Alderley Edge Walk description: An easy circular walk starting from the NT car park next to the Wizard Inn. It follows good woodland pathways out along the top of the Edge, with great views north, before heading west down gentler pathways towards Nether Alderley. The route follows country lanes, before crossing farm fields back on to the top of the Edge. Distance: 5 miles Map: OS Explorer 268 Wilmslow, Macclesfield and Congleton Start: National Trust Car Park next to the Wizard Inn (SJ 860773) Travelling from the north, use the A555/A34 link to Alderley Edge village. Go through the main street as far as a small roundabout on the Macclesfield junction. Turn left up the B5087, climbing on to the Edge; in less than a mile, the car park is just beyond the Wizard Inn on your left. Toilets available in the car park. Leave the car park by a gate opposite the toilets, cut across the field and turn right after the swing gate on to a wide walking track. When you reach a junction of pathways, turn left through the gate and follow the good path slightly uphill until you reach a sandstone outcrop and former copper mine workings. This Triassic sandstone is a remnant of desert conditions from about 220 million years ago. Notice the rounded and quite large pebbles embedded in the rock, thought to have been carried by occasional river floods in the desert.
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by Barry Wilson, Marple District Rambling Club
Copper mining on the Edge dates back to the Bronze Age and later Roman times, but most was mined from the late 17th until the early 20th Century. The views north and east extend over the Pennines and nearer hills of Werneth Low and Marple Ridge. The main path doubles back round to the left of this outcrop, eventually reaching the Beacon Mound, dating back to the Spanish Armada. Continue west beyond the Beacon but keep to the higher path next to a wall. This takes you along the edge of a field before arriving at a further rocky outcrop, with further stunning views north. Just past this rocky area, go slightly left then immediately right down some steps to a lower path through woodland. Walking below the sandstone edge and heading left, pause to look at the layers of sandstone showing remnants of windblown sand dunes. Soon you reach the well-known Wizard’s Well with inscriptions above it. Not long after this point, veer left up a path which leads you away from the downhill track. A gentle climb brings you to the back of houses, so follow this narrow path where you reach an access road. Go left down the hill to the main Macclesfield road. Walk down hill to the right for 400 yards or so and look out for a path marker leading between the houses on the left. The narrow pathway takes you to a stile next to the rear garden wall of a new house. Cross the stile and bear right to a further stile. This leads you down a fenced pathway to another access road. (SJ 847776) Bear right down the road between some stunning