My adventures with walking, backpacking, running (hobbling?), cycling, amateur radio, traditional folk music and song...and loads of other stuff.
View from Oban Bothy
Friday 22 March 2013
Friday 22nd March, Yellow Snow Warning
I can't see it myself, it's 2.40pm - and by this time all should be white outside. It's just cold and a bit windy. I've seen a few snowflakes this morning but that's all.
The woodburner's ticking over, warming my tootsies nicely. Perhaps it's time for a little walk.
Monday 18 March 2013
Sunday 17th March, The Two Crosses Circuit
At 8am (the one in the morning) the 300 participants, a mix of runners and walkers, set off from the event centre in Tottington, near Bury – famous for Black Puddings. And a rather good market.
This is primarily a walking event but in common with a lot of LDWA events it’s attracting more and more runners. Runners have a definite advantage in the early stages of this event – they get to the stiles well ahead of the rest of the field – and when there are 299 other participants….well I’m sure you can guess.
Any hopes of staying mud-free on this event were dashed after the first mile – the gloop was, er, very gloopy. And deep.
Our ‘team’, at this point, consisted of just Fast Pike and me.
Poor Judith had taken a tumble early on in the walk and was ever-so slightly mud-stained. In the interests of not embarrassing her I won’t mention this again.
More gloop and snow followed until a gentle descent to Turton Tower (famous for Turtons….or Towers) and the first checkpoint…..and Jelly Babies! Our Norman was in charge and he ensured that walkers were dealt with efficiently before packing them off over a relatively good track that would eventually take us to the highlight of the route (for me!): John & Viv’s foodie checkpoint at Turton & Entwistle Reservoir. This checkpoint is a threat to all walkers – I’m sure some must have baled-out at this point, not because of the rest of the walk, but because the food and welcome are just so wonderful.
I’m sure it wasn’t Judith, that
But it might have been.
It was here that our little party expanded in size yet again, taking on board a lady who’s partner had retired at the foodie checkpoint….some excuse about having a twisted knee. Yeah, yeah….
Dragging ourselves away from the checkpoint, we headed East (which is A Good Thing), passing the Strawbury Duck pub and the north end of Wayoh Reservoir before the climb up to Bull Hill. We didn’t need to climb too much before we were back on snowy ground once again:
Some of the local residents:
This little piggy found our party fascinating, following us as far as it could – until it came to a gate. I’m quite sure it would have followed us a lot further if it was able to.
The higher we climbed, the deeper it got:
Peel Tower, above the town of Ramsbottom, must have had castors installed – it just didn’t seem to be getting any closer.
I won’t mention the fact that Judith slid down the muddy slope on her bum….for about 6 –7 feet. It wouldn’t be fair – and I wouldn’t want to embarrass her. Judging by some of the skid-marks on the slope, Judith’s slide was minor – one skid-mark was truly epic in length.
Having safely descended through the woods, we then had our only significant navigational faff of the event. This faff was anticipated, it was a repeat of last year’s faff. And the previous year…
It didn’t matter too much, we had one checkpoint to go and then it was a flat yomp of just a couple of miles to the end.
The last mile of the walk was on a disused railway line – nice and flat with a fairly good surface. We arrived back at the event centre just before 3pm – our finishing time was 6hrs 59mins, half-an-hour longer than last year. The main reason for this slower time was down to the appalling ground conditions, it was only 17 miles but the mud, slush and snow really slowed our pace.
A selection of excellent home-made soups were on offer at the centre – just the job! After eating too much and drinking too much tea, it was time for home.
£7 for a grand walk plus oodles of lovely food…and excellent company = pretty good value!
17 miles with around 2000ft of ascent.
More photos are here.
Tuesday 12th March, Timperley at 5.50pm
Monday 11th March, Mobberley – Peover circuit.
We kicked off from St Wilfrid’s church at around 10.30am – it was more than a bit cold, the ground was frozen hard in places. The forecast was for the temperature to remain around zero all day and for sporadic snow showers. That forecast was accurate, the first snow shower hit around half an hour into the walk:
At Peover Hall the sound of rumbling stomachs was enough to call a temporary halt to proceedings. We found a suitable spot for hot drinks and a bite to eat. It was Sods Law that, 5 minutes after sitting down to enjoy lunch we were enveloped in another wind-driven snowy squall. No matter, it just meant we spent less time sitting around and more time walking.
20 minutes later, the sun started breaking through – after another 10 minutes I wished I’d put sunglasses in my pack:
Frozen fields followed as we headed towards the outskirts of Knutsford:
Looking East (which is A Good Thing) afforded grand views of the snow-covered Peak District,
….well the views were good until another snowy squall appeared on the horizon:
Fortunately this squall did nothing other than obliterate the view for a short while - it dumped it's load of white stuff on someone else.
Half an hour later we were back at the car in Mobberley. We had walked around 16 miles with around 450ft of up. And down.
It had been a good day out.
This is where we went:
Confession time: this is the route Steve and I did in June 2012. It covers the same ground – it was just t’other way around….and I couldn’t be mithered doing a new map - ‘cos it’s late and I want my bed.
More photos here.
Sunday 10 March 2013
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.
Not to worry, nobody noticed us. I don’t think. Entering the gardens we had a meander around, admiring the well kept gardens.
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.
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