Madeley: One Way Or Another:
Walk Two: Woore: How Many ‘Lanes’ Must A Man Walk Down? (Quite a few on this walk!)
There are two walks: a red walk (6 miles) & a purple walk (6 miles as well); do them separately for two half day walks or combine them to make a full day walk. All distances are approximate. Start at The Madeley Centre, New Road, Madeley CW3 9DN (Grid Ref: 773451). Tel: 01782-751808.www.madeleycentre.co.uk. The Madeley Centre has car parking, catering & toilet facilities. Please enjoy a walk in the country, but if you can, support our local businesses, Listed under The Adverts – but check opening times beforehand! Explorer Map 257: Crewe & Nantwich.
The Adverts:
• Croft at The Centre Cafe & Restaurant at The Madeley Centre: 01782-751808.
• One Stop Grocery & Convenience Store, Greyhound Corner: 01782-750373.
• Shepleys Butchers, Greyhound Corner: 01782-751775.
• Tang Dynasty Chinese Takeaway, Greyhound Court: 01782-752288.
• Village Shop & Newsagent, Greyhound Court: 01782-750525
• In 2 Wine Off Licence, Greyhound Court: 01782-751708.
• Raj Indian Takeaway, Greyhound Corner: 01782-752000.
• Homers Cafe, Greyhound Corner: 01782-751800.
• Madeley Spice Restaurant & Take Away, Greyhound Corner: 01782-750088.
• Poolside Fish Bar: 01782-750242.
• The Offley Arms, Poolside: 01782-750242.
• Co-op, Morningside, Madeley: 01782-750363.
• Unreal Paintball: 01782-636093
• The Wheatsheaf, Onneley: 01782-750363.
• The Coopers Arms, Woore: 01630-647261.
• The Swan Hotel, Woore: 01630-647220.
• The Falcon Inn, Woore: 01630-647230.
• Woore Country Store & Post Office: 01630-647673.
STILE COUNSEL:
Seven Stiles on Red Route;
Fifteen Stiles on Purple Route.
Legend:
BP = Bridle Path
CP = Car Park
FB = Foot Bridge
FP = Footpath
KG = Kissing Gate
L = Left
MC = Madeley Centre
R = Right
TP = Telegraph Pole
The Onneley Loop (Red Route: 6 miles):
1. OK. Game On: Turn R out of MC, passing Furnace Lane, The One Stop & Shepleys Butchers & turning R into Moss Lane & follow this lane for half a mile (passing The Pool on the L, River Lea Mews, Charles Cotton Drive, Morningside, The Bridle Path, Bower End Lane, Cornish style houses on the L & railway line on R, past school playing fields. Brush Cottage, Bridge House, Rose Cottage, Buff House & Chapel Cottage). At T junction turn R & cross over railway bridge & into Bar Hill Road.
2. Opposite Mallard Close & Bar Hill Wildlife Area signs, cross road into a BP. This path is called Red Lane – follow it for 1½ miles; for one mile thru’ tree lined hedgerows, then thru a BP gate, into a field, after 300 yards into another tree lined track (spot the white fort on the L: Unreal Paintball), 300 yards again & into a field, and another gate in 100 yards, in 200 yards another gate into a lane. Head in same direction down lane.
3.100 yards before Railway Cottage take lane on R for half a mile, passing The Lodge, Station Cottage, Willow Tree Cottage, follow road round to R at Peaks Farm. 100 yards on, turn R in front of Homeleigh & Haven Cottage & take stile on L. Follow well-trod path as goes half R & then L to meet stile in top L corner of field (Passing New Onneley Cricket Club on R). Cross A531 with great care & into Tarmac’d Lane opposite. (The white building 200 yards on R is The Wheatsheaf Inn at Onneley.) Follow this lane for 600 yards, passing old Onneley Cricket Club site & then Onneley Golf Course on R. As approach Field House, ignore stile on R, & turn L just before the cattle gridded entrance & go thru’ wooden gate into woodland. Keep fence on L & follow well-trod path for 400 yards to another wooden gate & into Onneley Lane.
4. Turn R, & follow lane for half a mile, passing Yew Tree Farm, Cherry Tree and White Moor Cottage & Farm.
5. AT WHITE MOOR FARM, FOR THE LONGER WALK, SKIP ON DOWN TO POINT 8.For the Red Route carry on down Onneley Lane, thru a gate, where lane becomes a farm track. Where track ends, ignore gates & fields to L & R & go thru metal bar gate straight ahead.
6. Turn L & follow line of woodland (Wrinehill Wood) down to wooden gate & stile in bottom L corner. Cross into the wood, keep hedge on R & follow track down 400 yards to BP gate into a field. Turn half R & head for farm buildings (Wrinehill Mill Farm) in distance. As crest the rise, head for galvanised gate in bottom L corner on a trackway which leads to these farm building.
7. Go thru’ gate & follow track round, just before bridge over River Lea, go thru’ squeezer gate on R & over a stile. Head for metal gate & stile directly ahead 100 yards. Cross stile, turn half R & head uphill (ignoring track which follows River Lea on L) – just visible, peeping over the hill are the tops of aerials of a communications tower – use this as the waymarker as the comms tower is sited at Bower End Farm on our route – crossing 3 fields & 3 stiles to get there. The entrance into the farm is thru galvanised gates, 50 yds to R of comms tower. Turn R after 10 yds, L after 20 yds, thru another galvanised gate, & head straight for 200 yds passing the farm house on L & at end of drive, just over a cattle grid, turn L into Bower End Lane.
