A long long time ago in a galaxy not that far away, my Dad was also young like me. He can’t remember much about it and there wasn’t social media to record everything we did in that very distant past. Sometimes though, out of nowhere, something sparks his aging memory. I don’t know what it was today, but he said to Mum “Shall we go to Three Shires Head? I used to go swimming there when I was a kid” and as this made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever, she just went with the flow! A pretty apt response given what this post is about 😋
It was the day before Dad’s birthday. The humans were off work and decided to celebrate a day early. After a homemade sausage and egg muffin, we set off on the short car journey into the hills around Macclesfield and to Three Shires Head. For anyone local like Dad, they’d say it was in Wildboarclough. Whether that’s actually correct I don’t know, but Dad says it’s a fact and he got an ‘A’ in GCSE Geography, so it can’t be wrong 😉
There are lots of different walks you can do to get to Three Shires Head, but Dad obviously chose the path of least resistance. Knowing the area well, he knew just where to park so that we would be walking only 20 minutes – or 45 minutes to allow for Mum to photograph everything on the way – before we would get there. And what exactly is “there”? Well Three Shires Head is a pretty cool place to visit. Situated in the Peak District on the River Dane, it marks the boundary for the three local counties Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, so you can hop between the three counties in a matter of seconds!
What makes Three Shires Head so cool are the waterfalls and plunge pools, deep enough to swim in, if you can take the freezing water! It’s a stunning spot and even on a cloudy day, perfect for a paddle. If you are passing through on more of a serious walk, it’s the ideal place to stop for lunch. We were having steak lunch when we got back, so just a quick sit down to take in the views and listen to Mum complaining about people. She’s not keen on them you see. The water was full of some very noisy people to be fair and they were ruining her opportunity to get some nice photos. How dare they 🤣🤣🤣