We woke up to the first proper frost of winter 2018 and decided we needed a walk out. DiscoDeb wanted to try out her new compass and try out some map reading skills. Three Shires Head was decided as the destination and we headed out of Leek on the A53 past Blackshaw Moor, The Three Horse Shoes, the Roaches, past the Winking Man, through Flash and parked up on the right just before heading into Buxton.
The start is a short tarmac road to a stile which leads up to another road where we took a left and walked for about 700 metres before heading left into the Moorland. DiscoDeb proceeded to take a few bearings which lead us across the tops. The path is a well trodden sheep path and is quite boggy in places. Looking down to our left is a ravine with a stream at the bottom. We came to another stile and this lead us on to well worn road which weaved downhill until it came to a fork. There is a rock (sign) to our right which read ‘BlackClough Farm’ and points down to the right. We followed this road down which brought us to a another fork and a small bridge. The farm is in front to the right, and the path we took was down and to the left.
This path is quite rocky and you have to watch your footing as you could quite easily twist your ankle if you aren’t concentrating. The stream is still to our left as we follow the path down and round to the right and further down until we came to a gate. On the other side of this gate we could see ‘Three Shires Head’, which is very picturesque at this time of the year with the Autumn colours. From here we took a right which leads us up and round to the A54. The footing here is excellent as huge slabs have been laid. The stream is now to our right and we pass an old quarry to our right as we work our way up to the road.
The A54 is still closed so the walking is very safe along this stretch. We take a right before the main road which leads us to the first road where we started. A thoroughly enjoyable walk which is we rate as ‘Easy’.
The walk was just over six miles and took us three hours. The paths are good if not a little muddy at the beginning. There are no real steep inclines and the views as ever are excellent. We had the sun on us all day even though it was still very cold. Check below for some statistics and photos.
