(S/E) From the front door, turn left and walk down the main village street past the church.
(1) Cross the river and turn left into Bollin Grove. Keep straight on past the school to the end of the road, and pass a playing field on your left. Continue beyond a gate into fields and turn left to cross the river. Follow the drive past a cattle grid then, at the entrance to Spittle House, turn left over a stile. Follow the path round the boundary of the property, then along a field edge to a kissing gate and down to a footbridge. The fenced path beyond bends through a series of paddocks to Lower Gadhole Farm.
(2) Turn left up the drive; at the entrance to Woodend Farm take the footpath opposite. Pass above a series of ponds then cross a stile. Follow the left-hand edge of two fields, ignoring a footpath on the left, then climb half-right up the hill to the buildings surrounding Legh Hall. Pass between gardens to a drive; turn right past Old Legh Hall.
(3) At the entrance to Legh Hall, turn left and follow the drive past a large pond on your right. On reaching the main road, turn left for a few steps them cross carefully and follow a descending track opposite. Swing left by some fishing ponds and pass the entrance to Allen’s Farm. Before the next farm, turn right through a metal hand-gate and over a footbridge. Climb to another gate and strike out across the field as indicated by a carved sign. A series of fields separated by metal gates leads to a public road by Goose Green Farm.
(4) Turn left for 150 yards then, at Turner House Farm, turn right through a kissing gate into fields. Climb and descend to a stile, then bear right. Go through a wooden gate into a wooded area. Ignoring the permitted path over the footbridge on your left, follow the path ahead through trees, before climbing to another stile. Follow the fence across a field to the edge of another wood; turn left after a stile, then turn right into the trees. Descend to the valley bottom, then climb some shallow steps up the other side; swing right at a waymark post and climb past a small quarry on your right towards the top of the hill. Follow the woodland edge to a junction of paths. Go down and up steps then turn left between sandstone outcrops to a wooden gate. Turn right, beyond, into a farm driveway and walk past Hill Top Farm on your right.
(5) When the drive bends left, turn right through a kissing gate onto a footpath. Follow the path to a junction, where you turn left. Descend to a stile, where you ignore a path off to your right. Climbing towards Edge House, the path swings right then left before passing between two properties and emerging on a driveway. Turn right and follow the path straight ahead along the woodland edge beyond the entrance on your right. Pass the Golden Stone (a large boulder on the right near a path junction) and follow the path straight ahead which climbs gently to the viewpoint at the open area around Stormy Point. From Stormy Point, bear right and pass below the plaque recording the area’s gift to the National Trust. Descend past rocks to a saddle, where you swing hard right down the slope to another path.
(6) Turn sharp left and continue descending to another path junction. Turn right, still descending, then climb slightly to pass a mine entrance on your right. The path bends left, following the bottom of the wood; ignore a signposted footpath on the right and descend to a stream crossing with a couple of stepping stones beneath an overhanging crag. Climb the hill beyond, passing below another rocky outcrop with some shallow steps. Lose height slightly to pass behind Clock House Farm then climb again to a four-way footpath junction.
(7) Turn sharp left down steps between holly trees. Pass a kissing gate into fields and follow the left-hand side of three fields down to a footbridge over a stream. Walk up the next field to a gate in the far left-hand corner and walk out to the road. Cross to the pavement opposite and turn right.
(8) Keep right at the postbox (Priest Lane), then left at the next junction. Follow the road down to a stream, then up to Mottram Cross.
(9) Cross the main road carefully and follow the private road opposite. After 600 yards, at Woodside Farm, turn left through a gateway. Before the house, turn left through a gate onto the golf course and turn right. Follow the fence then cross a fairway to a wood. At a path junction within the trees, turn right. On leaving the trees, follow the waymarked path to the left of a fairway and cross to a stile above the river. Turn right and follow the path down to a footbridge over the Bollin.
(10) Turn right, with the river on your right, and cross a field to a kissing gate into woodland. Continue through the trees; you will find yourself walking between the river on your right and a water treatment plant on your left. Eventually, you reach a kissing gate into a field; continue alongside the river to the Spittle House bridge that you crossed earlier. Stay on the left-hand side of the river and pass the playing field, squash club and school on your right. Retrace your steps along Bollin Grove; at the main road, turn right over the river and pass the church to return to the Legh Arms.(S/E)
