(S/E) From Boddfellows - Mellor front door, turn left (uphill) and then immediately left into Dove Bank, by the old Sunday School. Take the first right, cross the cattle grid and follow the farm drive beyond.
(1) Just short of Podnor Farm, turn right and follow the fence to a squeeze stile beside a gate. Turn left, aiming for a Peak and Northern Footpaths Society (PNFS) sign just visible at the top of the field. Cross the wall stile next to the sign (no. 336) and another at the far side of the next field (to the left of the ruinous Meadows Farm).
At Hambleton Fold Farm swing right into a walled footpath then, before you reach the paved area by the farmhouse, turn left across the lawn at PNFS sign no. 256, signposted Mill Brow. Leave the garden via a step stile next to a gate and continue to a stone stile at the bottom of the next field.
Follow the wall on your left to a gateway and then beyond into the farmyard of Chatterton Lane Farm. The footpath exits via a wooden door and a flight of stone steps to reach the road.
(2) Turn right, ignoring the first footpath sign on your left and then leaving the road at the bottom to follow a track on the left (“B.O.A.T. 22 Marple”). Follow this track uphill and down, ignoring a side-track on the left and a footpath on the right until you descend to the stream at Brook Bottom.
A short distance up the hill on the other side of the valley, leave the track along a signposted footpath on the left, up some stone slab steps opposite the entrance to Brookbottom Farm.
(3) Go through a gate and then immediately left over a stile, and follow the right-hand edge of the next field (above some ruinous buildings, one with a brick chimney). At the bottom of the field, cross a stile and descend to cross the stream at a footbridge. At a driveway, keep right (signposted Mill Brow) to pass PNFS sign no. 469 and skirt Hollywoods Cottage beyond.
(4) Follow the obvious path parallel to the stream, until you reach the road in Hollywood End. Turn right, initially uphill, passing Gird Lane on your right and Holly Vale on your left. Leave the road along a metalled lane on the left opposite the Hare and Hounds.
Walk down until you cross the stream, then at the entrance to Greenhill Farm take the right fork, uphill. When this track swings left, take the footpath on the right. Cross a stile into a field and follow the gradually ascending path above a pond near a mill chimney.
(5) Take the higher gate at the far side of the field below some holly trees. At the top of the next field go through a gate and walk between the buildings beyond. At the next farm (Townscliffe Farm) ignore the path to the left (signposted Mellor Church), instead of taking the path straight on to the right of the farmhouse (Longhurst Lane).
(6) When you reach the metalled drive by the stream, turn left. Walk up the hill to Knowle Farm. Just inside the farm entrance turn right and cross two stiles, then follow the obvious path uphill (crossing another stile partway up) to the churchyard.
(7) On exiting the churchyard, turn right and walk downhill along Church Road. At Church Road Farm, take the footpath on the left. Beyond the farm buildings, walk along the bottom of two fields, then go through a squeeze stile on the right. Follow the fence on your right to a gate and then walk along the top of the next field, passing a spring at the far end. Follow the track beyond a further gate to emerge by the old Sunday School just above the Oddfellows. (S/E)
