Sunday 7th July, Almost The Gritstone Trail

The Gritstone Trail is ‘a challenging 56km walk’ and is a trip I’ve had on the backburner for quite a while. Running between Disley (South East of Manchester) and Kidsgrove (er, 56km South of Disley), it traverses some pleasantly hilly country of Cheshire and Staffordshire. 

Options for doing the route were: a) Jog/walk in a day, b) Backpack (Hotel/B&B) over two days, or c) Backpack (Camping) over two days.

Sudden high temperatures blew-out the jog/walk idea – I’m not fit enough anyway. I’m such a tight-arse that the hotel/B&B idea was rejected…..that left backpacking with a tent. And so it was.

In order to go lightweight I chose to use my Terra-Nova Laser Competition for the first time. I had no idea how to pitch the thing properly – I chose the phone-a-friend solution and it worked. Thanks Judith!

Family responsibilities meant that I couldn’t set out until the evening. Daytime temperatures reached 27degC so a late start was a good move.
At 8pm I parked the car in Disley railway station car-park, ignored the Ram’s Head and shouldered my pack. Heading south (and uphill) I was glad to have left my start until late, it was still very warm even at this late hour.

There were good views over Lyme Park, Stockport and Manchester. This is a cracking time to walk. Ask Denis, he knows these things. 

 

Monkey Nuts

Light was fading as I climbed up to Bowstones, the views improved to the west – Manchester and Stockport were turning their lights on. This is the holiday season and at one point flights were coming into Manchester Airport every couple of minutes.

Bollington soon hove into view. The Gritstone Trail only touches the outskirts of the town before climbing steeply up to the Saddle of Kerridge to White Nancy, a folly built in 1817 to celebrate victory at the Battle of Waterloo. Two years late, but what the hell, eh?

No pictures of White Nancy – it was too dark.

Dropping off the saddle a bit early (well it WAS dark) I had to walk a couple of hundred yards on tarmac before regaining the correct route. It was 12.45am. Never mind.

The next two miles were a delight, even in the dark. There were good tracks and footpaths, one particular path crossed a lovely meadow. Well I think it was a lovely meadow, the absence of moonlight meant I needed the head-torch more than I wanted which was a shame. I find I can often see so much more walking in the dark without a headtorch, once your eyes adjust to the darkness. A headtorch generates a lot of glare, effectively blotting out much of what you would otherwise see. Note to self: next time I go out on a night-nav trip, bring a compass with luminous bits. I managed without but it was a faff.

My plan was to go to Teggs Nose and drop down to Ridgegate Reservoir to camp. Even with my Alpkit Gamma headtorch, a seriously good bit of kit, it was a no-no. It’s a stony track and I was tired, it was 2am. The chance of tripping on the decent in the dark was just too great. I chose to camp on some lovely flat grass just far enough from the visitor centre.

The tent was up in not a lot of time (thanks again Judith!) and after a wash down (Ask Alan. Or Phil) I covered myself with my sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.
I got up around 7am and after a coffee I packed and was away by 7.45am. A mountain-biker had stopped to chat as I packed, he was off on a ride from Macclesfield to Buxton and back again – planning to be back home before his wife was out of bed!

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope from Tegg’s Nose

The air was pleasantly cool but even at that early hour the sun was hot. Dropping down to Ridgegate Rerservoir, I recovered a 4 pint milk container full of water I’d hidden the previous day.  After breakfast and replenishing my 2 litre platy, I drank the rest of the water, dumping the empty container in the Leathers Smithy pub bins.

Tegg’s Nose

The next substantial up of the walk was to Croker Hill and Sutton Common. On a clear day the telecomms tower on the top is visible for miles around, almost as distinctive as the outline of Shutlingloe. It’s a good but hard pull to the top in such hot weather. I didn’t see any other walkers out on this trip. Obviously they weren’t as daft as me.

South of Croker Hill, the route follows Minn Edge Lane, a green lane traversing the length of Bosley Minn. To the west, across the Cheshire Plain, Jodrell Bank white parabolic dish shone brightly in the strong morning sun.  
The Trail leaves Bosley Minn towards it’s south end, but I’ve run around here before and well remember the killer strength nettles. For the sake of a few hundred yards of tarmac I diverted slightly and enjoyed a nettle-free passage. Good eh?

Another climb – this time up Bosley Cloud, another very distinctively-shaped hill. It was now burningly hot, and although I still had plenty of water on board I was finding the going tough. I don’t do heat very well at all, and this was hot, hot, hot. Views from the top were good, Frodsham and Helsby Hill were just visible through the heat haze.

 Mow Cop on the skyline

Congleton was clearly visible to the west, Mow Cop to the south. I was desperate for cool shade. It was now so hot I was beginning to feel unwell. The next stretch of the route followed a stretch of disused railway line….with lots of shady trees. I found a comfortable spot and plonked myself down, planning to sit out this hottest part of the day before continuing.

An hour later it was hotter still and it was clear that I was going to have to wait for some hours for the temperature to drop. By that time I’d have run out of water and food – and still have another 8-9 miles to walk into Kidsgrove.

Executive decision time. I waited another half-hour and set off walking west, into Congleton and it’s railway station. It was the only sensible choice. I wasn’t enjoying the walk now and it was getting harder and harder.
The very excellent Queens Head in Congleton, a very short walk to the railway station, provided a pint of cold water followed by a pint of TT Landlord in very good nick. I’d have stayed longer but I just wanted to get home and have a cool bath. I’ll go back to the Queen’s, it’s a proper pub with a good selection of proper beers and real ciders.

I ended up doing 26-27 miles, all of which was lovely – it was only the extremely hot conditions that buggered it up for me.

I’ll do it again, but only in more appropriate weather. The Gritstone Trail is a cracking route  through some glorious countryside. You should do it.

This is where I went….well up until the bail-out point:

Wednesday 3rd July, Walton Wander….The Truth

The true story can now be told.
You may recall that last week there was A Walk Recce for an East Lancs LDWA walk – well today we walked the real thing. No safety harnesses, no safety nets….and no escape routes. Pure unadulterated danger. But the pub at the end actually had decent ale on tap.
I collected Alan (of Blog on the Landscape fame) from Timperley Tram station and we went of to collect the rest of the Jovial Crew – including Long Suffering Rick, the walk leader.

Rick, holding a small selection of his camera collection, posing in front of the group. Norman 2nd R…he’s the one with the unlicensed knees.

A total of 18 walkers + Norman gathered outside the Walton Arms at the appointed hour and once Rick had completed his David Bailey impersonation act we headed off down the Bridgewater Canal towpath towards Daresbury (pr: Daarsbury), famous for Alice in Wonderland.
Norman had on agreed to attend because we convinced him the Cheshire had a hill and that, on a clear day, you could see Lancashire….if you looked REALLY hard. Anyroadup, Norman believed us. But he IS gullible.
Speeding westwards through Moore (famous for there not being enough of it) the party of 18 + Norman had spread out. Try as we might- it was impossible to lose any of the group. They’re a canny lot, the East Lancs. This part of the walk was notable for not stopping at the ice-cream shop in Moore….but I suppose it was a little early.

Norman tactfully pointing out to John Bullen that The Ramblers are recruiting

Toiling up the ascent that is Keckwick Hill, further fruitless attempts were made to lose some of the group. Well, just one of the group actually.
The first tea stop of the day was at Daaaarsbury’s All Saints church – the one with Lewis Carroll stuff in. Some had a cuppa and perhaps a butty too. Pieces of Rick’s rather delicious flap-jack were distributed to members of the group. This undoubtedly led to more points being awarded.
Before continuing on our mission, some went into the church to look for the Cheshire Cat and other characters.

Fred the Frog trying to hitch a ride.  

What the well-dressed walker is wearing this season

Wandering through last year’s Creamfields site in hot sunshine

Much of today’s route followed the Mersey Valley Timberland Trail:

Lunch was taken at Hill Cliffe, a very well-kept graveyard that afforded excellent views over the grave-stones to Warrington and even as far as Lancashire’s Winter Hill. Points were awarded for this latter view.

Tea bread was distributed as a supplement to everyone’s butties….more points may have been awarded.
A stretch of tarmac through a housing estate took us across the A49 to The Dingle, a wooded valley-type thingy. And very pleasant it was too.

 Bimbling down The Dingle

Leaving the houses behind and entering Grappenhall Woods, John spotted one of his mates:

Laughing Boy John and friend 

Once out of the wood, a bit more tarmac was needed to get back onto the Bridgewater Canal….not before the final coffee break of the day:

Pedant’s Corner

 Afternoon Tea’s at The Rams Head

 Back on the canal and on final approach into Walton

Norman offered the chance of extra points if a Blackshaw ‘Little Loop’ could be added on to the walk. It’s difficult to turn down such an offer and so a detour around Walton Park was included. As it happens this little loop was a worthy addition to the route, the park was a real oasis of tranquility:

It was only a short distance back to the cars and a quick re-hydrate in The Walton Arms – where the Golden Hen was on top form:

Apres-walk refreshments

A good day out in good company, and thanks to a visit to Rick’s with the map I now know where we actually went. Rick had worked hard to put the route together and it earned a well-deserved 10/10.

14.8 miles and around 800’ of uppity stuff.

More photos here.

Staffordshire stuff

A few pics from today's Outdoors Magic walk around The Roaches. Sorry about the very poor quality, they were taken on my phone and it was set to horribly low resolution so there was half a chance of being able to post using mobile internet..
A fuller report will follow in a bit.

My brilliant Akto…

….has suffered a bit of damage.

Over the last year I’ve noticed that my Hilleberg Akto has suffered from a leaky groundsheet. It coped okay on TGOC 2012 but on subsequent trips I’ve seen dampness, and more recently wetness becoming evident under my sleeping mat in the mornings. I suppose the groundsheet of a one person tent isn’t designed to take THAT much hammer. Having said that, I know of many Akto groundsheets that have survived much more abuse for far longer than mine. I was probably just careless in pitching the tent – it only takes a prickly field.
There wasn’t any one point where moisture was getting in, it seemed as though the groundsheet was developing porosity over a substantial proportion of it’s area. Unfortunately this was the actual sleeping area. In spite of this leakage problem I still rate the Akto as a brilliant all-round backpacking tent. There are lighter tents – cheaper ones too, but the Akto is still the dog’s wotsits. In bad conditions I’m glad to have my Akto, it’s far more stable than my other backpacking tents.

An Akto or two, pitched in the Geldie

Anyroadup, I contacted Hilleberg who in turn put me in touch with Scottish Mountain Gear in, er, Scotland. Scottish Mountain Gear are Hilleberg partners and as such are able to carry out repairs to Hilleberg kit to their quite exacting standards.
Two weeks and £50 later, my Akto was returned to me with a new groundsheet. To be honest it’s impossible to tell that a repair has been carried out – apart from the fact that it doesn’t have a leaking groundsheet anymore.
I can’t speak highly enough of Scottish Mountain Gear. Their repairs are carried out quickly, to a very high standard, and at a sensible price. Nuff said.

Tuesday 25th June, Lewis Carroll woz ‘ere.

Avid readers of this blog (all three of you) may remember that last August, the long suffering Rick and I tried out a route with a view to him using it as a social walk for the LDWA. Details of what we did are here.
Rick was pleased with his route, so pleased that he’s changed it. It’s now longer. And it now goes anti-clockwise rather than the clockwise direction of the original route. So it’s almost the same. Just different. Today’s walk was a recce for the real thing - the proper walk is next Wednesday….you can come if you want, details are here on the LDWA website.
Leaving the car at Walton, we set off along the Bridgewater Canal towpath on a section of the Cheshire Ring in the direction of Moore.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the pollen was making me sneeze and my eyes itch...the bees were happy though:

The advance party speeding along the Bridgewater Canal towpath: Long Suffering Rick, Fast Pike, and Even Faster Blackshaw

The last time I was on this section of the canal was August last year when Jon and I did a very pleasant bike-packing trip to Chester.

Leaving the canal just to the west of the world-famous Daresbury Labs (looking like something from Quatermass) we climbed up through  Daresbury Firs, a wood on the west face of Keckwick Hill. It wasn’t a difficult climb, but the first up of the day is always a bit of a tug.

Much of this section of the route follows part of the Mersey Valley Trail, a well signed path 22 mile route that is easily completed in a day.

Daresbury is also famous as the birthplace of Lewis Carroll. The church stained-glass windows pay tribute to the lad:

If you look REALLY hard you may just be able to identify some Lewis Carroll figures. Alternatively, have a gander at this:

Leaving Daresbury by Daresbury Lane and Hall Lane, these signs made us feel very welcome…not.

In fairness to farmers, dogs CAN cause a huge amount of damage to sheep and lambs. And bulls can cause serious damage to walkers. We didn’t detect any sign of bulls, sheep or lambs. Or dogs.

Stomachs were starting to rumble, lunch was needed. Rick’s a hard taskmaster and he marched us on through gentle countryside, through nettle fields and paths to walk alongside Appleton Reservoir:

Our intended lunch stop was overlooking the graveyard on Hill Cliffe. As we scoffed our butties in the hot sunshine, we enjoyed a cracking view of Warrington and over to Winter Hill:

The substantial red-brick building is the old Greenhall’s Wilderspool brewery. Look hard and you might see Norman waving from Rivington Pike.

The next mile or so was on tarmac, but apart from having to cross the busy A49, we were on fairly quiet roads. Still on the Mersey Valley Trail, we left the tarmac to follow The Dingle, the shallow valley of Dipping Brook. A couple of east-ish miles took us back to the Bridgewater Canal towpath, just to the south of Grappenhall.

Rick and friend

 

Fast Blackshaw at rest

Rick was a bit worried about there being too much canal towpath walking on this route, but at this time of year it’s delightful: canal boats chugging up and down the cut, plenty of greenery to look at, all sorts of birdies in abundance – really lovely. I think his worries are unfounded.

An hour later we arrived back in Walton, very close to our start point. There was just the Walton Arms to contend with:

Unfortunately the proper ale was rather vinegar-like…..it meant all we had was lager. Oh well, I suppose every silver lining must have it’s cloud.

This is where we went. Sort of.

Around 14 miles with a surprising 800’ of up and down. 

More photos here.

Sunday 23rd June, A Buglawton Bimble

I’ve been following Conrad’s blog for some time now and when I saw that he was backpacking the Cheshire Ring, a 100 mile canal towpath walk, it seemed an opportunity had presented itself to meet the famous man for the first time AND to get out for a walk.
I’d not seen Mick & Gayle for a while, and knowing that they’re ALWAYS up for a walk, I sent an email suggesting we all meet up.
At 8am (the one in the morning) I met up with M&G outside the G.R. Ming Salon in Wheelock. A strange name for an establishment.

Anyroadup, we piled into my car to drive to the wonderfully named Buglawton, close to Congleton. After my failed attempts to confuse my passengers by multiple roundabouts orbits, we eventually found Conrad waiting for us in the rain. He’d camped at a small campsite around the back of the Church House in Buglawton – a Robbies house with a rather nice sign:
Greetings exchanged, we headed off to join the Macclesfield Canal towpath and splosh our merry way south -ish.
North-West Englandshire has enjoyed good weather of late, but not today. It was quite cold and showery, but what the hell – if you wait around for good weather you won’t go anywhere!
Conrad had been told there was a canal-side tea / coffee shop marina thingy a short distance up the canal. We either all blinked a very long blink or we were walking in the wrong direction, but we didn’t find it. Mick was gagging for a bacon butty, and poor Conrad had only had a cup of tea that morning.

  Gayle (note her immaculate hair), and the hungry Mick and Conrad

3 1/4 miles to Hall Green…but still no bacon butties

The peace and quiet of the towpath (and of Conrad’s walk) was well and truly shattered by our group chattering away. Four people with common interests always have plenty to say to one another. Much talk was of Mick and Gayle’s plans and my plans for next year’s TGO Challenge and other planned trips.

   Ramsdell Hall, a rather nice little house on the banks of the cut

Approaching Kidsgrove and a change of canal to the Trent & Mersey, we found ourselves directly behind a group of walkers – probably out on a sponsored walk. I felt quite sorry for them, the weather wasn’t too good and they were nearly all ill-clad. We managed to get past them, I think they were rather surprised to find there were others out walking in the rain!

Red Bull Services appeared…but still no coffee shop. We ended up sheltering from the rain under a bridge carrying the A34 in Kidsgrove. Butties, cake and drinks fuelled us for the next section.

Ducklets and swanlets were a common sight on the canals today – this lot were lurking alongside a narrowboat as it’s crew were trying to moor up:

A few short miles later we spotted a pub which enabled us to have a decent sit-down and a cuppa – courtesy of Conrad. Thanks Conrad!

Before going in, Gayle thought it important to show off her new hairstyle, we all thought it very trendy:

That will be 29 miles to Preston Brook then.

Canal walks can be fascinating journeys through history. Those who designed and built the canals were brilliant engineers, the lock systems and bridges are testament to that, but expecting cows to read is pushing it:

We left the pub as the weather improved….well it wasn’t QUITE as wet as earlier. Wheelock and Sandback Sandbatch Sandbach soon came into view.

 On final approach to Wheelock

 All about Wheelock

It was time to leave Conrad to continue another 2-3 miles to his campsite at Elworth. I gather from Conrad’s blog that the campsite leaves rather a lot to be desired – but at least there’s an adjacent pub that does food.

Conrad continuing on his merry way

It had been a cracking day out – good to meet Conrad for the first time, and also to catch up with Mick and Gayle whom I’d not seen since last year’s Challenge.

You can’t get much better than a decent walk in good company….even if we didn’t find bacon butties.

Memory Map reckons we covered 15.25 nominally downhill miles:

We were walking this section of the Ring in a clockwise direction, ie Right to Left.

Oh, Conrad – you really should consider doing the TGO Challenge – you’re made of the right stuff!