8. Follow this lane for half a mile, passing Moss Farm, Wesley Cottage, over railway bridge & round to R. At T junction, turn L into Moss Lane & retrace steps to MC (i.e. down, down past The Pool, turn L, passing Shepleys Butchers, One Stop, Furnace Lane & then (How Sweet It Is) L into MC.
The Woore Loop: All or Nothing (Purple Route: 6 miles):
9. At sign: ‘J & M Noden, Whitemoor Farm’, turn L thru’ farm yard, keep farm house on R, & go thru’ galvanised gate, turn R, thru’ another gate, then L thru’ a third gate & into a field. Keep the hedge on R & head downhill. After 200 yds go R thru’ a double set of BP path gates & over a FB (20 yds before the bottom of the field). Turn half L & head for woods in the distance – using a bush & tree surrounded pool, 400 yds away, in a northerly direction, in the middle of the field, as the waymarker & pass to the L of it.
10. Take stile to left of two wooden gates into woodland. Follow track R & then straightens up for 300 yards thru wood. Take the R path over a stile & into a field. Head straight ahead, keeping parallel with woodland on R & over series of five stiles & fields (stiles 3 & 4 go past a bush lined pool on L).
11. At 5th stile turn R, keep fence line on R, go thru a galvanised gate. 200 yds before this field ends, look L & cross over FB, turn half L & cross another FB in 30 yds in hedge line. Turn half L & emerge into field, carry on in same direction, (a NW direction) heading for gap where hedgeline on R ends & tree line starts to the L. Go thru’ gap (ignore stile on R), & head uphill in same direction aiming for a stile 200 yards in from top R corner of field. Cross & head for next stile, 50 yds to L of white bungalow opposite.
12. Ignore stile opposite & turn L & follow tarmac’d road for 1200 yds: ignoring road to R to Checkley Wood New Farm, passing Checkley Wood Cottages marked ‘DLB 1907’. At Checkley Wood Farm the road turns L into the farm, ignore this & carry straight on to a dirt & stone farm lane flanked by trees & hedges. After 800 yds, follow the track sharp L for 400 yds to the impressive buildings of Phynsons Hayes Farm. Turn R before the entrance & keep to the tarmac’d road as it goes around keeping farm & buildings to the L. Follow the tarmac road, leaving the farm directly behind, for 600 yds. 100 yds after a small wood on the R, a footpath crossroads the tarmac road.
13. Take the R path to a BP gate in the hedgeline 300 yds away. Follow the same direction thru’ a gap, which then curves slightly, goes uphill & to the R of Cherry Tree Farm. [Behind you, on a clear day, can be seen: Jodrell Bank Observatory & Centre for Astrophysics, part of The University of Manchester; established in 1945 by Sir Bernard Lovell & has been mentioned in Doctor Who & The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; www.jb.man.ac.uk]. Follow the hedge avenue down, thru’ a wooden gate & after 10 yds turn R onto a roadway. Passing Orchard House, Bridgemere House; 50 yds after Field House, turn L thru’ a gap in trees, follow a wooden panelled alleyway to emerge into a housing estate. Head to the top of the cul-de-sac, turn R (Blaizefield Close), then L & cross the road to go thru’ a children’s play area. Keep the hedge on the R, (ignore track off to R unless want to go to Swan Hotel) go thru a gateway, & respectfully thru’ a grave yard, passing the white church of St Leonard’s on the R [built in 1832 with a white plaster design www.achurchnearyou.com/woore-st-leonard], thru’ a gap & into a wooden panelled alleyway down to the busy A525 at Woore.
[Woore is Good For: The Coopers Arms to the R; Woore Country Store & Post Office opposite; at the T junction, The Swan Hotel is to the R, The Falcon Inn is to the L; 200 yds past The Falcon is Woore Victory Hall, whose CP can be used as a base for walks around Woore.]
14. Retrace back to the alleyway, & follow the A525 towards Madeley, for 600 yds: passing Churchfields, Kenrick Close & St Leonard’s Way. Take care as the footpath gets narrower & narrower (It may be safer to cross over & face oncoming traffic) before giving out at Woore Grange & after 100 yds turn L into Gravenhunger Moss. Pass West View, Moss View, after 100 yds as the tarmac road goes left, go thru’ the white gates of Cherry Tree Cottage & head 200 yds straight ahead to a field gate, go thru’ & head same direction for 200 yards thru’ 2 more gates; then turn R, keep hedge on R, cross a stile & same direction past hedge & wood on R to another stile. Cross roadway & face field opposite; with back to roadway, head for stile in far field corner (head for TP to L of building with white roof & red brickwork partly hidden behind high hedges). Cross this stile & stile in hedge 100 yds opposite & turn sharp L & cross stile next to a 6 barred red gate, then half R uphill to cross stile in field corner next to Field Farm.
15. Keep fence to L & 20 yds past white bungalow, cross stile into lane – take care as steep descent on to lane. Turn R, & in 20 yds turn L into Onneley Lane. Walk 1200 yds along this lane to White Moor Farm again (passing Ivy Cottage, Arcadia, Brookside, Yew Tree Farm, Cherry Tree Cottage) & then pick up the red route from points 4 &5.
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