Madeley: One Way or Another:
Walk Six: Broken Heart (Oh Lord I Never Felt So Low): Leycett & Bates Wood.
There are two walks: a red walk (3½ miles) & a purple walk (4 miles); 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:
• Just Jane, catering, at The Madeley Centre: 01782-751808.
• One Stop, Grocery & Convenience Store Greyhound Corner: 01782-750373.
• Shepley 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.
• Poolside Tandoori, Restaurant & Take Away. Greyhound Corner: 01782-750088.
• Poolside Fish Bar: 01782-752546
• The Offley Arms, Poolside. 01782-750242.
• Halmerend Fish Bar: 01782-723751.
• Gresley Arms, Alsagers Bank: 01782-722469.
• The Old Swan, Madeley Heath: 01782- 751199.
• Crewe Arms, Madeley Heath: 01782-750392.
Legend:
CP = Car Park
FB = Foot Bridge
FP = Footpath
KG = Kissing Gate
L = Left
MC = Madeley Centre
R = Right
TP = Telegraph Pole
Stile Counsel:
Red Walk: 7 stiles.
Purple Walk: 4 stiles
Red Walk:
[1] Turn L out of MC & walk under arches at side of MC & down to the Police point. Walk across, slightly L, to go down alley between houses & into Greenmeadows Road, turn R, then L into New Road. Pass Holm Oak Drive on R; 100 yds past Woodside, turn R thru’ squeezer stile by lamp post & follow well-trod path thru’ woodland.
[2] Emerge thru’ laurel hedge on to a road, turn L, cross Heighley Castle Way with care & turn R uphill, passing College Close. 50 yds past Park Close, turn R into the drive way for Madeley Manor Care Home.
[3] After 50 yds take tarmac track to L, another 50 yds take path to L passing sign for Private Road; further 50 yds go R thru gateways & go down path with cottages & the Care Home on R. Just past fire escape on R, veer L thru bushes & down to a gate & into a field.
[4] Same direction, between remains of 2 small ponds, towards trees – path snakes L, then round to R & over stile into woods. Follow well-trod path down to Madeley Manor Pool. [The Boat House on the R is a listed building. The white building in the distance is Madeley Rectory.] Keep Pool on R & 50 yds after 2nd footbridge, L down to A531.
[5] Cross with care, and into The Gladings*; follow the well-trod path through. At end of wood go under the Motorway Bridge, then turn R up to Walton’s Wood. Cross the stile and turn L & follow trackway (ie. motorway is now directly behind you) & eventually ascends quite steeply!
[DO NOT ENTER WALTON’S WOOD FROM THE MAIN ROAD AS MENTIONED ON PREVIOUS VERSIONS. WE ARE ADVISED THAT THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY & THE PUBLIC FOOTPATH CAN ONLY BE ACCESSED FROM THE FAR SIDE OF THE GLADINGS]
[6] At the top turn R & follow well-trod path for 200 yds & then waymarked L upbank (Care: waymarker is hard to see as hidden in trees), L again at top & on to an arched entrance in hedgerow. Immediate R to Leycett Lane & NOW IT’S MAKE YOUR MIND UP TIME! For longer walk, go to Point 14.
[7] Turn R & walk with care 200 yds to Leycett Cricket Club; look for stile in hedge on R, skirt round cricket pitch, then L into woodland (waymarked The Newcastle Way: follow these back to Madeley). Over a stile, into a ditch, L, over a stile into a field.
[8] Look L & cross stile to R of Dutch Barn, cross field slightly R to next stile, same direction to hedge, then to L of facing hedge & over stile into alley with houses on R & Heath Wood on L. Same direction over road, footpath to another road, same direction & down to A531 passing The Old Swan.
[9] Turn L & where Old Swan CP ends; look for FP opposite & cross road with care, follow alley down to A525 & turn R into Newcastle Road & under Motorway Bridge.
[10] 200 yds after bridge, reach white bungalow ‘East Lodge’ & turn R up a pot holed, sleeping policeman’d tarmac’d road for 400 yds; 100 yds after a path protected by 2 concrete bollards, turn L on to a raised pathway with maintained lawned areas. Walk thru’ residential housing to a T-junction; straight across, child’s play area on L & head across playing fields to R of electricity pylon opposite. Go up bank, keep houses & hedge to L & go thru gap in facing hedge & on to New Road. Turn L & walk back to MC.
Purple Walk:
[11] Take care on lane – turn L & just past entrance to Leycett Waste Tip, turn R, keeping the tip railings to the R & cross a stile. Cross small paddock & stile by TP’s.
[12] Turn half R & head up field keeping remains of a tree / hedge line to L, over stile & turn L into a farm lane for 400 yds to reach Leycett Lane, passing West View Cottages.
[13] Cross Lane with care & turn L for 100 yds & then R onto tarmac road, follow this road for 1 mile – thru’ a barrier, a double set of gates & another single gate. [This is the site of Leycett Colliery. In 1871, 1879 & 1880, explosions here at Fair Lady Pit killed 44, 41 & 62 men & boys respectively]
[14] When reach a footpath crossroads, with a map of Bateswood Nature Reserve on L & picnic bench on R, take the path to R. Aim for gap between 2 lots of woods, with a field rising up behind then, with a TP on the top – use the TP as a waymarker.
[15] When reach hedge, turn L into woodland, follow well-trod path as keeps field to R, up series of 7 steps, round to R, up 3 steps & carry on in same direction. Start to descend & keep to R [fields can soon be seen on R thru’ trees]; ignore a stile to R & steps up to R; pass Podmore Pool on L & reach T-junction.
[16] Turn R, thru wooden KG, then L down alleyway with Podmore Cottage on R & woodland on L. At end turn L into Bateswood CP (this can be used as a base for exploring Bateswood Nature Reserve). (Turn R for HALMEREND FISH BAR & GRESLEY ARMS).
[17] Go thru’ CP & turn R after 100 yds onto gravel FP & follow this for ⅓ mile to Bateswood Pool. Keep Pool to L & follow round [The memorials to the victims of the Minnie Pit Disaster are thru’ a gate on the R & then take the L pathway. 156 men & boys lost their lives from a firedamp explosion & inhaling poisonous carbon monoxide in April 1918].
[18] 100 yds past a Life Belt Position, ignore FB in front & turn R upbank & follow path which comes out at the map of Bateswood Nature Reserve in point 14.
[19] Turn R & follow path for 400 yds & go thru’ KG on R. Follow well-trod path round & up to L & into tree lined clearing. Continue down well-trod path, passing Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s Bateswood Nature Reserve sign on L & walking parallel with TP’s on L. Follow path, & TP’s, as clearing ends & enters woodland. Follow thru’ woods, over boardwalks, down 17 steps into a clearing – same direction, straight across.
[20] Down & over a stile, keep a field to L as go round & up to a TP called ‘Walton’s Wood ABI’. The track goes down into a small clearing in the woods, turn L over a small ditch & then R thru’ trees, uphill to reach fields at the top.
[21] Turn R (ie. keep field to L & trees to R), follow down & then L & after 20 yds R into woodland: follow well-trod path for 300 yds to reach point 6 again & follow back to MC.
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