New Mills Walking, Sunday 13th Sept

New Mills has featured muchly of late on these pages – it’s because I quite like the town and it’s surrounding countryside. Maybe I could live there….?

It needs more investigation. Obv.

Anyroadup…

The day dawned bright and quite warm and it would have been rude not to take advantage of such a lovely day. It was very much a ‘two birds, one stone’ opportunity – I needed to get out to re-recce a part of a route I’d planned for the next Tally-Ho! trail,  Joules needed to get out for a walk, I wanted to get out for a walk…..but I always want to get out for a walk. Nowt new there then.

Okay, that’s THREE birds.

We parked up at New Mills Golf Club, with the permission of Jess, the Club Steward(ess?) and headed off west, along a bit of track to join a section of Midshires Way down to Strines.

There’s a lot of ‘Ways’ around here, it’s often difficult to know which one you’re actually on.

Birds tweeted, golf balls were struck, the sun shone, and a pleasant and gentle breeze blew. It was all rather idillic.

The Roman Lakes Viaduct - and a former tea room

The R Goyt by the viaduct

A door for Rob

.

 We joined the Goyt Way (probably), walking North to Roman Lakes, then turned East to climb up to the dizzy heights of Linnet Clough for a lunch stop at the Scout Camp Site – there are public footpaths going through the site. 

Our lunch stop, Linnet Clough Scout Camp Site

For Alan R

 

Freshly baked scones were consumed. All of them. They go stale if you leave them too long. Honest.

We crossed Mellor Golf Course, this was the part of the route I needed to re-recce. I decided that part of the route was a bit tame, plus the idea of 20 hairy-arsed runners charging across a well-manicured gold course may not go down too well, even if it was a public footpath. On the other hand I’ve walked and run across this golf course quite a few times and I’ve always been greeted with smiles.

 Looking north-west-ish to Manchester with Winter Hill beyond

I thought it was only doggies that behaved like this

 Looks a bit different in the light!

Heading south down a bridleway we soon rejoined the outward track which took us back to the car – which was hot, hot, hot! And my aircon had packed up.

Oh well, we drove home with the windows open and really enjoyed the cooling air.

A nice little walk, only 6 miles with 900' of ascent, but it was just what the nurse ordered. 

 

 

 

Tally-Ho! Frodsham 12th Sept 2020

 

The 2019 / 2020 season was cut short by the unwelcome arrival of Covid-19, it took a fair amount of thought to enable the 2020 / 2021 season to start – but start it did.

Runners arrived, ready to run, at Forest Hills, above Frodsham, a venue that has hosted the first trail of the season for many years. Unfortunately Covid-19 restrictions meant we couldn’t use the excellent facilities – we couldn’t even have dinner.

The weather was glorious, bright, warm sunshine – not that ideal for an eight mile cross-country run. But it wasn’t raining – unlike last year!

Hon Prez Park was, as usual for this venue, the trail layer. Runners set off to follows Joe’s sawdust trail from around 1pm.

I teamed up with Old Ruddock and we trotted off down the hill, struggling at times to follow the lumps of sawdust – the bright sunshine of the day made it very difficult to spot the trail.

But we got round.

The trail led us around Beacon Hill, out to Frodsham Golf Course and then to Crow Mere. Not too many nettles were encountered, well not unless you counted the path around Beacon Hill.

Note to self: wear tracksters next time, running shorts are a no-no in nettle country at this time of year.

We continued by Five Crosses, then, passing the lovely Sewage Farm conveniently located next to a caravan site, Peel Hall.

Nice.

All the time we were checking to see if there were any runners behind – we didn’t one all afternoon.

Left along a bit of tarmac along Pike Lane, then north by Bellair Farm, the pear trees of Bradley Orchard, and up to Newtown, close to  the Frodsham Swing Bridge. 

 

Elderberries

We thought we were going to be routed down to the Weaver Navigation but we didn’t get closer than about 300 yds.

 

Turning South to pass through Bradley we then joined the North Cheshire Way for a short distance which then crossed the B5152.

 

This Moggy Minor deserved a snap:

Trotting around the other side of Beacon Hill we completely lost the trail. The good news was that we know exactly where we were so we just made our way back to Forest Hills, a distance of around 500 yds.

Arriving back at the car park we were surprised to see that nearly all the runners had made it back before us…..how did that happen?

I can only assume that we were overtaken whilst we were off trail – something that happened a few times!

Whatever, it was a good trail, even if we didn’t see that much of it! Les is always good company – and he slowed down for me!

It was a good turnout, and great to see everyone after the restrictions of the year.

Thanks to Joe for laying trail, and to everyone else for making the first run of the season a success….even if Les and I kept losing trail!

Where we jolly well went, all 8 miles of it:

 

An evening run around New Mills, Tuesday 8th Sept

New Mills is situated in High Peak and is very easily accessible from JJ Towers, and with it being on the edge of the Peak District is blessed with a fair share of good running terrain.

