134 Country Rambles. 



the station, turn instantly to the right just above the line, 

 and alongside of it, and at the distance of a hundred 

 yards or so find our way to the bank of the canal, cross- 

 ing this and entering the fields through a stile. The path 

 then goes past Lea Hey farm, and after awhile past Nab 

 Top farm, beautiful prospects all the way. On the 

 right, far below, we now soon have the river, eventually 

 treading the meadows called Marple Dale, through 

 which it meanders, and at the end of which the path 

 mounts through the wood and enters Marple Park, the 

 way back to the village now self-declared, 



After Strines, from near which place there is another 

 way to Cobden Edge, next, if travelling by train, we 

 get to New Mills, and before long to Chapel-en-le-Frith, 

 once again a point for new beginning, since it is here 

 that we start for Castleton. This is a jaunt purely for 

 pedestrians, and for vehicles not unwilling to linger on 

 the way, being one long climb, from which even steam, 

 that, like Lord Chatham, "tramples upon impossibilities," 

 for the present seems to shrink. England furnishes few 

 such walks as this one from Chapel to Castleton, the 

 concluding part in particular, by the ancient bridle-path, 

 through the Wind-gates, or "Winnats," crags rising 

 upon each side to a height so vast that at times we seem 

 absolutely shut in. The hugeness and the loneliness of 

 this wonderful chasm, the bare grey slopes and bluffs of 

 projecting rock relieved only by the presence of a few 

 sheep, powerfully recall the great passes amid the 

 mountains of the distant north. Once, however, it must 



