JJ, a founder and co-conspirator of the Timperley Tipplers and Trampers, has raked in another new recruit. This one is John McN, pictured above on the left. JJ has snapped him up after discovering that he retired a month ago.
Having abandoned a plan to visit Wetherlam today, a quartet of fresh air fiends – JJ, John McN, Rick and me, assembled outside Timperley Metrolink Station for a 12 km stroll along paths that don’t often see our feet. We succeeded, with a minimal amount of road walking, and under the watchful eye of a kestrel we even discovered a path that maybe none of us had previously visited. It provides a link between the new recycling plant and Sinderland Road. A disused railway line is crossed that links Timperley with Partington. This is obviously used, but it hasn’t been converted to an official footpath. Worthy of further exploration…
Here’s John (above), recalling that a team of men posing as ‘officials’ had removed the rails with impunity, only for the real officials to discover that they had been stolen for scrap.
Anyway, we pressed on past ploughed fields with acrobatic lapwings to Red House Farm, as I needed some tomatoes. None of the others had been there before, so it was something of a surprise to them to be able to enjoy coffee and cake, or freshly baked scones, in very jolly surroundings. There was also some Oxford Blue (which appears to be made in Hartington, so how does it get its name?!) ‘on draught’ – it’s excellent on toast.
We lingered in the tea room. It had started to rain. This was not unexpected. We had waterproofs. Even our new recruit had waterproofs. You can’t miss him. Guess where he used to work?
For what it’s worth, here’s our route:
2 comments:
I grew up near the Pelican Pub so know all of those paths, the brook was my favourite place as a child :-)
That surely qualifies you for membership of the Timperley Trotters and Tipplers?!
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