The first few days of March have seen a welcome change in the weather, and my first trip of the year to the central Lake District.
Here I am near the summit of Great Gable on Wednesday lunch time.
A write up of that day and others in this enjoyable week will follow during the course of next week, as we are due to depart shortly for a few internet free days, plus we have a visitor who deserves better than to be abandoned in favour of a computer desk…
Last Sunday I abandoned a plan to stroll around The Wirral, due to inclement weather.
An easy bit of exercise around Timperley in the rain was in order.
Whilst the Forsythia (above) was flourishing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the towpath in such a poor state of repair.
Sunday morning means training at the local rowing club. Their oars can be quite dangerous to wildlife.
But these Mallards seem quite happy with life. The female is impressively fertile judging by the increasing number of albino ducks on this stretch of the canal.
Leaving the canal by the Bay Malton, I joined the Trans-Pennine Trail, which soon passes our local ‘recycling plant’ (aka rubbish dump, or ‘tip’).
The trail progresses on to Carrington Moss, home of training grounds for local football teams. It’s quite damp at present. It is after all a ‘moss’!
After passing a Sustrans team of volunteers, assiduously manicuring trees beside the trail, to avoid cyclists being speared by wayward twigs, I left that trail in favour of a path beside the River Mersey.
Judging by the debris on the fence (above), the path I was on, not an official Right of Way, must spend some time under water.
After passing this flourishing willow as the path narrows around the rear of an industrial estate, a dead end is encountered when the A56 main road is reached.
Across the road, paths around playing fields lead back to the canal where it passes under a motorway bridge. The towpath here, between Dane Road and Sale, is in great condition, having recently been renewed as part of the Sustrans initiative.
But the section from Brooklands to Timperley was extremely muddy, and I was filthy by the time I reached home.
Here’s my route – about 17km, in a fairly energetic 2 and a bit hours.
It’s an early start tomorrow. It would be nice to get a sunrise like this one on 11 December 2007.
