Walk from Wincle Along the River Dane

Today we were leaving Derbyshire and walking partly in Cheshire and partly in Staffordshire. After parking in the village of Wincle, we followed the road downhill past the pub and then along a track which followed past the River Dane.

Weir on River Dane

 Another view of the Weir

We passed a small fish farm where you could try catching trout for a small sum and then followed a large open pasture along one side of the river.
Soon we were on a track next to what looked a very much like and old canal which was very silted up and passed a lovely old stone built bridge connecting the fields on the far side with the canal-side track and a bit further on, another bridge with a narrow tarmaced lane.

 Lovely Old Canal Bridge

Frog Spawn in Old Canal

Close-up of Frog Spawn

We sat on the bridge parapet for a quick break and a hot drink. There were a couple of signposts giving the direction for the Gritstone Way, a long distance footpath. This showed the Gritstone Way coming from the continuation of the canal on the other side of the bridge then following down the tarmaced lane to cross the River Dane below at Barleigh Ford Bridge. The map confirmed that this was indeed the route we intended to follow but it had no sign of the tarmaced lane which was puzzling.
We dropped down to Barleigh Bridge and could see the tarmaced lane continuing across the other side but curving off to the right, not in the direction we wanted. We returned the short distance to the other bridged and studied the map again. Everything fitted perfectly except for the tarmaced lane not being shown on the map and that lane looked like it had been around for decades at least.
Anyway, we retraced our steps to Barleigh Bridge and crossed over the river and then crossed over a stile into a field and a quick check with the compass confirmed the direction was correct.
We continued onwards with the route marked by short posts every now and then until we reached a junction with the Gritstone Way heading off at right angles to our left and the path we wanted continuing straight on, on the other side of a stile.

 Old Ruined Barn

This was obviously an ancient path as it was sunken quite a lot lower than the surrounding land. We reached the top of an uphill section and took advantage of an old log to sit on and eat lunch.
After lunch, we continued on across several more fields and were soon back on the road in Wincle near where we had parked.
I wore Keela stretch trousers, Paramo Third Element jacket, Contour Navigator boots and Osprey Kestrel 38 rucksack.