Route description & photos

Start anywhere on Merebrook Road (SK11 8RH).  Limited on-street parking available.  Head initially west, then turn left at the end of the road into Springfield Road.  This quickly becomes Cherryfields Road which you follow as it becomes Heyes Farm Road, then turn right into Princes Way.

At the end of Princes Way, cross straight over the road into Pexhill Road.  Continue to walk along Pexhill Road into the countryside.  After a while, the pavement stops, but from here there is a faint path running through a wide grass verge for a considerable distance, so you don't need to take your chance with fast vehicles and blind bends!

Look out for a kissing gate on your left.  Pass through this, and stride over the electric fence - which is insulated at this point where the PROW crosses!  Head towards the wooden footbridge with stiles which is now visible ahead.  After crossing the bridge, bear left to continue walking on the PROW through New Farm.

After passing a pond on your right, continue to follow the path on the right hand side of the field.  Avoid the temptation to follow the path dropping to the left as any lost height will have to be soon regained.  The line of the PROW heads towards another kissing gate in the right-hand corner of the field ahead, but the trodden path on the ground begins to veer left.  At this point, trust the path on the ground.  This heads through an open gateway into the next field on solid ground, whereas the area just beyond the kissing gate is so boggy as to be usually waterlogged!

The path on the ground starts to veer right to contour around the side of the small hill, but continue straight up to the summit to take in the only trig point on the route.  This is TP5093, nicknamed mischievously as "Great Weston Fell"!  Head down to the kissing gate to exit onto Gawsworth Road. 

Continue directly over the road into Penningtons Lane, which is a rough farm track at this end, and not recommended for driving!  Follow the lane past the farm buildings on the right, then Little Bailey Riddings Farm on the left, and around several sharp bends until it returns you into a residential area on the south of Macclesfield. 

Turn right into Hillcrest Road, following it to the hairpin bend back into Surrey Road.  Turn right into Moss View Road leading to Congleton Road A537.  Cross over the main Macclesfield-to-Congleton road and enter the playing fields at Danes Moss. 

Go past the changing room and shower block and continue along the left edge of the field to a gap in the bottom corner.  Pass through this into a wide expanse of common land.  Take either the path to the left or to the right; they rejoin each other at the eastern end of the area as you enter the woods.

A couple of rudimentary plank crossings enable you to get past some watery/boggy patches without wet or dirty feet, so long as you have a reasonably steady balance!  Turn left onto a more substantial and very straight path.  This takes you all the way to Moss Lane, which you follow for a very short distance before turning left into Stamford Road.

Follow Stamford Road to a sharp corner bend.  At this point, turn left into the public footpath through the Moss Lane allotments.  There are many allotments here, and usually quite a few people out tending to them.

Ignore a couple of right turns off the path, keeping straight on between the allotments.  The path emerges onto the southern end of the Flower Pot Greenway.  Bear right to follow the greenway route up to Park Lane, near the Flower Pot junction.

From this point, the official route of the Flower Pot Greenway goes up Ivy Lane before turning right into Sycamore Crescent.  However, this is not a particularly satisfying option following estate roads in a residential area.  For a much better route with longer sections of non-roadside footpaths, follow the main Oxford Road for a couple of minutes, before turning left into Brooklands Avenue.

At the top of Brooklands Avenue, head into the footpath/cyclepath to the left of the entrance to All Hallows School.  This follows around the back of the school boundary until it rejoins the official route of the Flower Pot Greenway just ahead of the Bollin Meadow Grassland.

The greenway ends at Chester Road, onto which you turn left to follow up to the junction with Ivy Road.  Turn left here, and soon after, right into Merebrook Close (which is easily missed!).

Turn left at the top of Merebrook Close to follow the ginnel through to Merebrook Road, at which point the circular route is complete.