Leek

Leek is a market town of 19,385 people at the 2021 census, on the River Churnet 10 miles north east of Stoke-on-Trent. Wikipedia records that King John granted the right to hold a weekly market there in 1207, that silk working came to dominate its mills from the late seventeenth century, and that the industry has since ended. Wikipedia says the town is called the Queen of the Moorlands and sits at the foot of the Peak District National Park.

Why base here

The case for Leek is one ridge and a town’s worth of services. Wikipedia places the town on a hill a few miles south of The Roaches, the gritstone escarpment that rises to 505m, and the straight-line distance from the centre is about 5.7km. Nothing else on this site is as near. Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill are about 12.6km away and Shutlingsloe about 14.7km, both in a straight line, which puts them within a drive but not within reach of a walk from the door. Wikipedia notes that the Roaches are often very busy, especially at weekends, which is a reason to start from a town with other things to do.

On foot versus by car

None of the three walks starts in the town. The Roaches circuit starts at the layby on Roach Road in Upper Hulme, and Staffordshire County Council lists route 108, run by Aimee’s Travel, as calling at Upper Hulme from Leek bus station, with the Sunday A53 from Ashbourne Little Bus doing the same. That makes the Roaches the one hill day here that can be done without a car. Chrome Hill starts at Hollinsclough and is a drive; the bus that reaches its other start at Earl Sterndale, the 442, runs from Buxton and not from Leek. Shutlingsloe starts at the Trentabank car park in Macclesfield Forest on the Cheshire side of the national park, and is a drive from Leek, though Buxton is the nearer base.

Practicalities

Leek station opened in 1849 and closed in 1965, and a supermarket now stands on the site. Wikipedia gives Congleton as the nearest station, for Northern services to Manchester, and Stoke-on-Trent for Avanti West Coast. From Leek bus station Staffordshire County Council lists the 16 and 18 to Hanley, the 108 to Buxton and Ashbourne, and the 109 to Macclesfield. The Peak District National Park Authority also lists Moorlands Connect, a bookable service for Leek, Ashbourne and Buxton with no fixed timetable. By road the A53 runs north to Buxton. Check Traveline before relying on any bus for a walk.

Who this base does not suit

Anyone who wants a village in the hills. Leek is a town of nearly 20,000 with the Roaches 6km off, and the other two walks on this list are a drive away across the Staffordshire border and beyond it. A walker without a car who wants more than one hill day should look at Buxton, which has a wider spread of bus routes into the park, and anyone after limestone dales and the upper Dove is better in Hartington.