Staffordshire Walks, The Staffordshire Way

Mow Cop Castle is a folly at Mow Cop and a Grade II Listed Building. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mow_Cop_Castle

Mow Cop Castle is a folly at Mow Cop and a Grade II Listed Building. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mow_Cop_Castle

The Old man of Mow is the name given to this curious pillar of rock which was left after quarrying around it.

From the Trig Point at Mow Cop (335m) on a good day there are 360 degree views including The Potteries, the Cheshire Plain, the Shropshire Hills, the Welsh hills and to the North the Peak District.

On its way to The Cloud the Staffs Way follows the straight gritstone ridge of Congleton Edge, being the boundary between the Pennines and the Cheshire Plain. The foot of The Cloud would be the end of the first stage of the Staffordshire Way.

Railway Viaduct, Dane in Shaw Brook (Scan from 1999) historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1272891?section=official-list-entry

A place for lunch on the first leg of the Staffordshire Way on a warm August day of 1999. “Grade II Listed Building Railway viaduct. 1849. By the engineer J C Forsyth for the North Staffordshire Railway, the stonemason being John Mellor of Rainow. English bond red and blue engineering bricks with stone dressings. Twenty round arches supported on rectangular piers with slightly projecting plinths. Stone supports for centering to inner faces of some piers. The third and thirteenth piers are later and have stone facings to outer faces with pitted rustication. Brick bond above supporting ashlar string course and ashlar parapet.”

On a clear day the views from the Trig Point are magnificent. Over the Cheshire Plain to Shropshire and the Welsh hills and on to Merseyside. Due North over the rugged hills of the Peak District.

The decent to the River Dane is around 183m, and Rudyard Reservoir would be the end of the second leg of the Staffordshire Way.

"Rudyard Lake is a reservoir in Rudyard, Staffordshire. It was constructed in the late 18th century to feed the Caldon Canal. During the 19th century, it was a popular destination for daytrippers taking advantage of easy access using the newly constructed North Staffordshire Railway. The lake is still used for many water activities such as boating, canoeing, fishing and also for walks and recreational steam train trips....Visitors included John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald, the parents of Rudyard Kipling, who met there on a trip from Burslem. They liked the place so much they named their son after it.." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Lake