Mid summer. Historically the time for an ambitious evening walk to the summit of Coniston Old Man or some similar spot before returning to work the following day. But that’s in the distant past, before the days of this blog, though it would have been great tonight. Perhaps we should aim to do that next year.
Anyway, Andrew had rushed back from holiday to a mountain of emails and a promise to lead us on an evening walk from The Ship in Styal.
A lovely sunny evening, with no clouds - so no spectacular sunset, starting through pleasant fields. There were no unforeseen obstacles on tonight’s route.
We skirted the runway for a while. Quite a noisy place. There are some houses here, on a gated road. They must have triple glazing! It didn’t bother the goldfinches though.
Progressing towards Morley, we found a field in which we’ve previously encountered head high crops. The farmer has kindly provided a path through the present crop, but it’ll be very wet after rain, and interesting if it grows to head height!
In normal conditions the path through Bank House Farm can be diabolically muddy, with lots of sad looking livestock in evidence. Today the farm is boarded up and the livestock has gone. The ground is solid – not surprising given the recent lack of rain. The path beyond the farm leading down to Styal Mill was delightful.
The walk drew to a close after we passed Styal Mill, Quarry Bank House where the owners lived, and the Apprentice House.
Styal village had been heaving with people earlier, due to a cricket match, a beer festival, and hordes of scouts. Only the scouts remained in evidence when we returned, though the place was still full of cars.
Here’s our route – 7.6 km, with minimal ascent. It took us a couple of hours, after which we adjourned to The Ship for some midsummer Prosecco etc.
Thanks go to Andrew for organising this pleasant stroll, during which England thrashed Australia at one-day cricket, and Croatia thrashed Argentina at football in the World Cup.
