Start at: The Street
Grid ref: SK013 756
Difficulty: Medium
Distance: 8.5 km
From the car park at the bottom of The Street walk down to the embankment between Fernilee and Errwood Reservoirs. Don’t cross the embankment, but instead take the path through a hole in the wall on the left next to a small plantation. The path follows the edge of Fernilee Reservoir through the extensive coniferous plantation. On reaching Jep Clough the path divides with the route on taking the left hand branch to cross the appropriately named Deep Clough by a footbridge.
From the footbridge at Deep Clough the path arcs right then left, then runs parallel to the reservoir edge again with a wall on the left to provide a handrail. When you eventually lose this wall you have two small streams to cross before emerging from the trees onto a path. Where the path turns right to reach the end of the reservoir turn left, using a wall on the right as a guide until it runs out. The path now curves right, enclosed between two parallel walls then loses the right hand wall as it takes a quick zig-zag to cross Mill Clough. If you get confused by the number of paths here remember to keep to the left of the two cottages and you’ll reach a T junction.
Turn right here and climb uphill to pass Overton Hall and cross the path running left to right to reach a stile on the edge of Goyt Forest. A short section of path soon meets a main track through the forest, gaining a wall on the right as you cut the corner of the plantation and then emerging via a stile onto the top of Windgather Rocks. Turn left to follow the line of the edge and continue parallel to the road to a fork where taking the left hand branch leads down to The Street; the Roman road which drops steeply down to your starting point.
Instead of taking the road back to your start point immediately, however, the route turns right and uphill. After a few metres a path on the left leads up to Pym’s Chair and a fine viewpoint over the Cheshire Plain. From Pym’s Chair return to the top of The Street and follow the road steeply downhill to the car park and your starting point.