(S/E) From the rear of the pub, follow the fence on the right of the garden and out into Beaufort Close. Turn left. At the junction with Devonshire Road at the end of the road, turn left. Follow the road right at the next junction (Marlborough Avenue), then turn left at the next junction (Moss Lane).
(1) At the next T-junction (Mottram Road) cross and turn right. After 100 yards, turn left into Squirrels Jump. Take the path into the woods beyond the barrier at the end of the road. Climb the wooded slope gently, then descend slightly to a junction of paths.
(2) Turn right and climb a long flight of steps. Turn left at the top and shortly pass the Wizard’s Well on your right. After passing below a couple more rocky outcrops, turn right up stone steps and through gateposts then left to reach the top of Castle Rock. Follow the path beyond, with the wooded edge dropping away to your left and fields on your right. The path re-enters the trees and follows a wall on the right, turning right below the Armada Beacon. Bear left onto a lower path and follow it around the head of a wooded combe, crossing another path at the lowest point. Climb to emerge into the open area around Stormy Point.
(3) Turn right above the rocks of Stormy Point and follow the broad path along the top of the Edge. Keep straight on (left) at a path junction to a wooden gate in a fence. Continue straight on, past the Golden Stone boulder on your left.
(4) Pass a property entrance on your left, then turn left at a crossroads of paths. Descend between buildings and into fields, where the path swings right over a stile then left at another. Descend into a valley and turn left over a stile at the bottom, into trees. Pass a small waterfall on your left, then cross to the other side of the stream at a low footbridge. Bear right and follow the path with the stream and valley on your right. Keep right at a path junction, descending to the edge of the wood. Turn left along the bottom of the wood, with fields to your right.
(5) Follow the path round to the right and past a mine entrance. Keep along the bottom of the wood, ignoring paths up the slope to the left. Follow the path to the right, out of the woods and below the sandstone cliffs of a disused quarry to a car park and road.
(6) Turn left along the road for a short distance then, before a cottage, turn right onto a footpath up steps amongst holly trees. Follow the path to a stile and into the corner of a field. Follow the right-hand edge of the field to another stile. Cross the next field diagonally to a footbridge over the Whitehall Brook. Follow the left-hand field edge to a stile in the corner, then turn left along the left-hand edge of the next field. After 100 yards, go through a kissing gate on your left and turn right, passing to the right of a pond.
(7) Follow the field edge out to the road by a farm entrance. Turn right along the road for a short distance, then left over a stile by a farm gate. Follow the left-hand edge of a couple of fields, then climb a stile into a layby by a road (Heyes Lane). Cross the road and follow a farm track opposite. Pass through a gateway, then turn left along the hedge. Follow the field edge round to the right, then turn left over a footbridge.
(8) Emerge between garden fences onto a road and cross straight over into another fenced path. Bear left before a play area out to a grassy mini-roundabout. Follow Oakfield Road, ahead, to its junction with Heywood Road, where you bear left, ignoring Crescent Road on your left. At the junction with Heyes Lane, turn right. Keep right at the junction with Duke Street, then turn left into Moss Rose to return to the Drum & Monkey.(S/E)
