View from Oban Bothy

View from Oban Bothy

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Tuesday 26th June, Summertime in Timperley

Well, Tuesday morning to be more precise….it rained in the afternoon.

The day dawned bright, sunny ….. and warm! There could be no excuse not to get out for a trundle….so a quick email and phone call to the long suffering Rick and we were away from JJ Towers at 9.30am.

The last few years I have begun to explore and enjoy local footpaths – those close enough to home that I can walk from my front door. Today we decided on a walk of a couple of hours to enjoy the summer. Now that it had finally arrived we wanted to take full advantage of the rays – who knows how long the bright orangey-yellow disc in the sky would stick around for.

Walking alongside Beechfield and then to Brooklands roundabout we were soon on Brooks Drive. Brooks Drive got its name from that of its creator Samuel Brooks, a Victorian banker and property developer.

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He bought up a strip of land between Hale Barns and a new Station his bank had commissioned on the railway line from Altrincham to Manchester which became known as Brooklands station. The drive had fallen into disrepair and would have remained so had it not been for the considerable efforts of Reg Temple (1934 – 2001), a local lad who’s fame was only equalled by the late Frank Sidebottom.

Timperley Superhero, Frank Sidebottom

Brooks Drive is now a well maintained, green track used by runners, walkers, cyclists, and horseriders.

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Enough of this history lark, on with the walk.

The sun shone warmly and brightly on the righteous…as the righteous got slightly, er, misplaced in the green fields of Timperley. Fortunately we are masters of navigation and the correct map had been brought out with us so it didn’t take toooo long to get back on track.

A bit of faffing and avoiding wild animals (sheep) that inhabit the locality had us on tarmac for just a short distance. This bit was intentional, really. We wanted to be on the tarmac for this bit. Honest.

Calling in to see Steve and Viv on their allotment, Rick liberated 3 fine examples of curly kale that had only been slightly ravaged by slugs. He planned to replant the curly kale in his back garden so he could have slugs too.

More wanderings across fields and along footpaths had us back on Brooks Drive for the last leg of the return journey. Retracing our steps alongside Beechfields we were back at JJ Towers by around midday.

Surprisingly for an urban-ish walk, we were off tarmac for a vast majority of the route, and most of that was very quiet.

Full advantage should be taken of summer sun. It rained in the afternoon.

Vital statistics: 7-ish miles with 150ft of upness.

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