I set off running at around 7pm in gloriously warm and golden sunlight. I passed a solitary dog walker, although the speed that I was running at it was touch and go who passed who!

My route took me from New Mills Golf Club, down to Brook Bottom and on to Strines. From there the track followed the er, railway track and then the course of the R Goyt up to Roman Lakes just south of Marple.

Roman Lakes, BTW, has absolutely nothing to do with Rome or Romans. It’s a pretty area that’s quite popular with day visitors….or it was until Covid-19 closed so many public attractions.

Turning to head east-ish then south saw me heading back to my car via The Banks and Brook Bottom to rejoin the outward leg of my run.

It was dark when I got back to the car but it had been a pleasant evening’s stretch, even if I was running very slowly – at least I got out ( and away from my whiffy kitchen that was smelling of home-made chutney).

I’ll be returning to the area, it offers nice running, good access to the Peaks, and the town of New mills is really rather lovely. And it doesn’t smell of chutney.

My kind of place.

The Fox at Brook Bottom

Looking over to Manchester

High Cliff

 

Where I went: around 5 miles of up and downery:

 

Even more photos here.
 

 

Chutney

The greenhouse I inherited from my late father has been put to good use this year…..unfortunately it’s provided me with a glut of tomatoes, of which many remained stubbornly green.

I’ve also inherited an apple tree that has become rather unruly, mainly through lack of proper care, pruning etc – it still produced an enormous crop of sweet apples.

Q: What do do with this excess?

A: Make green tomato chutney. Obvious really.

A search through my Delia books didn’t reveal any recipes I felt confident in tackling, but the good old BBC Good Food website certainly did, and here it is.

The recipe produces around 3kg of the lovely stuff.

Ingredients

• 2½ kg green tomatoes
• 500g onions
• 1 rounded tbsp salt
• 500g sultanas
• 500g cooking apples
• 500g light muscovado sugar
• 1.14l jar spiced pickling vinegar (Sarson’s)

Method

• STEP 1

Slice the tomatoes (you can skin them if you want, but it's not necessary). Finely chop the onions. Layer both in a large bowl with the salt. Leave overnight.

• STEP 2

The next day, chop the sultanas using a large, sharp knife, then peel, core and chop the apples. Put the sugar and vinegar into a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the sultanas and apples and simmer for 10 mins. Strain the tomatoes and onions in a colander (but don’t rinse), then tip into the pan and return to the boil.

• STEP 3

Simmer for about 1 hr, stirring occasionally until the mixture is thick and pulpy. Transfer to warmed, sterilised jars and cover with lids.

And so it was.

The recipe calls for cooking apples, I only had sweet dessert apples, even so the result was a deliciously sweet / sour chutney.

I was surprised that Step 1 of the recipe extracted a huge amount of water from the tomatoes and onions. Everything went to plan, there were no dramas.

The chopped onions and tomatoes, ready to fester overnight

Burbling nicely

3kg is a lot of chutney, I ended up with 8 jars

 If you have a glut of green tomatoes and plenty of jars, and a bit of time on your hands, you know what to do!

Sunrise, Monday 7th September

From my bedroom window, a bit beautiful:

 

Another of Martin's walks

 

A wander from Timperley…followed by bacon butties

I met up with Graeme and Paul at Martin’s for a quick coffee before heading out for a little leg stretch along a pleasant route of footpaths, canal towpath, riverbank, and just a little tarmac.

Unfortunately Sue wasn’t able to join us, she was working from home that day.

We set out, heading west(ish) to cross Washway Road by Siddall's Bridge which many local folk don't realise exists. The bridge crosses Sinderland Brook, close to the soon to be ex-Pelican pub.

Siddall's Bridge, over Timperley Brook

We were soon away from the hustle and bustle of A56 traffic and found ourselves walking alongside the delightful Altrincham Sewage Works.

Surprised to see this:

Solar Panels close to Carrington Moss

We continued north(ish)...... .

.....to cross the R Mersey by the Carrington Spur footbridge.  

 

A pop-up cafe on the north bank of the R Mersey, close to Kickety Brook

 

Crossing the M60

Methane powered generator at the old Stretford Tip

Crossing the R Mersey....again

The Bridgewater Canal:

Approaching Sale on the Duke's Cut

We arrived back at Martin's having had a lovely walk in really quite excellent company.

Sue, being the star than she is, took time out to feed and water us: good coffee and fine bacon butties - nothing not to like!

Thanks to Martin for leading the walk, and to Graeme & Paul (and Martin of course!) for their good company - and of course to Sue for looking after us so well after the walk.

A far more accurate report of where we went and what we did can be found on Martin's excellent 'Postcard from Timperley' blog.

Where we went: around 10 miles: