We walked on the hottest day of the year so far. Thank goodness that there was a lot of shade during the walk.

Having met up at Stockport Interchange, we took the bus to Hyde, opposite the Joshua Bradley pub. From here, we walked past the old Unity Mill, once a cotton mill in the 1860’s and later a rubber works in the 1890’s. It finally closed for business in 2003 following a fire. We walked down on to the Peak Forest canal and after a while, a steep climb down some steps towards the river Tame and the Haughton Dale Nature Reserve. A lovely walk through the reserve was rewarded by a view of a heron standing in a field of geese – very bizarre! A short stop was taken by Ivy Cottages for a group photo. These are a group of cottages from the 18^th or 19^th century which are all painted in different bright colours. On then to some very steep steps up to the canal. Thank goodness for a low wall at the top to sit on. Back along the canal and past Unity Mill to our lunch stop at the Joshua Bradley where the service was excellent and our food arrived very quickly.