Exploring posh Poynton's industrial past you follow ancient tramways, a disused railway and a flourishing canal. It is hard to believe that, until the 1930s, these green fields were a busy, dirty, noisy coal mining area and the canal carried barges of cotton, coal and stone. Now, behind Poynton's expensive houses, the former pit heaps are pretty, wooded footpaths, while holiday boats chug peacefully along the waterway and, if you stop for a picnic, there is only birdsong to be heard.
LOCATION: Four miles south of Stockport
START: Poynton Park car park, South Park Drive, off A523
Grid ref: SJ922839 Postcode: SK121AJ
DISTANCE: 6 miles
GRADE: Moderate
TIME: 3 hours
MAP: Explorer OL - Wilmslow, Macclesfield
REFRESHMENTS: Pack a flask
EN ROUTE: Norbury, Ladybrook Valley, Middlewood, Macclesfield Canal
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News