Length: 24.9 km (15.4 mi) [For a shorter or longer walk see below Walk Options]
Ascent/Descent: 784/892m
Net Walking Time: 6 ¾ hours
Toughness: 8 out of 10
Take the Bus Line 16 at 09.45 from Buxton, Market Place, Stand A (also calls at: Terrace Road, Colonnade, Pavilion Gardens, Park Road, Bishops Lane and at Burbage, Christ’s Church), arrives Upper Hulme, Old Buxton Road at 10.03.
Return to Buxton either with Bus Line 58 (at 16.15, 17.15, 17.45 and 18.45) or by train (longer journey, xx.01 until 23.01).
This walk is basically the reverse of Macclesfield to Leek, walked by some last year, BUT is much shorter and has a proper bus shortcut at the end AND includes the dramatic Hen Cloud!
A tour de force of highlights in the Staffordshire/Cheshire borderlands within easy reach of London.
You rise through the tight valley of an arm of the Upper Churnet River to then ascend the quite sensational Hen Cloud, a tilted standalone rockface, for stunning views of the Staffordshire Plain as well as the route ahead over the famous gritstone escarpment of the Roaches, part of a 6-kilometre curved ridge which you follow all the way to the fascinating viewpoint of the Hanging Stone.
You rise through the tight valley of an arm of the Upper Churnet River to then ascend the quite sensational Hen Cloud, a tilted standalone rockface, for stunning views of the Staffordshire Plain as well as the route ahead over the famous gritstone escarpment of the Roaches, part of a 6-kilometre curved ridge which you follow all the way to the fascinating viewpoint of the Hanging Stone.
From there drop steadily through Back Forest into the very scenic Dane Valley by Gradbach Mill and enter Cheshire. Ascend out of the valley up across a modest hill with quiet pastures and cross into the scenic Wildboarclough, with fine views ahead of the hardest ascent of the day: up the imposing ‘Cheshire Matterhorn’: Shutlingsloe.
An easy descent down the other side leads to a crossing of High Moor (on a good path) to the rim of the wide bowl of the Macclesfield Forest. Descend through the enchanting wood, then pass a string of reservoirs fed by the Bollin Brook and commence one last climb up The Hollins, a modest hill with fine views over the Cheshire Plain and down into Macclesfield before the drop into the historic Silk Town, with its many tea options.
Walk Options:
Omit the ascent of the striking hilly outcrop of Hen Cloud: cuts 1.0 km and 50m ascent.
Cut the out-and-back to the Hanging Stone (cut 880m).
Cut the out-and-back into Lud’s Church Chasm, a unique deep mossy cleft (cut 800m).
An Alternative Route on Shutlingsloe avoids the last rough and steep bit of the ascent by skirting the summit (cut 45m ascent).
Bus Line 14 (Langley – Macclesfield, (hourly, last bus at 17.27) enables a finish in Langley (cut 3.6 km/2.4 mi and 95m ascent).
Lunch: The Crag Inn will be open 12.00-16.00, but sells no food (crips or nuts maybe...), so: Picnic.
Tea: The Leather’s Smithy in Langley (4.9 km/3.1 mi from the end of the walk); St. Dunstan’s Inn in Langley (3.7 km/2.3 mi from the end of the walk); The Dolphin in Macclesfield (1.0 km from the end of the walk). Numerous options in the centre of Macclesfield.
For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.388