Walks you can reach from Hazel Grove by train

Mostly field tracks with a steep descent and several stiles. Passes the regally-sounding village of King Sterndale.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Steep downhill section to the railway line and several stiles.

Walk details: Buxton Town Team (PDF).

Beautiful Peak District fringe landscape. Valley floor walk with canal towpath and former tramway trail. Historic route tracing pioneering industrial transport infrastructure through Peak District foothills.

Waterway: three quarters along the Peak Forest Canal.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Busy road sections; rough ground with old concrete and limestone blocks.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Spectacular views. Wild landscape of deep valleys and gritstone peaks and studded with peat bogs and pine forests. Buxton developed as a fashionable spa in 18th-19th centuries using profits from Dukes of Devonshire's copper mines. Macclesfield granted borough charter for market in 13th Century.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Stiles; busy road with no pavement and fast traffic.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Similar walk: Walk Midlands (inc. GPX).

Reverse direction: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Rail Rambles.

Spectacular. Canal towpath with residential roads and riverside paths. Scenic canal walk through Peak District foothills along the Peak Forest Canal.

Waterway: almost all along the Peak Forest Canal.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Muddy sections on towpath.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Reverse direction: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Great views across the Goyt Valley. An almost entirely road-, lane- and track-based route between two towns, with a long steady climb out of Whaley Bridge along a quiet tarmac lane. Good open views across the Goyt Valley. Some rocky, rubbly track sections and a flight of steps. Trains between the two stations are regular and take under 20 minutes. No mid-route facilities, so bring food.

Hilly: a third on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: No mid-route facilities; bring your own food.

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk. A short section joins the A-road at Long Hill where there is no pavement, so you walk on the verge of a 50mph road. Some rough rocky tracks.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A delightful walk along canal towpath and through pastures and woods, much of it under tree cover, with farm tracks and stiles and occasional steps. The access to the canal at New Mills is steep. The northern edge of Lyme Park can be visited via a detour. Uses the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals.

Lyme Park (National Trust)

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: Local shops and pubs in Disley mid-route.

Warnings: A mixed herd of cattle at Barlow House Farm needs care, especially with dogs. The gate at the Red Lane end of Lyme Park is locked at closing time and may be shut without warning in high winds; check National Trust opening times.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Stunning National Trust Lyme Park. A rapid change from town to country, with a road climb out of Poynton before reaching open Peak District country. The eastern half is characteristic Peak walking with hill views, gorse and sheep pasture, rocky farm tracks and many stiles; the western half is gentler, mostly narrow woodland paths winding through farms and beside streams. A short section of disused railway path and canal towpath and with occasional deep mud around gateways. Passes through the National Trust's Lyme Park. Uses a short section of the Middlewood Way, a disused railway now a multi-use route.

Lyme (National Trust)

Lyme Park (National Trust)

Lyme Hall (National Trust)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: Lyme Park (National Trust), roughly mid-route, has facilities.

Warnings: A footpath near Hagg Farm has been closed since 2022 due to a dangerous footbridge and is expected to stay closed until at least June 2026; continue along the Middlewood Way to the next bridge and rejoin via the canal towpath. Two higher-speed road crossings near Lyme Park need care. Stiles and ladder stiles throughout, and watch for nettles. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Moorland plateau ascent from valley station, gritstone scarps, green valleys and hillfort promontory.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: An alternative variant of Buxton Circular via Combs Moss (Saturday Walkers Club).