(S/E) From the front door of the Hare and Hounds, cross the main road and turn left. Pass Marple Garden Centre on your right, then bear left across Otterspool Bridge. Bear right, still following the main road, past a couple of cottages. Just after a pedestrian crossing, turn right at the entrance to the Chadkirk Estate.
(1) Turn left into the car park, and pick up a path at the far end to the left of the picnic area, with a stream on your left. Follow the stream past a bridge to an old sluice, where the path turns right, below Little Wood. Cross a footbridge on your left into the wood. The path climbs slightly then descends to meet a lane just below St Chad’s Well. Turn right over a bridge and pass Chadkirk Farm.
(2) Follow Vale Lane round a lefthand bend, then turn left to the Chapel (signposted Chadkirk Chapel, Kirk Wood and Peak Forest Canal). Once you’ve visited the Chapel, follow the path below the walled garden. Turn right at a T-junction of paths. Walk along the bottom of Kirk Wood, keeping straight ahead at the bottom of a stepped path on the left. The path bends right to a gate, beyond which you turn left (signposted Chadkirk Bridge).
(3) Cross the river and turn right. After a bridge over a sidestream, ignore a stepped path on the left, continuing along the main track, which climbs to a hairpin bend. Leave the track along a path ahead that climbs through the trees, before turning right at the top of the wood.
(4) At a fork take the right-hand path, which descends to a footbridge. Cross the field ahead to the main road. Turn left to return to the Hare and Hounds.(S/E)
