Bosley Reservoir, Croker Hill and Bosley Minn

Croker Hill looking North Towards Shutlingsloe

A 6.5 walk from Bosley reservoir with some uphill is this walk over up the nearby Croker Hill onto Sutton Common and then back along the ridge between Wincle Minn and Bosley Minn.

Mostly on Tracks, some mud in wet weather, including passing around the reservoir.

Livestock may be present in some fields.

There are some good views out across the Cheshire Plain and north and East towards the Peak district.

Parking is on the roadside by the Bosley Reservoir dam.

There are no pubs on this walk.

Parking by the reservoir dam, walk past the first gate onto the dam and continue up the road to the second gate, then walk along the reservoir bank, passing onto the single track road at the fishing club car park and then back onto the reservoir path at the next gate, and continue until the path climbs up to the style onto the main road. Turn right onto the main road and walk the 100 or so metres up the road until you find the signposted track off to the left.

Follow the track up the hill, all the way past a derelict building on the right then after another couple of turns the track slopes down slightly before a right hand bend the signposted path heads across the field to the top corner and a style that leads through a small wood, a bridge and more styles, at the far side find another track and turn right on this to continue uphill following the obvious track.

With the farm above on the right the path separates from the track before a gap between fields, the style is to the right of the gap, passing over this style, the path heads right to another style and towards the farm. There is a marked diversion heading across the field to another style to avoid 'friendly but boisterous' dogs. At the next style head up the road and follow this onto the hill, good views are available from the top of the hill, continue past the radio mast until the path on the left through the farmyard.

Follow this path downhill to the main road where you turn left for a short distance before finding the track on the right heading uphill, this track becomes a road and continues along the length of the ridge.

West from the ridgeline, Bosley Cloud to the left, with Bosley Reservoir and Croker hill on the right.

 As the road descends there is a seat with a footpath sign on the right, this is the first of a few paths that head off the Minn heading for the path that heads down the hill, a couple of other paths further on the road also meet this path, choose one and then follow these downhill, through a farmyard and back onto the single track road by Bosley Reservoir, turn right and return to the car.

Muddiest part of the walk.

Bosley Reservoir - a surprising find.

We have driven past Bosley Reservoir on numerous occasions heading towards Derbyshire and Buxton, although never stopped having normally headed off to Rudyard, Tittesworth and some of the other better known reservoirs in the area.

Last year, having got bored of the local walks from the house we started looking for local walks that would be quiet and decided to have a drive round to see if we could find anywhere to park near Bosley and see if we could park and enjoy a walk.

Following the single track road that heads around the eastern side of the reservoir, near the dam is a small patch of roadside parking for around 8-10 cars. Parking hear you can either climb over a small wall and pass through a gate onto the dam and head towards the western side of the water, or walk 20 yards up the road and pass through another gate to get access to the eastern bank.

A couple of important notes:

At the northern end the reservoir goes right up to the main A54 road and to complete a full lap of the reservoir includes walking 300 metres on this road as it twists down the hill, with extremely narrow verges so take extreme care. The western entrance to the A54 is on Folds road, the eastern entrance is a style over the crash barrier at the side of the A54.

During the warmer months cows graze on the grass on the western bank, so be prepared for this, we have seen them blocking the narrower paths that are close to the A54.

From the parking area to get to the western bank you walk along the dam bank and over a small bridge across the spillway to a small kissing gate that leads to tree lined pasture. The level of the water changes dramatically throughout the year and this is more visible on the western side as the level recedes revealing extra land.

Continuing round eventually the reservoir gets closer to the edge of the public area and the path narrows to thin path on top of the bank, through a wooded area until eventually the path arrives at Fold lane and a style where you need to decide whether to continue onto the A54 or turn and retrace your steps back to the car.

The eastern bank differs from the west side as the sides of the reservoir are steeper and the path sticks closer to the side of the water and is roughly 10-15 feet above the surface, also the angling club occupies this bank with lots of fishing points below the path. The first part of the path is gravelled although later on it decays into a muddy path, which require adequate footwear for muddy paths in winter, when reaching the angler's car park you need to use the style next to the car park gate and walk a short distance up the single track road until you find a gate on the left through which you can regain the track back along the reservoir.

The trail continues through the trees until it arrives at a rise that ends at the style over the crash barrier onto the A54, again this is the point to decide whether to turn left onto the A54 and continue to do the full lap or retrace your steps back to the car. Turning right onto the A54, about 30 meters further up on the left is a track that leads up onto Croker Hill.

Bosley reservoir is a haven for bird life, whether water based or small birds within the woods.

Some of the birds we have seen here are: Blue Tits, Robins, Geese, Tufted Ducks and Grebes along with many more. The banks have many different habitats as you walk around.

The complete lap of Bosley reservoir is 2.96 miles walking an out and return on the western bank should be of the same length.