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:

 

Didn't we have a luverly time...

 

…..the day we went to West Wales

A fairly last minute trip to the seaside to take the air.

Staying at the very nice Hendre Mynach campsite, situated almost on the beach. 

We cycled, walked, chilled, and generally had a very relaxing much needed couple of days: