Thursday 26 March 2026 - Mouldsworth to Chester (Altrincham to Chester Stage 5)

One of the pleasures of this series of walks has been the train journeys on the line between Altrincham (pictured above) and 'all stops to Chester'.

Today we were greeted by the familiar blue skies, and I took a couple of pictures whilst crossing the magnificent viaduct at Northwich. The playgrounds were empty and the Weaver Navigation locks looked quiet.

Much to our surprise, our record turnout excelled itself at Mouldsworth, where an old friend, Judith, who I first met on the TGO Challenge in 2007, strode up to greet us, thus bringing our number into double figures. Brilliant. 

We strolled past The Goshawk on this occasion, for obvious reasons.

A short walk back along the route of stage 4 brought us to the outskirts of Ashton Hayes and a dodge around some trees before crossing the road and joining the Baker Way. A very brief encounter with the Baker Way, as that soon left our route to head south before winding up in Chester, whereas the route we were taking was designed to follow the railway line that we were using so successfully for transport.

Today's team: Sheila, Alan, Andty, Sue B, Sue W, Judith, Jeanette, Paul and Rick

After a team photo near Brook House, we continued past secluded Peel Hall, pausing to admire the Blackthorn blossom near Swinfordmill Farm.

Not all trees are yet in blossom.

The railway was soon crossed, and a curious family of alpacas and their friendly goats approached to investigate Rufus, who masquerades as a lamb.

This is an area where Sue and I have been baulked by missing bridges recently - forcing river crossings by way of thin girders. So I was pleased to find that the footbridges that lead into Plemstall were intact.

I don't fancy crossing the River Gowy by way of a narrow girder!

A rather isolated church, St Peter's, at Plemstall, offered a nice seated porch that would have been fine to host our lunch if the weather had been cold or wet. Around the back were some 'interesting tombs'.

The recorded history of the church goes back to the 7th century, but most of what we see today dates from the 15th century. There's a Wikipedia entry here.

Three industrial lawnmowers and their operators were having a lunchtime snooze by the church - they soon passed us on their way back to work on the communal grassed areas of Mickle Trafford, a suburb of Chester. The residents here clearly want to keep visitors on the 'straight and narrow'. It was hard to imagine anybody failing to stay on this path lined by high barbed wire fences. To be fair, hedges have been planted behind the barbed wire and this should become a nice sort of passage into a housing estate.

On exiting the village, we passed Meadowbrook station. Sadly no trains were running today. If they were, the rest of our route into Chester would have been in jeopardy. It turns out that we missed the last passenger train by 75 years, and the line hasn't run any proper trains since 1963. 

Turning off Station Lane and onto the disused railway line (which turned out to be very much in use by dog walkers, cyclists and others) we were greeted by a picnic table just about large enough to accommodate all ten of us.

After a pleasant leisurely lunch on the acceptably warm spring day, we spent the next 6 km of our journey on the route of the old railway, rendering navigation somewhat straightforward. Though Jeanette did succeed in veering off course and appearing to fall out of a tree!

There's an assortment of sculptures next to the track.

Hidden by the sign below, is a bike shop that attracted some attention.

We arrived in Chester and passed the railway station that marks the end of Stage 5.

However, it was too early to stop, so we continued to the intersection of the disused railway with the 'in use' Shropshire Union Canal, opened in 1835 and pre-dating the railway by some 40 years.

Flowers were coming into blossom on the canal's verges.

Green Alkanet, with visiting bee and ladybird

Common Dog Violet

Acrobatic cyclist crossing a bridge

Pigeons in love next to a skeleton

Smart barge

Nearing the centre of Chester, we followed the canal up some steep locks.

Rick (aka Richard Nelson) spotted a relative.

I'm not quite sure what a crashed hurricane is doing here.

Eventually we reached the station, the end of this particular trek, and assembled to record the moment, apart from me taking the photo and Alan collecting some luggage.

 

Sue and I posed with Thomas Brassey (1805 - 1870). Born outside Chester in 1805 to a yeoman family Thomas Brassey went on to become the "greatest railway builder in the world" during the 19th century.

Here's today's route - 18 km with 100 metres ascent, taking 5.5 hours.

A stroll through Chester brought us to a nice café.

Then we went to the Market, where all ten of us enjoyed a celebratory meal.

Paul and Jeanette chose pizzas. Others had all sorts.

That's it for now. A link to Alan's entry will follow. I plan to walk a Chester to Altrincham route, using trains as before, but using different paths, in the autumn. Hope to see you there. And there will be more walks in the meantime.

21 to 23 March 2026 - Rentahostel at Osmotherley

                           Click on any image for a better view, or a slideshow

Cote Ghyll used to be Osmotherley Youth Hostel, and our sole occupancy booking was made through the YHA. Times have moved on and it now has 14 ensuite rooms and intends to operate as a B&B. I think we were the first visitors since the (not without its defects) refurbishment.

We started the weekend's activities on Saturday 21 March, with one large group - there were 29 of us in total - following Robin on a longer walk, and 7 of us going to Northallerton for the parkrun, being joined afterwards by Richard and Jenny.

My report on the parkrun is here.

After coffee, cake and breakfasts, the nine of us returned to Cote Ghyll and readied ourselves for a short afternoon walk with one or two others who had lazed around at Cote Ghyll.

Next to the building is a weir that illustrates the industrial past of this spot.

We were soon on our way up a path to Cote Garth, and beyond!.

Green Lane led to Woodside Farm and Oak Dale.

On reaching Square Corner we walked a little way up the track towards Black Hambleton before settling down to a leisurely late lunch. Cyclists were zooming down the hill, and runners taking part in a 55 mile ultra marathon were jogging or walking up it.

 

Our objective lurked overwhelmingly on the horizon, but it proved easy enough to reach.

Pete and Mary turned up on their electric tandem.

I went ahead and reached the 400 metre summit, to find a rather pathetic cairn, with the trig point, one metre lower, in the distance.

Despite the haze, there was a good view from the path beyond the cairn, towards Bilsdale.

A group photo on the summit left Mike obscuring the cairn.

We returned to the lower trig point, where people were flying a noisy drone.

Returning to Square Corner on the popular Cleveland Way track, we got a chance to look back at our route.

Along High Lane, we lost a few who wanted to walk directly back to the hostel, after we had passed a pretty stand of daffodils and had enjoyed a break for afternoon tea. We met Robin's group at this tea break, one of whom abandoned his leader and chose to finish his walk with us. How disloyal can you get, Tom?

Duly refreshed, we made our way down to Cod Beck Reservoir, where a flock of greylag geese was on hand to greet us.

It was a very pleasant afternoon stroll beside the reservoir, after which dam we cut down through the forest to reach our outgoing route at the sign to Moscow.

King Alfred's Cakes were passed en route.

Here's where we went - 13.5 km with 330 metres ascent, taking us nearly four and a half hours. A 'Grand Afternoon'.

Later, fine food was enjoyed by all - curry, fish pie, beef stew, and Robin's special black pudding and poached eggs that most of us enjoyed as a starter.

Sunday 22 March 

Undeterred by yesterday's defections, Robin led another good walk from the hostel, successfully countering a proposal to drive somewhere.

High Lane was reached via a direct path from the hostel, and a National Cycle Network sign was soon passed.

After that, a right turn across mainly pathless Pamperdale Moor then Whorlton Moor.

Rough tarmac was reached at Harfa Bank Farm, where a sign indicated that we had arrived over 'Private Land'.

After that we strolled past more stands of daffodils, and past Brian's Pond, to rejoin the Cleveland Way at the 408 metre summit of Carlton Bank..

It was breezy and cool, and hazy - can you spot Roseberry Topping in the next picture?

For years the Cleveland Way suffered from erosion, but footpath engineers have successfully laid a stone path that has allowed the vegetation beside the path to recover.

A spot out of the wind on the escarpment provided an excellent luncheon spot just below the trig point..

The 'Yellow Brick Road' of the Cleveland Way took us nearly all the way back to Cote Ghyll along the excellent path.

I'd been here before - between 9 August 1966 and 16 July 1977 I walked the 40 mile Lyke Wake Walk (LWW) seventeen times, with an assortment of friends from school, university and work, in times varying between 7:29 and 17:19. There was no stone path in those days. The Cleveland Way follows some of the LWW route over the escarpment from Osmotherley.

A Bronze Age burial mound dating from around 2000BC, in keeping with the LWW, gave pause for thought.

While the rest of the group lingered by the burial mound, I found some gorse blossom for a foreground looking back to them, with the summit of Carlton Bank in the distance behind..

Steep steps from Knolls End (thankfully it was a dry day) led to Scugdale, and a chance for a select minority to rest their weary limbs and admire some of the new signage.

Further on, a Scugdale lamb, more new signs, and an unnecessary (today, anyway) bridge next to a ford.

Looking back - yes, that's Carlton Bank in the distance.

A final tea break at Scarth Wood, then people found their way back to base in four different directions.

I chose to go via Swinestye Hill and along a lane lined with daffodils.

Here's my route, others may have slight variations at the end, but leader Robin's party followed me along the 23 km circuit with 630 metres ascent, taking around 7 hours.

Later, the Golden Lion, despite being very crowded, offered a satisfactorily tasty meal for about 28 of us, with locals Mark and Janet conveniently replacing Richard and Jenny who had returned home with a sick note.

Monday 23 March

After packing up and leaving our good accommodation at Cote Ghyll, some went home and others headed for the Roseberry Topping Car Park at Great Ayton. 

It's a short but steep climb to the summit of this small but iconic hill.

Steps have been built since I was here with school friends in the 1960s.

The haze was diminished today, for good views back along the escarpment that we walked along yesterday..

In the other direction, Guisborough - where I lived at 17 Tidkin Lane from 1963 to 1967 - and Highcliff Nab - our local hill, climbed many times including during the freeze of 1963 when football pitches were frozen and hiking was encouraged as Wednesday afternoon 'games'.

There are more steps on the eastern side of the hill - not there on my visits decades earlier.

After dropping to a col, we rose again to contour round to Captain Cook's Monument.

Before that, a spacious picnic table at a car park provided a suitable venue for lunch.

From the Monument, Roseberry Topping looks deceptively far away.

More good views along the escarpment.

After passing the search for Captain Cook's Cottage, we came to an old quarry, and the Elephant Hole. There's some debate as to the exact location of the Elephant Hole. Here's what AI offers:

The Elephant Hole in Great Ayton is a, now largely collapsed, historic ironstone mine entrance located on the hillside of Cliff Rigg. It represents early industrial mining activity in the area and is often reached via scenic walks around the Great Ayton moorlands, although the site is now overgrown and difficult to access.

Roseberry Topping continued to dominate our view.

In clearer weather, the skyscrapers of Teesside would show up beyond the domestic serenity of Great Ayton.

Such is the popularity of Roseberry Topping that it has its own picture frame.

After all that excitement, we plodded back to the car park and our journeys home, via more daffodils and some unusual fungi.

Bleeding Oak Crust

Badhamia utricularis

Here's the classic circuit that we followed - 10 km, 450 metres ascent, taking 4 hours.

Then we went home. What a lovely weekend.