Saturday 9th March, Hare Hill Trespass

A very busy few days, down to family expansion, music & singing rehearsals and subsequent performances had severely limited my opportunities to get out. It was Sod’s Law that the first chance for stretch was on a cold, wet day.

Alderley Edge has been a sacred site since before Jesus was a lad. King Arthur and his knights are said to sleep somewhere beneath the sandstone cliffs – waiting to defend England in it’s hour of need. Wandering through the woodland that covers much of the red sandstone escarpment of the Edge it’s easy to imagine Arthur and his mates lurking underground, just waiting….
Parking the car in the NT Car Park on the Edge, we set off walking east (east is good) and gently downhill (gently downhill is even better than east!) leaving the Edge behind, I struggled to find some of the footpaths that were clear on the map but a bit vague on the ground. A consequence of these vague footpaths was that we missed the village of Mottram St Andrew, situated in the golden triangle of Prestbury, Alderley Edge and Wilmslow. No matter, it just meant that there was less tarmac to contend with.

By Pott Brook, close to Mottram St Andrew

Back on track, all was well until the footpath diversion at Hunter’s Pool Farm, but it was no big deal real – just a bit of an unwanted faff. Hare Hill (NT) was the next target. I knew there were concessionary paths in the area and I’d guessed that one track that entered Hare Hill from the east was one such. Wrong. It was a private drive – although the ‘Private Drive’ sign wasn’t visible until the trespassing had been done. Whoops.

The Village Pump

Not to worry, nobody noticed us. I don’t think. Entering the gardens we had a meander around, admiring the well kept gardens.

 

! walked as far as Pistol Pond (before you ask, I don’t know) where a coffee break was called. In the rain. I suppose it goes with the territory….you’re a walker from England…you just KNOW it’s going to rain. Anyway, we found a nice (wet) bench seat conveniently situated close to Pistol Pond and proceeded to get a wet bum whilst slurping hot coffee. So it wasn’t all bad.  I enjoyed the coffee too.

A very well-marked concessionary path took us back to the Edge and the car park. It was still raining. And it was getting cold.

Around 6 miles with 400’ (ish) ascent:

It was a short walk and the weather was crap, but it was still good to get out.

Thursday 7th March, Maddox – 8lb 6oz

JJ is now officially an old fart.
Maddox, born 4.18pm today.
We are a Grandad.

More photos here.

1st – 3rd March, Convivial Coniston Coppermines. Magic!

What’s all that about then?

Milly, who is Gill (it’s a long story) booked Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel for an Outdoors Magic meet. I think a total of 28 turned out for the meet, 22 cosy hostellers and 6 cool campers.
An mid-afternoon departure from Timperley had me driving through Ambleside at around 5pm. The views across Windermere were stunning enough to make me stop the car for a few minutes to play with the camera:

I arrived at the hostel in good time to find….nobody in. Apart from Owen, Margaret and Jane who were doing their best to demolish the contents of a bottle of wine whilst sat in Jane’s rather nice motor-home. Other OMers had arrived but they’d toddled off for various pre-dinner walks. Within the hour they had all returned to the hostel and I went in to claim my bunk.
Ping pong curries for all had been brought up arranged by Maria – and the lovely lady plonked a huge plateful of the stuff in front of me.
I should point out that Maria is a TGO Challenge Virgin, TGOC2013 will be her first crossing. She’s made of the right stuff and is going to have a ball. Not that I’m jealous. Oh no, not me.
Hrmph.

Milly (L, in green) talking to Elaina a.k.a. Blethering Blonde

An evening of introductions, route planning, beers and perhaps one or two more beers followed. Outside, the sky was crystal-clear = perishing cold, I was glad I chosen not to camp.

 A slightly wobbly moon

I hit the sack at around midnight, leaving revellers downstairs. I wasn’t bothered by the noise from the dining room directly below me – I was too knackered.
Next morning dawned bright, clear & cold, and the plans made the previous evening were put into action – but not before Chewie had provided bacon butties for all who wanted them. That was pretty well everyone!

 A very frosty dawn, looking towards Coniston

 

Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel

My Plan was to join the small (select!) group who were going up to Dow Crag and then over to Coniston Old Man. Our leader, Skip, had arranged to collect Paddy from Coniston and drive him over to Walna Scar. The rest of the party would walk over to meet them at the small car park. As if by magic, we approached the car park just as Skip’s car rolled up.

  ….and off we trot

This was to be a leisurely stroll – a good job really. Poor Taz was decidedly under-the-weather, but she’s made of stern stuff and a little dose of raging stomach bug and galloping wotsits wasn’t going to rob her of a good walk.

 Pete and a poorly Taz

 Walna Scar, the first ‘top’ of the day

A trundle up Dow Crag followed. I’m not the best on bouldery ascents and I was last to the top. It didn’t matter, the party was in no hurry. The views were good – but it was seriously cold on the tops.

Taz, Pete and Paddy on Dow Crag

Goats Water from the saddle between Dow Crag and Coniston O.M.

Lunch was taken close to the very busy summit of Coniston Old Man. It was a bit worrying to see ill-clad walkers on the top, it was freezing and there were areas of slippy compacted snow. I’m sure they give the local MRT business they’d rather not have.

The top of Coniston Old Man

A party on the top

Dropping off the top, Skip spotted a rather enticing gully – just waiting to be explored. So that’s just what we did. A delightful stream, bordered with juniper bushes – just out of reach of hungry sheep, provided our route down:
 
Somehow we managed to squeeze 5 walkers and a doggy into Skip’s already full car – even so, 15 minutes later we were all back at the hostel – drinking tea and putting the world to rights.

Around 8 miles with 2700’ of up:

Some trolled off to the Black Bull in Coniston for their evening meal and a few beers. Others stayed behind, me included – I’d brought my tea with me.

The common room had a solid-fuel stove, loads of solid fuel – firelighters too. But matches? Kindling? None! My Boy Scout heritage and cunning soon had the fire going. It was a bit rum though, the stove didn’t have any glass in the door. I think the YHA need to get their maintenance schedules up to speed.

 Pete & Milly in relaxation mode 

An evening of Jenga, rehydration, more Jenga, and good conversation followed. The results of the Jenga championships are classified…..all I will say is that I didn’t do too well!

Carrick, Chewie & Jamie 

It was good to meet Jamie for the first time, his Trekking Britain blog is excellent.

Next morning, a breakfast of Chewie’s bacon butties and gallons of tea set the group up for a much shorter walk. The plan was to walk from Yewdale, have a trundle around Tarn Hows and some of the little hills in the area.

Tarn Hows

 Jane, Sladey and Margaret

 

Lunch spot ahoy!

A chilly but sunny lunch spot was found and a pleasant half-hour was spent refuelling on butties, scones and Milly’s rather delicious sweeties. 

Apres lunch snooze 

 Black Crag

Some OMers needed to get off home, so after descending to the road from Black Crag the group split into two – one lot (me included) headed back to the car park at Yewdale, whilst t’others continued a little further.

 The parting of the ways

A pleasant diversion to Booths in Windermere for essential supplies of tea and cake in the company of Jane and Margaret brought my O.M. weekend to a close.

It was a grand do – and I’ll definitely be back.

Thanks to all who made the event so successful and enjoyable – especially Milly for making it happen, and Maria for supplying and making my tea on Friday!

More piccies here.

Tuesday 26th February, PILES and RHUBARB

More piles and less rhubarb.

Recent local walks and runs have been multi-purpose: exercise, ‘getting out’, good company, and keeping my eyes open for fallen wood for my woodburner. Much of the last two days has been spent collecting this fallen wood and piling it up in my back garden for use either next winter – or more likely, the following winter.

The resulting pile of wood is encroaching on my patch of Timperley Early rhubarb.

What did you think I meant?

With the expected steep rises in the price of gas I’ll be expanding my wood stock – and I’ll probably need more piles. 

I’m probably going to need to move the bird-feeder or the pussy-cats will be having a feast.

Sunday 24th February, Walkies

After yesterday’s music & singing rehearsal at Rick’s we decided a walk was needed to stretch our legs and clear our brains.
And so it was that at around 8.45am this morning we met up at the top of our respective roads and hit the Bridgewater Canal towpath at Timperley Station bridge.
It was a bit chilly when we set out, around 1degC. It was Rick’s fault (when it’s not his fault, it’s mine – and today it was his turn). Rick suggested a route that was pretty-well the reverse of the route I used to use to run into work – when I had a job.

A victim of the treacherous waters of the Bridgewater Canal

After about 3 miles of towpath walking we left the canal and walked underneath the canal aquaduct to join the banks of the Mersey:

Banks of the Mersey? Sounds like the name of a monologue…..
Sale Water Park was on our left, it was reputedly formed by the extraction of gravel used to build the M60 motorway.
Then Jackson’s Boat footbridge – which seemed to have spawned a partner:
The new bridge is to carry one of the many Metrolink Tram lines that seem to be popping up all over the place.
Leaving Sale Water Park far behind, we next came to Chorlton Water Park.

Our last bridge of the day, which took us over the Mersey and away from Chorlton Water Park, through Kenworthy Woods and then towards Wythenshawe Park. Worra lorra parks.

 Bridge over the River Kwai Mersey

Turning west (eh?) through Wythenshawe Park towards Timperley, it was still damned cold. My Buffalo was a good choice for today’s walk. A bit of tarmac and we were back in Timperley.

10 miles of flatness. Nice though.

Saturday 23rd February. A bit of a trot

I needed a USB wireless dongley sticky-thing – and I also needed to get out for a bit of a stretch.
Our rather good local computer shop, Grapevine Computers in Altrincham, always come up trumps for me – decent kit at the right price, off the shelf – and they know what they’re talking about.
I devised a bit of a circuitous running route that would enable me to grab a bit of exercise, take me over ground where I might spot fallen wood for the woodburner – and get into Altrincham for the computer gubbins.
Beechfields, Brook’s Drive and Altrincham Golf Course provided traffic-free bits of the route, unfortunately the rest was tarmac. We can’t all live in a part of the country with wilderness on our doorstep….worse luck!
It was to be a good morning: I spotted loads of fallen wood (a job for tomorrow), bought a rather fancier USB wireless thingy than I knew existed (it’s loads faster than other wireless dongles I’ve used previously) – and it snowed. But only a bit.
On the route back to home I spotted a bit of history:

 

I may nip back tomorrow with a tin of Brasso

Wilson’s Brewery, once of Newton Heath, Manchester, were one of the most prolific suppliers of beer to pubs in the Manchester area. After amalgamating with Websters of Halifax, the brewery closed in 1987 and the brand ceased to exist in 1998.

The whole trip took me around 90 minutes which was fine.

6.3 miles of flatness:

20th February, Petition for Trump Inquiry

The very excellent Laura posted details of the Petition for Trump Inquiry – calling on the Scottish Parliament, through the Public Petitions Committee, to urge the Scottish Government to hold a public inquiry into the way local government, Scottish Ministers and other relevant public bodies conducted themselves throughout their dealings with the Trump Organisation in relation to the Menie project.

Trump: Image from www.examiner.com

You know what to do.

Sunday 17th February, Sunset in Cheshire

Whilst en-route to the Clonter Opera Theatre this evening, I thought the sunset was rather nice:

 Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope

Jodrell Bank and a tree

Jodrell Bank 10 minutes later

Jodrell Bank is quite a fancy bit of kit – you can read all about it here.
Both the Clonter Opera Theatre and Jodrell Bank are well worth a visit if you’re around these parts.

The photographs were taken with my Lumix DMC-FS40.

Saturday 16th February, Tally-Ho!

The training for training continues….

The opportunity to go “running through cow fields (and other cow things) in all weathers and conditions just for the fun of it” was not to be missed, so just before 2pm I set off to follow the sawdust trail laid by Mark Taylor and Tommy Markham. The weather was good: sunshine, warm – a pleasant change compared to the weather we had been enduring of late.
Today’s pub was an old favourite of the Cheshire Tally-Ho!, The Cross Keys at Uppermill, on the western edge of the Saddleworth Moors. I ran most of the route with Ian J – he was suffering from the back-end of a very bad cold so I thought there might be a chance I could keep up with him.

Ian running up Pots & Pans 

Running (Ho-ho!) south to climb up the local tourist honey-pot hill, Pots & Pans, was relatively easy – the ground was reasonably dry and the gradient not too steep. The views were good:
  Every ascent has a descent and our descent took us down to Dovestones Reservoir. The track was a little tricky and even with fell-running shoes I kept slipping and sliding until we got down to the bottom.

On Alderman’s Hill, above Dovestone’s Reservoir

 Dovestone’s from the dam

Continuing south, following the eastern edge of the reservoir and on good tracks, we headed to the half-way point of the trail – a footbridge across the stream that runs through Chew Valley.

It was here that some of the faster hounds caught us up:

As is often the case when following trail in company, chatting too much leads to losing the trail – even when the trails is laid as well as this one. After a good 2-3 minutes of yakking….we were lost. Well not quite lost, but we were certainly off the trail. Fortunately we had half an idea of  where the route should go and we followed our instincts – which proved to be correct.

Although the photo above shows a well-surfaced track, it wasn’t long before we we running over more typical Tally-Ho ground:

It wasn’t all as bad, and by the time Rob caught us up we were back on half-decent tracks again: 

You’ll notice that all the other runners were catching us up. In our defence, Ian and I weren’t 100%…..mind you, even if I was 100% I don’t think I’d have done much better!

Not far from the end now 

Tally-Ho! trails always feature a dinner after the run. Prior to dinner we get cleaned up and changed. Use of the club’s tin bath is the preferred method of getting clean – it certainly encourages runners to get round the route as quickly as possible – those who finish late suffer rather gritty bath water:

It was a good run – a bit heavy on tarmac, but to be honest that suited me today. I’m completely out of condition and an easy run was just what I needed.

A good dinner of meat & potato pie with mushy peas and red cabbage, followed by fruit pie and custard refuelled the runners very satisfactorily. Rehydration was made possible by consuming vast amounts of well-kept John-Willie Lees….not for me though, I was driving.

Hungry runners waiting to be fed 

8.5 miles with around 1800’ of ascent. Good.

Thanks go to Tommy Markham and Mark Taylor for a very well-laid trail.

14th February, Valentine Venture

Knackered knees, amongst many other things, have buggered up my running & walking of late. I planned a gentle (sadly mainly tarmac) run in an attempt to gain some fitness in advance of a training trip coming up.
The following route was devised as a gentle run / walk – enough to remind heart & lungs what they are there for, but not too much so as to overly jangle my knackered knees.
It all seemed to go swimmingly well with only two enforced stops to give my L knee a good talking to.
Just under 8 miles with around 300’ of up and downery. And it didn’t rain.
Nice. I’ll do it again next week, but before that there’s a 8-9 mile Tally-Ho! trail run in Saddleworth on Saturday. Well kept JW Lees, good food, good company….and hopefully a good route. And mud.