This walk on a lovely sunny August day was the other half to walk 1, repeating the connecting path. This time I met with the awesome Sarah Williams of Tough Girl Challenges, we parked our cars and, without our usual greeting of a hug, we set off.
The Sandstone trail is well trodden and with plenty of waymarks the navigation is easy, meaning we could natter the whole time without paying attention to where we were heading. The sun was warm and we quickly reached the turning point.
The route turns west and follows field edges then large open grazing land. This is not a named route and the waymarks sparse, so more care was needed on the navigation. Lots of temporary fencing for dairy cattle divided the fields, making the route of the public right of way unclear and uncomfortable for a short section. The GPS came in useful to confirm that the path was correct as a number of electric fences needed to be crossed: a bit of team work, walking poles and good flexibility was required. Rich grassy field, the result of the muck spreading encountered on walk 1 took us past the trees of Hoofield covert.
We picked up the Eddisbury Way following a thick hedge before popping out onto Hoofield Lane and into the village of Hoofield. Passing out of Hoofield more navigation confidence was needed to cross a poultry farm and into thickly planted maize. It was reasonably easy to walk down the lines of maize holding our arms in front of our faces to keep the leaves away from our eyes. A short stretch along the busy A51 took us on the Dutton Mill were it was time to leave the Eddisbury Way and head back. The footpath passes through a final farm sweet with the smell of cows and a final trudge up the road back to the cars.
Video of the walk HERE
The route is available on the Ordnance Survey website HERE
| Cheshire Challenge distance | 11km |
| Paths walked | Sandstone Trail and Eddisbury Way |
| Total distance | 19.2km |
| Total ascent | 146m |
| OS map | Landranger 257 |
| Date walked | August 2020 |
| Time taken | 5 hours |
| Cake | fruit sponge |
| Dance pose | Hip hop |
| Total Cheshire Challenge distance completed | 100km |
Rando' Girls 
Hi Ellen, I did nearly the same walk at the end of March 2021. I did continue to the Shropshire Union Canal for lunch on a picnic table. Yes, The Sandstone trail is easy to navigate. The Eddisbury way needs an bit of satnav. Finding the trail after leaving the canal is a bit awkward. Walking through the chicken farm was unusual however all the maze is now cattle food. I went around the final farm before road. I was not walking through a the cows outside the barn.
Would ne nicer with the pubs open.
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It is always interesting how the walks change over the season, I think if I had been on my own I’d have bypassed the cows!
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