A single day training walk of the eastern half of the Etherow-Goyt Valley Way (EGW), a route that runs from the Longdendale Trail at Hadfield station on the western fringe of the Dark Peak to Vernon Park in Stockport, terminated today at Marple station.
After a long winter layoff, enforced in recent times by medical issues, coupled with an apparent big drop in fitness and stamina late last year, we tackled this very modest route mainly to assess our current state.
Allowing for the lesser weight of a daypack, the ascents and distance coverage went considerably better than expected, an encouraging result. The time however did not:- arriving in Compstall around 17:00, much later than originally expected, we diverted off the EGW to follow the Midshires Way through Brabyns Park to nearby Marple station.
The delays were partly because of inaccurate mapping of my GPX version of the route in a couple of places, but mainly due to improvising a diversion around a major footpath closure near Hollingworth. The interactive OS map linked above shows the normal EGW route in magenta and our diversion route added in blue. The closure notice is signed on the A57 at Tara Brook Farm and is scheduled to remain in force until winter 2028/2029.