(S/E) Exit Mellor & Townscliffe Golf Club main car park by the lower entrance and turn right down the lane signposted to Linnet Clough Scout Camp and Activity Centre.
(1) Pass the camp entrance and follow the track beyond (signposted to Marple Bridge on PNFS sign no. 461). Follow this track downhill all the way to Bottoms Hall. Beyond the farm buildings and house, turn left into the unsurfaced Lakes Road.
Pass the entrance to Roman Lakes Leisure Park to meet the River Goyt. Walk under the railway viaduct and past the weir, and then past Floodgates Cottage.
(2) Pass a couple of houses (Roman Lodge and Strawberry Hill) – it’s worth a short detour to view Roman Bridge over the river on your right, but keep to the left bank of the river to continue.
The track eventually leaves the river and passes under the railway to reach WindyBottom farm. Beyond the farm, the track curves back rightwards towards the railway line.
(3) At a junction of bridleways, turn sharply left, uphill and away from the railway. Follow this track uphill, crossing one of the fairways of the golf course. At a crossing path, turn right, away from the golf course and past a house called The Shielan.
At the next junction, turn left up the track and pass the buildings of Cross Gates Farm. Cross the next drive and walk up a walled hollow way, which curves steeply uphill between farms and past a small quarry. Ignore a downhill track on the right with a stone gatepost, keeping left to reach a driveway.
Turn left along the driveway, with views over the golf course away to your left, until you meet the road at Paradise Farm.
(4) Clamber up the rocky slope to the cross and admire the wide view while you get your breath back. Behind the cross, follow a path that leads to the left of a disused quarry, then bear left on a path that leads back to the rocky trackway of Black Lane.
Turn right (uphill, briefly). As you reach the brow of the hill a wide view to Kinder Scout is revealed. Continue along Black Lane, now descending, until you reach a T-junction of tracks. A wooden post set in a large block of stone at this junction is the site of a monastic cross.
(5) Turn left and follow Primrose Lane for quarter of a mile until you reach a Bogguard road. Turn left along the road, passing the entrances to Coldwall Farm and then Cobden Farm on your right.
At a road junction by Moorland Cottage, turn right. Follow the road downhill, bearing right at the entrance to Whetmorehurst, to the junction with Gibb Lane.
(6) Turn left along Gibb Lane (signposted “Linnet Clough Scout Camp/Mellor & Townscliffe golf club”). Bear right as the road crosses a small stream, and notice the covered well on your left as you approach the cottages of Tarden. When the road bends left at Tarden Farm, follow it round to return to the golf club. (S/E)
