Wednesday 18 June 2025 - A walk with SWOG from Nelson Pit

We started by a bridge over the Macclesfield Canal

What better to do on a midsummer's evening than go for a sunny stroll from Nelson Pit, near Poynton, with a group of 17 from Stockport Walking and Outdoors Group (SWOG)?

Sue was tired so stayed at home, but I returned to near where we have been quite a lot recently. In fact at points this walk encountered signs for the GM Ringway Stage 5 that we completed last week.

So for this posting I'll stick to just a few annotated photos. Anything more might just be superfluous waffle.

The path to Hilltop Farm

Heading east towards Lyme Park

I wonder what chemical turns this grass bright green

The Cage comes into view as we cross a huge freshly mown field

Kinder Scout lurks in the background

It really is a huge field above Elmerhurst Wood

Descending into Ryles Wood

Back at the Macclesfield Canal

Most of the others went to the Boars Head, but I pottered off back to Timperley.

Here's our route - 5.7km with 80 metres ascent, taking an hour and a half. A very pleasant summer's evening stroll.

Tuesday 17 June 2025 - GM Ringway Trail Stage 6 - Strines to Marple

We again enjoyed good weather for this the sixth stage of the GM Ringway walk. Sue and I met up with Rick, Paul, Jeanette and Rufus in plenty of time for the 10:18 train from Piccadilly to Strines. (The New Mills train.)

We started off up the steep path that mountain bikers use to charge down to the valley from the Fox Inn. The bikers were elsewhere today and we paused occasionally to get our breath back and admire the views across the Goyt Valley.

The Fox Inn wasn't open, so we hope they didn't mind us tucking into our coffee and cake at one of their picnic benches.

I recall there being llamas in these fields, but now it's just sheep, cattle and ponies. Note The Cage in Lyme Park in the background.

The climb is fairly relentless, so we paused for a photo - I failed again to do a selfie; I must buy a selfie stick.

Near the Mellor Moor trig point is a huge cross, erected in 1970 and relaced in 2018.

The trig point is one of two high points in the Borough of Stockport, beyond which we stayed high on a variety of tracks and paths, with good views ahead to the Kinder Plateau.

The hedgerows are full of white Umbellifers. This one may be Cow Parsley.

The walk took in three sides of a square to reach St Thomas's Church, Mellor. All nicely signposted and waymarked.

There's an archeological site near the church that we visited on a recent evening walk with SWOG. Today it proved to be a good lunch spot.

Here's the reconstruction of an ancient roundhouse.

Barring a few minor undulations, it was all downhill from Mellor Church, to which we are looking back in the next picture.

After passing through the pretty hamlet of Mellor, we took a variety of paths to reach Linnet Clough Scout Camp and its interesting climbing apparatus.

A rocky descent to Roman Lakes, a Victorian beauty spot, followed. This used to be a good place to start mountain bike rides - I still have the booklet of rides, but now the potholes have been filled in and the entrance gate is firmly locked, with very limited opening times. It has lost its rustic nature. A shame.

No matter, we pressed on under the impressive Goyt Cliff railway viaduct, built in 1865.

There's a huge weir nearby, a sure sign of this area's industrial past.

A little further on, our route leaves the main track (carry on along there and we might find ourselves back at Strines!) and crosses the River Goyt by way of a so-called 'Roman Bridge'. It doesn't date from Roman times, but it may be a subject of 'romance'.

From the river, some steep steps lead to Strines Road, across which the Peak Forest Canal provides an easy stroll along a towpath to finish this stage of the GM Ringway walk.

The heron studiously ignored us, giving a great demonstration of staying completely still before whipping a fish out of the canal for a late lunch.

The humans who were trying to turn this barge around in a confined space may be rather less intelligent.

We've been here many times before, so I'll finish with just a few snaps from the towpath, which is left at Brabyns Brow in favour of a few metres of pavement to reach Marple Station, and a ten minute wait for a train to Piccadilly.

Here's our route, starting near the bottom at Strines Station - 14km with 340 metres ascent, taking us a little over 4 hours. An excellent walk.

Next - Stage 7 from Marple to Broadbottom on Tuesday 1 July, starting at Marple on the 10:42 train - the same 10:18 from Piccadilly that we caught today.

Monday 16 June 2025 - Sarah Spencer's Transatlantic Band at Eagley Jazz Club

We had the pleasure of attending a superb performance from Sarah Spencer's Transatlantic Band, who included Eagley as a venue on a long UK tour.

We do hope to see them again. They attracted a near capacity audience of 103. That's really good going for Eagley.

All eight of them are pictured above; the core band of six are pictured below, and the banjo team with bass and drums, who gave a virtuoso performance, are also pictured.

Just for the record, the players were:

'Magic' Mike Henry - cornet
Rob Pearce - trombone
Sarah Spencer, internationally renowned saxophonist - reeds and band leader
Tom 'Spats' Langham - banjo/guitar
Jim Swinnerton - string bass (well known at Eagley Jazz Club)
Graham Smith - drums
AND SPECIAL GUEST FROM THE USA - Multi-instrumentalist CLINT BAKER

And here's a message from Ann:
For those of you on Facebook, here's a video of the band's finale to help you relive some of the magic of that evening!:
https://www.facebook.com/eagleyjazzclub/videos/1116064210567937