Twenty-eight walkers came on today’s 5-mile walk from Greenway Bank Country Park. We left going West along the road before following a path through a wood and a path skirting the Landfill reclamation site. We then walked into and through Brindley Meadow towards Brindley Ford before joining the Biddulph Valley Way. Here we could see the Coal Authority’s work on the Brindley Ford Flood Alleviation scheme - Brindley Ford experienced significant flooding incidents, notably after heavy rain in the late 1990s and early 2000s, often linked to drainage problems from the nearby former Brown Lees opencast site. After about a mile or so we veered off through Newpool Meadows Village Green, where we had our drinks stop (and group photo) before crossing into Conway Road and then into Harlech drive to follow field paths back into the Country Park. We did encounter one particularly heavy patch of mud on a track shared with horses. To finish off with we did a simple little loop around the Serpentine and the arboretum before returning to the cars. It stayed dry throughout, a rare and thankful occurrence in recent times and all in all a worthwhile walk.

Derek Lowe