A group of 39 walkers and 6 dogs assembled on 26^th January, a record number, for the first Thumb Legs Walk of 2025.  We walked up to Cote Green and then to Lane Ends. 

Avoiding muddy paths, we headed to Mill Brow along the road and then up Gird Lane, picking up a footpath that took us to Smithy Lane Farm.  En route, we saw a corrugated enclosed field, part of an ancient field system probably hundreds of years old.  This area has evidence of human occupation going back more than one thousand years.  Then onto Smithy Lane and up to Sandhill Lane. 

Following a short walk, we turned down Ernocroft Lane passing through Ernocroft to arrive at Glossop Road.  With a walk along Glossop Road before heading through Ernocroft Wood to Etherow Park and the River Etherow.  Ernocroft Wood had a long history of coal mining well before George Andrews acquired the right to mine coal there from the Duke of Norfolk.  The coal was used to power the textile mill in Compstall and to produce the gas that illuminated the Mill and the village. 

Back onto Compstall Road, returning to The Thumb for a well-earned rest, a sandwich, and of course, a beer!