Tally-Ho! New Mills trail 24th Sept 2022

 

The sun (sort of) beat down on two runners as they set out, west, from New Mills Golf Club. Armed only with a map, some sawdust, and some shredded paper, they determined to lay a trail for Club members to follow a little later in the day.

The first few hundred yards were pleasantly flat and on a hard surface. Greetings were exchanged with dog walkers and golfers – who gave us a funny looks as we trundled along, leaving clumps of sawdust in our wake.

Descending to Brook Bottom, the track surface changed, becoming lumpy, stony, and a little damp & slippy in parts.

At Hague Bar our trail headed east, following the north bank of the R Goyt, crossing the Millenium Walkway by Torr Mills. This part of the route coincided with a section of the first Point-to-Point I took part in, which wasn’t a Point-to-Point at all, but a marathon length circular route from Hayfield.

 

The sun continued to warm us as we followed the Goyt Valley Way to the outskirts of Furness Vale. Here we turned NE, and headed uphill to go through a tunnel under the railway line.

We then followed a lovely path along Shedyard Clough, crossing Laneside road, and on to tarmac at Moor Lodge.

Sawdust Trail...they CAN'T miss that!

David in Trail Laying mode:

 

Heading north, and talking too much, we found ourselves in Birch Vale….not the intended route. This was a bit embarrassing – we’d only recced the route the previous week. Ho hum.

Turning back and uphill, obliterating the trail we’d just so carefully laid, we were soon back on the correct route which took us past Over Lea Farm, Birch Vale Cricket Club, and then down to the Sett Valley Trail where we headed west.

The rest of the route was identical to the last couple of miles of the Club’s 2022 Point-to-Point route: into the eastern outskirts of New Mills, north to cross the R Sett, then up by Tanpits Farm, through the lovely hamlet of Whitle and then following the R.o.W. across the New Mills Golf Club course and then finally, our objective, the golf club’s clubhouse.

A low turnout of 14 runners, but that didn’t detract from the fun of the day.

The club’s showers and changing facilities were put to good use, then thirteen sat down to a meal of pie & chips, followed by dessert.

After rigourous interrogation, Hon Pres Park proposed David Brown (aka David Hamilton, aka….well never mind) as a member, and was seconded by Vinny Jones.

My thanks to David for helping with the route recce and for successfully completing his apprenticeship as a trail-layer ;-)

Where we went:

8 miles, 1100’ ascent.

The GPX is (hopefully) HERE.

The Cheshire Tally-Ho! Hare & Hounds Trail Running Club

NW Air Ambulance Hallowe’en Ceilidh

It was all Greta’s idea. And Bill’s.

The original plan was to try to give something back to the NHS for all the hard work and sacrifices made during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately that was going to be an administrative nightmare, so…. 

They came up with A Plan to raise funds for the North West Air Ambulance, a service that relies totally on charitable subscriptions in order to operate. They get no government support.

Now flying helicopters around isn’t cheap, and if our caring Conservative government can’t be mithered to finance this vital emergency service, then we’d try to do our bit.

New Mills Town Hall was hired, the Hopgoblin Big Band all signed-up, and the publicity campaign began: FaceBook, direct emails, word of mouth, knocking on doors, posters in New Mills businesses, fly-posting (tsk), and mithering the blazes out of everyone we came across all, played their part.

It seemed to have worked: the hall was filled on the night, nearly everyone was in fancy dress, and the band were on fire. It was damned hard work, but well worth the effort.

You helped raise:

£1000

from ticket sales, donations, and a raffle.

Pretty good eh? 

So thanks to the good folk of New Mills and those from (much) further afield who came along and bopped to the band – we’re all extremely grateful for your support.  

Oh, and we enjoyed ourselves too!

Photos from the evening are here.

Our next public ceilidh will be on New Year’s Eve, at the Morley Green Club, Wilmslow SK9 5NT. Details will follow shortly.

Tally-Ho! New Mills 25th Sept 2021

The weather had turned warm and humid for our outing from the golf club. JJ led the runners away from the golf course, north along the road for a short distance before turning left and then right up a drive.

The footpath is marked straight across the large pond, so we
skirted the pond and headed north west to a track. Then we took a brief detour up through some woods to Mellor Cross before dropping back down to the track as it joined Back Lane.

We then turned left down the track before gaining the green stuff again via a footpath on the right. A little later we swung left, heading across the Mellor and Towscliffe golf course.

This confused at least one runner who was sure that the path didn’t go that way and so headed off his own way.

Across the golf course and then turned right through a busy
Linnet Clough Scout Camp.

We headed through woodland up to cross Longhurst Lane and curve up to pass Mellor Church, high on the hill. Through the graveyard then north again across Hollywood Road and on to Brook Bottom.

From here we headed to Far Bradshaw and onto Upper Bradshaw Farm and Springbank Farm where we crossed Gun Road.

