Lyme Park: the Cage and the Bowstones

The walk starts from the main car park at Lyme, below the house. It climbs past the front of the house to the Cage, the hunting tower on the ridge to the north, then crosses the park and the east drive to Lantern Wood, where the Lantern, a small stone tower, stands among the trees. A path follows the wall up over the moor to the Bowstones, a pair of Anglian cross shafts beside the ridge road at the park's edge. The return is west along the Gritstone Trail, down across Park Moor to Knightslow Wood, and through the wood to the car park.

It is 5.4 km with 217 m of ascent; allow about 2 hours. The grade is Easy: short, but it climbs to 400 m on open moor.

The moorland paths are rough and wet in places. Red deer live in the park and the stags rut in autumn: keep to the paths and keep your distance. Dogs must be on a short lead except in the marked off-lead areas. From the Lantern and the Bowstones the view runs from Kinder Scout to the Cheshire plain.

The National Trust charges for entry to the park, and the gates close in the evening; members go in free. Disley station is about 2.5 km from the car park, and visitors who arrive by train are let in free.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.