with slightly different vistas, we visited them all. On to the visitor centre and car park, and as the footpath merged with the Road, there she was in silhouette, away on the left: the almost-ever-present SWC Peak District Tripper, the SWC Representative for Kew. She had walked up the road after being late and having taken the wrong kind of directions with her. 15
Down the packhorse track and back up Hacked Way Lane, into the Macclesfield Forest, along dreamy paths, some steep. You then leave civilization behind, so to speak, and enter the large lonely pastures and the moorlands up to the Cat & Fiddle, only interrupted by lunch at The Stanley Arms.
To me, this is the best stretch of the route, the others seemed to enjoy it as well. At the Cat, we met the other group, who had a perfunctory lunch there. Staff were overstretched and made clear that they'd rather not have us sit down, so we moved on after a short while.
Up to Shining Tor, with views out to Kinder Scout, and down and up through the Upper Goyt Valley, with the afternoon sun lighting up the bracken and heather slopes.
Buxton's Market Place we reached at 17.08, with the 17.10 bus already waiting. Perfect.
sunny with a cold wind on the tops