This was a gentle cure which continued to Ringstones Farm where we took a sharper right turn to reach Hollinsmoor Road.

A quick right then left saw us back on the green stuff, bypassing Hollins Farm and on our way to Briargrove Farm. Some members received abuse for crossing the garden here, although it is a right of way and signposted. We took to Briargrove Road for a short distance, then right out onto the fields again, across to Mellor Road. A right then a left to skirt Broadhurst Plantation crossing Pole Lane and onto Primrose lane. 

A sharp left then took us on the last leg before the finish, and we rejoined the outward course to gain the safety of the clubhouse.

The weather for the trail layers had started dull, with a sprinkling of rain, but had brightened up and by the finish it was warm and sunny, so after changing in the well appointed changing rooms (no shower), we purchased some refreshment and sat at the tables outside to await the arrival of the runners.

 

Wells: Trail-Layer Extraordinaire

 

 Sawdust Trail

 Paper Trail

Joe Park was accompanied by a guest of JJ, Paul who seemed to have enjoyed it all. Rick Riding, Des Winterbone and Tommy all arrived from various directions having followed the trail creatively and soon joined us at the table.

David Bell, Ian Jenks, Ian Brown, Mike Eastwood, Steve Murray, Rob McHarry, Andy Coatsworth and Shotgun all arrived in various states dependant on their level of effort. 

When all were back, and refreshed we went inside to sit at tables with tablecloths for our repast. Steak pie, chips and peas, or veggie option, was followed by a very good cheesecake, and money was politely collected.

The Trail of the Season award for last season, which consisted of three runs due to the pandemic, was awarded to  JJ, so any hopes of this years being the best were dashed.

Suitably refreshed and rested we then dispersed to find our way home.

Where we went:

8 miles with around 1200’ of ascent….according to the OS app

Words by Wells, Route by JJ, Trail Laying by Wells & JJ, pics by JJ.

Note that some of the photos are out of order....Blogger strikes again.

Windy Bottom Tally-Ho! 26th Sept 2020

Here we go again….

The Trail Layers, me and Whitehead, ably accompanied by Ade, met at 11am on the appointed day in the large and already quite full car park of New Mills Golf Club.

Loaded up with more sawdust than very loaded-up trail layers, we set off west on a stony track to descend to Brook Bottom. 

Fortunately, and depending on your point of view, the Fox Inn (Robinson’s) was yet to open. With no excuse to stop we descended further, following the initially very stony Goyt Way / Midshires Way, to Strines and it’s cobbled road – treacherously slippy in the wet. Don’t ask me how I know…

Windy Bottom Farm

Windy Bottom Farm Audience

River Goyt

Heading NW and along a good track that ran (?) parallel to the railway line and the R Goyt, passing the delightfully named Windy Bottom Farm, Strawberry Hill, Roman Lakes, and then the last of the bottoms of this route, Bottoms Hall.

Bottoms Hall

Roman Lakes: Closed

A climb up Old Hall Lane took us by Linnet Clough Reservoir and another climb to join a nice track to Linnet Clough Scout Camp Site, temporarily closed due to Covid-19 precautions.

We laid sawdust on the still open public footpaths through the campsite, giving us a good insight to modern day Scout activities. How times change.

Mellor marked the beginning of the return leg of our route, we headed south, skirting the Mellor Golf Course before turning East along Black Lane, a track open to motor vehicles.

 Geoff in trail-laying mode, followed by Ade

 

Geoff & Ade at The Cross

The curious sight of a large crucifix, sited by the 327m spot height was too good an opportunity to miss, so we trundled up, scattering sawdust as we went.

A crucifix was first erected by Marple & District Council of Churches in 1970, and replaced with this very substantial affair in 2018.

Curiously, the cross isn't marked on the current 1:25k OS map, but it does appear on the 1:50k.

Crossing Mellor Moor and continuing to the end of the long straight track we turned SE-ish along the delightfully named and very runnable Primrose Lane.

A stony / rocky descent to cross a minor road and then more footpath running followed. At last we head West, via the hamlet of Whitle and then final approach to the Golf Club, tea, coffee, dinner...and fizzy beer.

Whitle's centre piece

 8.5 miles of running appeared to be well received by the 20 or so runners who attended, although the good weather probably helped colour the opinions of many. 

The Golf Club allowed us to used their changing rooms and showers, sensibly limited to a maximum of two at a time, although few took advantage of the facility.

Indifferent and not very hot meals followed, but stomachs were filled. The choice of Farmers Chicken, Fish & Chips, and a vegetarian option was, on reflection, a bad choice. A better choice would have been the more usual no choice – other than having a vegetarian option.

The beer was fizzy. I may have already mentioned that.

Whatever, it was a good day out and members seemed happy that we return to the venue in the, hopefully Covid-19 free, future. 

Where we went:

8.5 miles, 1260’ ascent. Max / min elevation: 1070’ / 300’

 

(Note that some of the photos were from the recce)