It persists amid umpteen tracks, drovers\u2019 roads, saltways and pre-turnpike roadways that course across, along and between the moors, ridges and dales forming the western edge of the Peak District as it declines towards the Cheshire Plain. Such byways have emerged over millennia in an area with a particularly rich history, proffering an imprint of these fading eras as an ideal aid for exploration, with glorious deep-country views a pleasing boon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old mercia ways <\/span>Prehistoric trackways remain teasingly unconfirmed, but ghostly routeways of the Dark Ages are more palpable here. A little north of Mellor Moor stand Robin Hood\u2019s Picking Rods \u2013 worn, carved marker-stones set upright in a base over 1,000 years old. The line of an ancient trackway has been surmised as passing south from these across Mellor Moor to link with the Bowstones, another brace of enigmatic relict cross shafts above nearby Disley. All are held to be waymarkers along a monks\u2019 or pilgrims\u2019 way between widely separated monasteries in old Mercia.<\/span><\/p>\n