Monday 31 March 2025 - Stocks Reservoir Circular

Sadly, we missed this week's clear skies and bright sunshine by just a few hours, but at least it was dry and warm, albeit the light was a bit flat.

This was walk number 9 in Mark Sutcliffe's 'Walking in Lancashire' Cicerone guide. The description in his book is backed up by clear waymarks all along the route. I was accompanied by Sue and Andy.

We parked at School Lane car park, Dalehead, next to the reservoir, at a point where volunteers have worked to expose the remains of St James' Church, which was demolished in 1933 due to concerns about contamination of the water supply. (Click on the next image for a longer explanation.)
 

Facing the reservoir, we took a path to the right and visited two bird hides that offered good views of the reservoir and its wildlife.

The birds were some distance away, hence a rather grainy image of some Wigeon. The camera on my phone is good, but not that good!

A nest from last year was seen next to new greenery that will soon make the nest invisible through the new foliage.

Our path left the reservoir and headed uphill to the ruins of New House farm.

Outside the farm, a circular stone construction had us puzzled as to its purpose.

A zigzag path led down to a sturdy footbridge over the infant River Hodder.

Next to the bridge, a plaque in memory of Gil Moorehead.

Uphill now towards a turn left along the track of a railway that was built to carry stone from a quarry a few kilometres to the north. The blue 'Stocks Circular Path' waymarks clearly denote the route.

The path to the railway track has been laid with stones that have converted what may have been a quagmire into a very nice path.

After a spell along the railway, our path continued down to the remains of a jetty. This proved an excellent lunch spot.

A little further on we passed the Fly Fishery buildings before heading past a frog zone to a Memorial Forest.

Stocks Board House is the home of United Utilities' Bowland Estate Office. Strictly no entry beyond the point at which I'm standing.

The building is sited just above the dam, to which we descended.

There's an industrial complex of buildings below the dam, as revealed in this panorama.

The brick building in the reservoir was home today to a flock of Oyster Catchers, with a large flock of Black-headed Gulls based on a nearby island, and numerous varieties of duck on the reservoir.

A gate and some steps pointed us down towards more industry, then left to a concessionary path along the eastern shore.

The reservoir is not currently full!

A slightly less distant Oyster Catcher.

Afternoon tea on a bench situated on a muddy puddle into which Andy upended his flask...

Forest paths led away from the reservoir to a causeway, and then back to the car park. Apart from banks of Daffodils and Lesser Celandine, we passed through areas choked with Primroses, Butterbur and Lady's Mantle.

Back at the car park, there's more information on a faded board about the lost hamlet of Stocks in Bowland.

Well, despite the lack of sunshine, this was a most enjoyable 12km stroll with about 200 metres ascent, taking rather less than 4 hours, including some lengthy stops.

Friday 28 March 2025 - Hockenhull Platts

We were booked into the Wildlife Photography exhibition at Chester Zoo at 17:40, so it was worth leaving home after lunch and ticking off one of Tony Bowerman's 'Walks in Mysterious Cheshire'. Tony had asked me to review the routes in this book, but nothing has come of what I've sent him, so I assume I'm not needed. Perhaps my editing suggestions were a little harsh.

Anyway we chose Walk Number 3, and whilst Tony's description has mostly stood the test of time, there are a couple of major flaws in his 1990 descriptions. I'll come to them, but I'll say now that the 14km route I followed with Sue and Paul on 27 September 2019 is superior to the one we went on today.

We parked opposite the church in Tarvin, where there is plenty of on street parking. Eschewing the attractions of  the George and Dragon, we soon reached Hockenhull Lane, and the main A51 road was safely negotiated. We had joined the route of a long-distance path known as the Baker Way.

We soon reached a junction with a rough track coming from the east.

This was Platts Lane, which narrowed after we turned right along the lane. The next picture looks back along this ancient way that is shown in Ogilby's 1675 Britannia Roadbook. That shows the route and the location of a nearby hangman's gibbet. There's evidence that Platt Lane was an ancient route, even in 1675.

The Platts Lane path descends to the River Gowy. This area used to be marshland but the land has been drained and the river is contained within high banks. The days of otters in this neighbourhood are long gone.

A sandstone edged causeway carries the track over boggy surroundings. This is the area known as Hockenhull Platts. Three packhorse bridges lead across it. The bridges probably originated in the 14th century but the current bridges are likely to be 18th century replacements.

Each bridge is less than 4 feet wide, so they were not suitable for wheeled traffic. This is clearly an area of great historic interest, not least as a haunt of highwaymen.

Tony Bowerman's book provides much more information about this area and the 'Roman' bridges.

After crossing the three bridges the path led up to a tarmac lane. Here, Tony's route goes right over a stile and along a permissive footpath created under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Today the remains of the stile are wound with barbed wire, and there is no sign of the footpath. We chose therefore to continue ahead, as far as Cotton Lane, down which we turned right towards Cotton Hall.

Shortly after Cotton Hall we regained Tony's route description. A signed path pointed across a field in which crop spraying was taking place. We avoided any confrontation and stuck to the route of the path indicated by both sign and map (but not on the ground), eventually reaching a small footbridge.

Here, Tony's route would take us through the farmyard at Stamford Mill, but we were drawn instead to a footpath sign on a more substantial metal footbridge, the steps of which offered a good site for a tea break. After this we stayed on the right of the river and made our way past the mill, where the water flows down to the pond pictured below.

The route described by Tony from the mill to the main A51 road is clear, and we followed that. The alternative would be to continue along Cotton Lane and turn right along the A51. The reason an alternative may be needed is the condition of two footbridges that cross deep ditches that can't be avoided. The 'footbridges' now comprise two sets of narrow iron girders. I've come across similar river crossings on the TGO Challenge. Sue and I crossed them with relative ease, but they aren't for everyone!

Some new looking concrete steps led up to the A51. Once we had crossed that and made our way to the Stamford Bridge Inn, our route back to Tarvin was exactly as described by Tony.

First we walked along Lansdowne Road along a loop of the old Manchester-Chester main road. Then when the houses ran out we turned left for a kilometre or so along the route of one of the many Roman roads hereabouts.

Then we turned right onto what Tony describes as 'the old footpath used for centuries by local people taking the shortest walking route between Great Barrow and Tarvin'.

After that, paths along hedges beside a couple of fields took us back to the tarmac of Tarvin.

Tarvin looked to be a nice village with the path to the church lined by daffodils, sparkling in the afternoon sunshine..

Here's our route - about 9km, with very little ascent, taking a couple of hours.

Then we went to the Wildlife Photography exhibition at Chester Zoo, which was excellent.