Leelon two

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I walked from Biddulph via Leek to Longnor as part of the National Parks Challenge 2026. There is a lot of road walking, but in return some great views and experiences are on offer. Careful map reading is required - some of the route is not immediately obvious. Several fields were full of cows so care is again required - I skipped the final footpath into Longnor for this reason and walked along the road.

Walked from Leek to Longnor. This is the route I eventually used when reviewing LeeLon one with a view to making changes that improve its walkability. It works, but the pavement walk along the main road into Leek is tedious. No facilities in the central third of the route (they just don't exist).

From the square in Longnor, we go west along Leek Road, then straight on along Gauledge Lane, which soon becomes a farm track. We soon leave the track to follow a fairly well signposted path through fields, crossing the infant river Manifold via cow pastures and climbing a little to Leek Road. We follow the moderately busy road down to Hardings Booth, where the path left has been diverted around the top edge of the farmyard. Marnshaw Lane is easily reached. The path beyond is little used and not well marked, and involves crossing boggy ground at the start - when very wet it may be prudent to use the quiet roads instead. I missed the diversion round the east side of Hollygrove Farm, but the formal right of way line past the farmhouse is not obstructed.

From here, the next section follows a very quiet road gently up to the top of the moor - on a clear day you can see a long way. Eventually we reach the slightly busier Blackmere Road, which still seemed safe to me. We follow the road down to a Mermaid Inn, a former pub now let as holiday flats. Beyond the car park we take the path half right - this is not a clear path but a line of marker posts indicates the easiest line (south of the right of way line) across the rough pasture, with old quarries below the path and a couple of fairly deep ravines. The posts lead us down to the farm track that passes through Hurdlow farmyard and continues down to Leek Road.

I was attempting to follow LeeLon one at this point but the footpath to Upper Hulme has no clear exit across Leek Road and is also boggy, so I retreated and followed the track down to the main road. Another abortive attempt to get back to the original route took me up to Upper Hulme but I found another obstacle. By this point the pavement of the main road seemed the simplest way into Leek - there is a pavement of sorts all the way but you will have to cross from the east side to the west midway, and parts of the pavement are getting overgrown and you may have to duck under tree branches.

I have to admit that by this stage I was more focused on getting a bus out than visiting the oddly sited Leek meeting point - in my view the war memorial next to the bus station would have been a better choice.

Overall a viable route but not as good as I had hoped, so three stars seems fair.

[note that midway through the walk I accidentally switched the phone camera to zooming in 3 times, and didn't notice the error until I was on the main road].

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