Outdoors Magic Mates Meetup 28th April 2021

Chewie (who is Simon) and Sarah were on a round the world trip of England and had invited Milly (who is Gill, and definitiely NOT a witch), Pete (who is Pete), and me, to meet up with them whilst they were staying on the Hayfield Camping & Caravan Club site.

The Plan (Ho-ho!) was to go for a short walk, eat cake, drink coffee, and have a damned good catch-up.

Rewind a few years: I met these lovely folk via Outdoors Magic, a one time extremely popular website for outdoorsy folk. The O.M. discussion forum was a lively place, populated by folk like us: outdoorsy types who enjoy a laugh and like to get out there and do stuff.

Sadly, O.M. has changed direction and has fallen from favour. The good news is that some of us manage to stay in touch and arrange the occasional meet-up….this was one of those occasions.

At 10.30am we met up at Hayfield’s quarry car park, conveniently located across the road from Simon (aka Chewie) & Sarah’s campsite. Pete had planned a pleasant, easy route…which just happened to incorporate a superbly lovely cafe that serves the best cakes in the whole wide world. Really. They’re delicious….and generally quite big.

I’m getting ahead of myself again.

For Judith

Mount Famine

We set off south(ish), towards Mount Famine (Anybody know how it got it’s name?). Rather than go as far as Mount Famine, we headed west to pass by Peep-o’-Day, Hills Farm, and then down to Ollerset and Birch Vale to pick up the Sett Valley Trail – a pleasant path that follows the trackbed of the former branch railway line from New Mills to Hayfield.

L>R: Milly, Chewie, Pete, Sarah

 

 

Peep o' Day:

 

Here is the very splendid Sett Valley Cafe – a lovely little cafe that makes the most delicious cakes. And pies and stuff like that.

Well, it would have been rude not to….

Chewie & Sarah indulging, note the defibillator...you can't be too careful

 

Our return route to Hayfield was along the flat Sett Valley Trail, no less lovely for it's lack of contours. 

We said our farewells and went our separate ways – but not before agreeing to meet up again sometime in the summer – hopefully more of the O.M. gang will be able to join us.

Thanks to Chewie & Sarah for coming up with the idea – it was a good ‘un!

Where we went:

6½ miles, with around 1000’ of ascent. And cake. 

More photos here

 

Ashley 7 mile circular 22nd April 2021

The day dawned bright and clear, so rather than continue with the decorating I should have been doing, I went for a walk. Like you do.

I needed to check out a couple of paths that I suspected may have been diverted due to changes close to the Lymm interchange / roundabout thingy. I’m leading a bit of a walk for a couple of members of the After Eight walkers next week, this was the only part of the route I needed to recce.

Parked up in Hale, I trundled down to the R Bollin and followed it’s northern bank on a nice dry footpath, eastwards, almost as far as Castle Mill….famous in the 1960s for it’s solar heated, open air swimming pool. 

The R Bollin near Hale

For Conrad

I only went in the pool a couple of times, it was always bloody freezing – and at 1/ˉ (5p), was a bit too pricey for me. The preferred, cheaper (=free) and much warmer option was to swim in the Bollin – along with all the other kids that didn’t have two pennies to rub together.

 Footbridge over the R Bollin, close to Castle Mill

Crossing the R Bollin by a footbridge I walked south(ish) to join a tarmac road that eventually took me through Ashley, and almost as far as Tatton Park. I could hear the not very distant M56, so much busier now than a few weeks ago – the easing of lockdown restrictions is becoming more and more apparent.

The only recently closed Ashley School - up for sale

The Rev Robin's 'old' church

The M56, still not that busy

 

I eventually crossed the M56 by a footbridge. Peering into some woodland I spotted some shelters - I couldn't tell what was going on, but a group of folk were certainly enjoying themselves.

 You'll have to take my word for it, there were shelters in there.

Re-crossing the R Bollin

 I walked NE back into Hale, re-crossing the R Bollin, and to my car.

I’d only been out 2½hrs but I thoroughly enjoyed my little jaunt. 20 minutes later I was back home and tucking into a rather late breakfast.

Oh, and the footpaths hadn’t been diverted, all was well.

Where I went:

7 miles of very pleasant flatness...I may run it next time

Pym Chair – Shining Tor circular 18th April 2021

A short walk on a nice day, in good company.

The day started with a bad decision to entrust the route to the start to Google maps – it took us on a most fiddly, twisty and messy route….although it may have shaved 30 seconds on my usual route.

Whatever. At 9am (the one in the morning) two doggies and 6 walkers met at the Pym Chair Car Park. This is a group of friends known as The After Eights, and led by Suzanne and her doggies. Joules is one of those friends, hence our attendance. 

The great dryness we've been enjoying of late provided me with the opportunity to test ride my new Salomon XT Inari Trail running shoes.

The weather forecast was good but it was a little chilly as we set off south on the mostly paved path over Cat Tor and then to Shining Tor.

The going was good, and whilst the path wasn’t exactly quiet, it certainly wasn’t overly busy.

It was a different story at Shining Tor, for here it really was busy – lots of folk stopping to eat their butties, take in the lovely views, or just having a breather.

We took the opportunity to sit down for a quick coffee whilst soaking up the sun. It was by now really quite warm, layers were being shed, left, right and centre.

 

There good views of Windgather Rocks, White Nancy, Shutlinsloe & Macclesfield Forest, and Bowstones. And That Manchester.

Leaving the crowds behind, we descended, west, to follow a path north to the delightfully named Thursbitch, the ruin of what must once have been a substantial building.

The path here was a bit rough, but it was good and dry underfoot. Soon we were on a good farm track, then proper tarmac, to arrive at Jenkin Chapel – and butty time. You can read a bit about this interesting place of worship here.

The chapel is still in use, although services are only held once a month.

 

A peak through the chapel window.

It was then a short but rather steep walk back to the car park.

We drove home without the aid of Google maps!

Where we went (clockwise):

 

About 6 miles with 1000’ of ascent. 

Oh, and the Salomon XT Inari Trail Running shoes: they were generally comfortable although I had a bit of a heel rub by the end of the walk. and they had those bloody stupid pull-laces. They're going to be changed for proper laces before I use them again. Other than that: good.