A bit of running and a bit of walking

Monday 9th October: 4.6 miles, running

My usual morning route from home, on tarmac so not brilliant. No pictures,

Tuesday10th October: Zero miles

Decidedly off-colour (post wedding migraine) so most of the day was spent in / on my bed.

Wednesday 11th October:3.1 miles, running

I just needed to get out to get my bits moving. It was on tarmac – but at least I got out. This is a cut-down version of my 4.6 miles route.

Thursday:12th October: 18 miles, walking

Another recce of the East Lancs LDWA walk that I promised to lead on 15th October. This was pretty-well a repeat of the recent recce I did in the company of the very excellent Andy & Lynn – although this time the start / finish was in Hale, not Knutsford. This walk was in the company of John B – backpacker, walker, runner and all-round good egg.

I met John in Hale and we trotted off in a sort of westerly direction, initially on tarmac but soon on farm tracks and paths.

ToughMudder foundations

Mobberley Brook, north of Birkin House

It was a warm and sunny day. There were butterflies in abundance, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many – certainly not in mid-October: 

 

Entering Tatton Park at the Home Farm entrance a couple of very nice classic cars had emerged from storage:

‘Victorian Steam’ is a bit of a misnomer, this is a diesel engine-powered generator – manufactured by L. Gardner & Sons in Patricroft, Eccles – where my Dad worked.

A well-kept Pashley

For Alan R

Rutting in Tatton

Model aircraft in Tatton Park

We left Tatton Park by the southern gate and wandered through Knutsford…one of Cheshire’s posher towns. We went in search of a pie shop to feed John’s pie habit, other than Aldi there was nothing to be found.

The former Knutsford Library

Out of Knutsford via a clarty, slutchy path, we had to suffer a mile or so of tarmac before returning to, er, clarty, slutchy paths. The fields weren’t actually water-logged, well not totally water-logged. I was pleased to be wearing boots, John wore Inov8s which he was quite soggily happy with.

Good, dry paths guided us around the airport where we enjoyed our own airshow – it was a busy day for departures and arrivals.

The enormous Emirates A380, en-route to Dubai

From the airport we followed the River Bollin back to Hale.

We got back to our cars at about 4.30pm having had a very enjoyable and laid back walk. Thanks to John B for his good company.

18 miles and 960’ of anti-clockwiseness. We started off at the top bit:

Mersey Run, Sunday 8th October 2017

Around 6 miles of river bank flatness

A nice post-wedding run along the banks of the River Mersey towards Stockort. I didn’t record the route….’cos I forgot to switch the damned GPS on when I started. It was a flat run in lovely conditions: cool and dry – ideal for running.

Just a few photos from the run:

River Mersey near Heaton Mersey

Autumn colours

Remains of the bridge that once carried a branch of the Cheshire Line 

Remains of the bridge that once carried Manchester Central to Buxton trains

On approach to Ringway

B5095 road bridge

This was just the job for the much-needed brain reset. Weddings are stressful!

The photographs were taken using my old Samsung S3 Mini. The reason for taking it with me wasn’t for photographic purposes but to use the Viewranger app & GPS….which I didn’t use after all.

It’s an age thing….

A family wedding, Saturday 7th October 2017

May I present to you the new Mr & Mrs Jocys:

Laura & Nick, married on 7th October 2017, Didsbury, Manchester 

Laura is a delightful young lady and we’re so happy that she and Nick are now married….and we’re more than delighted to be related to Laura’s lovely family – a nicer bunch we’ve yet to meet!

Photographs (loads of the them!) are here.

Photographs by me, Maddox Francis, Emma Boileau, and Keith Warrender.

Roundabout Ringheye Recce, Tues 26th Sept 2017

I’m due to lead a walk for the good folk of the East Lancs LDWA in October, and as with all such things a couple of pre-emptive recces are deemed important.

The route I plan to take isn’t original although there are a few tweeks and alterations chucked in to confuse the innocent and unwary, so here goes…

Sunrise from my bedroom window

I had foresaken my early morning run which was a shame because it was a lovely start to the day – but a 4.5 mile run followed by a 17 – 18 mile walk probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.

The actual walk will start in Hale, close to the River Bollin, but as friends Andy & Lynn had kindly offered to join me on the recce I drove to their home in Knutsford to start the circular route from there.

We set out around 10.30am and walked through the town, famous for Cranford, Knutsford Royal May Day…

….Penny Farthing races…..

…..the shortest river in England…

……and King Canute

Leaving the town we had to resort to tarmac for a mile or so but we were soon back on the wet, grassy field footpaths. My feet, inside NorthFace ‘Waterproof’ walking shoes, were soon wet through. I’ve had two pairs of these shoes now, they’re very comfortable but completely useless as waterproof footware

We walked NE out of Knutsford to skirt around the northern edge of Mobberley, there was a gloriously autumnal feel to the day.

We left the environs of Mobberley to continue NE alongside Manchester Airport’s main runway and then picked up the Bollin Valley Way which routed us under the runway via the River Bollin culvert – that never fails to impress me:

Our lunch stop at the southern end of the runway was a bit noisy but we had great views of aircraft taking off and landing:

Andy & Lynn at the high point of the route…a whole 60m metric metres ASL

It must have been a climb although we didn’t notice it….perhaps we’re just very hill fit. Although maybe not in my case.

Invasive species around the River Bollin, Himalayan Balsam abounds

Hale is the home to many large and expensive houses - particularly those that back on to the Bollin Valley. Not all blend in to the pleasant surroundings:

By early afternoon my feet had eventually dried out – perhaps my shoes are only waterproof one way: water can get in but it can’t get out.

More Bollin Valley invasive species: Giant Hogweed reaching for the skies

Not invasive

We head south past Rostherne, along a permissive path that’s not marked on the OS map. There are nice views over the mere, the autumn colours are glorious:

 

Rostherne Church…and a coffee & knee tablet stop

The next leg took us to Home Farm on the Tatton Estate. It’s a dead-straight ‘church path’ – well it should have been, but a large field was being ploughed and seed was being spread so we followed the field edge.

Home Farm amongst the trees

Hand-powered fuel pump at Home Farm

Andy posing with the piglets…and Mummy Pig

More autumn colours

Melchett Mere, Tatton Park

Tatton Mere

Not Very Nice Algae in Tatton Mere

One of Tatton’s residents, just chillin’

The one was more interested in pigging-out on acorns, he just wouldn’t pose.

We walked through Tatton Park towards Knutsford, keeping to the west side of Tatton Mere, exiting the park at it’s southern road gate. From there it was just a few hundred yards back to Andy’s house and my car.

‘Twas a good day out and a nice little stretch. I’ll be back next week to tweek the route a little further but in the meantime I’m fairly happy with the route as it stands.

If anyone fancies coming along on The Big Day, details are here

Where we went: Around 17 miles and a bit – it will be nearer 18 miles on the day. There’s some ascent but not a lot.

Note that the ‘proper’ walk doesn’t start in Knutsford, but in Hale at SJ773858 at 9am sharp on Sunday 15th October.

All the photographs were taken using my Lumix TZ70, any photo editing was with Photofiltre.

The route was recorded using my old Samsung S3 Mini with Viewranger installed. It has a far clearer display that my crappy SatMap 10 and battery life is similar if not better.

Thanks to Andy & Lynn for their company and very helpful suggestions on route tweeks. And the tea. They make very nice cups of tea!

Ringheye?

It’s the old name for Ringway, the site of Manchester Airport.

Frodsham Frolics Saturday 9th Sept 2017

The first trail of the season

The Prez wasn’t quite firing on all four so I volunteered, along with Intercontinental Wells, to litter around 8 miles of Cheshire countryside.

At 10.30am on the dot we left Forest Hills, armed with bags of sawdust and strips of paper….at 10.50am.

Joe’s route took us left out of Forest Hills and down hill to pick up the path that we followed south, skirting the eastern side of Beacon Hill. The sun shone and the birdies sang….but the clouds looked ominously April-like.

Sure enough, some very heavy rain-showers were encountered – but we weren’t downhearted much at all. Well not very much.

Note to self: Bring (old) weatherproof camera in future.

A sharp turn to the east took us by Crow Mere and then downhill to the B5152 close to Newton Hall. By this stage of the game both Intercontinental Wells and I though we had a pretty good idea where the Hon Prez was going to take us. We were almost right.

Then we got wet. Very wet actually. The rain shower, albeit only lasting a few minutes, was very heavy.

There followed a couple of miles of wet and nominally downhill ziggery & zaggery, some of which coincided with the North Cheshire Way.

At the Weaver Navigation we trotted in a sort of NNW direction, scattering a mixture of sawdust and the smallest of strips of paper for the runners to follow. We followed the muddy path alongside the Weaver Navigation and the Frodsham Cut as far as Frodsham Lock where we turned west for about 546 yards 500 metres.

Apples (windfalls) and blackberries were collected around here. They made a very fine apple & blackberry crumble* the next day.

Turning south and gently uphill along a section of Eddisbury Way we littered our way through Bradley, and then on the North Cheshire Way, back to cross the B5152, approximately 546 yards NW of where we crossed it earlier. Blue sky had appeared and it was quite warm.

This area must be well populated with giant moles. Or mayber badgers.

More uphill followed, this time back to Beacon Hill. A short section of the return route coincided with the outward section – we had to be careful not to confuse the runners (some are easily confused) so trail had to be littered carefully. I think we succeeded.

A final bit of an uphill tug on tarmac took us back to Forest Hills where coffee and butties were enjoyed (well I enjoyed mine).

Runners arrived back in dribs and drabs – I think there may have been a couple of packs out:

Early Taylor

Ding Dong, smiling. Always smiling

Goulder cruising in, well ahead of the main pack

Nobody complained, not even about the nettles, so I reckon Joe did a good job with his route.

A good meal was enjoyed by all, shame about the beer but there you go.

Where we went, anti-clockwise:

7.6 miles with around 820ft of ascent. And descent. It was decent.

Thanks to Joe for dreaming up the route, and to Joe and Intercontinental Wells for their excellent company on the trail-laying expedition.

* The Apple & Blackberry crumble….well the remnants of it: