Circular Walk

CIRCULAR WALK FROM THE RIFLEMAN INN  3 ¼ MILES

1. With your back to the Rifleman Inn, turn left and head up the lane passing the junction on your left.
   “After the junction look to the left and you will see one of the air shafts for the Harecastle Tunnel that houses the Trent and Mersey Canal”
2. Ignore the first Public Footpath on your right but look out for the second Footpath sign just after the lane bends sharply to the right.  Take this footpath and head down the field keeping a hedgerow on your right.
   “Look to the right here to see Mow Cop Castle and Jodrell Bank in the distance”
3. At the bottom of the field follow the fence to the right and cross a stile into woodland.  Head through the woodland walking away from the stile until you emerge from trees onto a footpath.
4. Head right then left to cross a concrete footbridge that crosses the railway.  Continue along the path away from the bridge until you reach a T junction.  Turn right and follow the path through Bathpool Park.
   “The path through Bathpool Park will take you past Bathpool Lake, Dry Ski Slope, Rugby Pitches, Exercise equipment and the Childrens play area, to eventually end up at the Car Park”
5. Continue forward until you reach a crossroads.  Turn Left here to go down Boathorse Road.
6. Take the next Right into Tennyson Avenue, pass Keats Gardens and take a footpath to the left of a sign for Burns Close.  At the top of the footpath turn left and walk along Ravenscliffe Road, taking the second left into Millers View.
7. Take the first Right into Mill Rise where you will find the Windmill on your left.
8. From the Windmill, continue along Mill Rise and take the footpath directly in front of you between houses.  This footpath continues downhill and at the T junction turn Right and follow the short path to some gravestones.
9. Turn left to take a tarmac path past more gravestones, between houses to reach Liverpool Road which is the main thoroughfare through Kidsgrove.  Turn left and walk down the hill towards the traffic lights.
   “On the Right you will see the Town Hall (Victoria Hall, Built 1897)”
10. Turn Left at the traffic lights onto The Avenue, then take the first right between the Library and the Post Office – Meadows Road.  Follow this road until you arrive at the Railway Station.
11. As you enter the Railway Station car park, look to your left and take some steps down to the canal signposted The Gritstone Trail.  At the bottom of the steps turn Right and follow the canal towpath to the Harecastle Tunnels.
    “The tunnel on the right is the original ‘legging tunnel’, built by James Brindley between 1770 and 1777.  This tunnel had no towpath and the boatmen had to lie on top of their boats with their legs in the air and propel the boat through the tunnel with their feet, whilst their companions took the horses over land via Boathorse Road.
    The tunnel on the left was built between 1824 and 1827 by Thomas Telford.Legend has it that there is a ghost of a headless woman known locally as ‘The Boggart’ that haunts the Telford Tunnel.  She was decapitated and left in Gilberts hole, a coal landing stage within the tunnel.
12. Take the path to the right of the legging tunnel until you reach the road.
13. You are now back on The Avenue.  Cross the road and turn right, taking the next left into Boathorse Road.  Follow Boathorse Road, past Nelson House to return to the Rifleman.