Wincle Circular Walk
This walk passes through beautiful countryside. The Shell Brook valley is particularly beautiful and very remote. Deer can be heard rutting in this valley in autumn when the trees turn magnificent shades of gold and rusty brown. In the depths of the valley the Shell Brook itself cuts deeply down into the Millstone grit. The Gritstone Trail crosses this valley but this walk joins the Gritstone Trail well above the little brook and away from the valley floor.
The feeder canal once supplied water to Rudyard Lake but now appears very over grown and seems not to be used for this purpose any more. It now makes a great wildlife haven with attractive wildflowers along the embankments.
The River Dane (image above) originates high on the moors near Axe Edge and flows through Wincle and Danebridge, and down onto the Cheshire Plain below the prominent hill called Bosley Cloud. Once used by industry for powering mills in Congleton and nearby Gradbach, today it provides water for the Wincle Trout fisheries.
Grade: Moderate
Distance: 6.5 kms / 4 miles
Time: Allow 3 hours
Start: Wincle village Grid Ref 964 653 | what3words: ///barman.grove.basher
Map: Explorer Outdoor Leisure sheet 24
Terrain: Field paths, tracks and stony paths. Muddy patches in winter. Some steep gradients.
Barriers: 12 stiles, slopes