EAST CHESHIRE RAMBLERS
A RECENT East Cheshire Ramblers walk started from Longshaw Lodge National Trust car park near Sheffield.
The walk was mostly across fairly gentle moorland on a day that turned from cloudy with a cool breeze to brilliantly sunny.
Starting out passing the Fox House Inn which dates from 1773 and is one of the highest pubs in Yorkshire, we soon turned south over Totley Moor towards Brown Edge and Flask Edge, which despite their names do not have dramatic cliffs.
From the trig point, where on clear day you may be able to see as far as Lincoln Cathedral, we went down to walk along road and took a track towards Greaves’s Piece and the inappropriately named Car Road.
From here we took a narrow path at the foot of Hewetts Bank towards Shillito Wood.
We then walked along the dam of the dried up Ramsley Reservoir and down across a main road onto a track above Bar Brook.
After skirting a second dried up reservoir, we arrived back at the opposite side of a locked gate where we had passed earlier in the walk.
Going past Lady’s Cross which apparently dates back to at least the thirteenth century, we reached White Edge Lodge which was used for a scene in a film of Jane Eyre.
From the lodge, we went across fields and through Oak’s Wood to Grindleford Station.
Just east of the station is the western portal of Totley Tunnel which is one of the longest railway tunnels in Britain. Measuring 3.54 miles in length, over 160 tons of gelignite was used to blast out the rock.
Built between 1888 and 1893, the construction met with several problems including much water seepage and encountering a large natural cavern.
We took a path high above Padley Gorge back into Longshaw Lodge Estate and to the National Trust tea shop where they serve meals made with produce from their own kitchen garden which is well worth a visit.
For more details of East Cheshire Ramblers’ programme of weekend and midweek walks ranging from four to 15 miles in length, go to ramblerseastcheshire. org.uk.