Saturday 4 September 2021 - Today in Timperley

Wythenshawe parkrun number 438. 311 participants assemble at the start, with Andy Wright posing.

Getting ready to go - with plenty of space for social distancing.

Both Sue and I enjoyed good runs, with thanks to Mark Hunter, who finished in 24:30, for pacing us.

Jackie C, who must still be injured, was busy volunteering, here scanning Edyta's barcodes.

Full results are here.

As usual, we enjoyed our post run coffees, before sorting the 311 barcode tokens - none were missing, well done everyone!

Later, a visit from Mike, Sarah and Isabella, and Diana and Richard came along to Newton Park as well, as they are staying with us. Isabella nearly walking, three weeks before she is one.

After which Sue concocted a delicious meal, with the aid of some of Daz's trout fillets.

10 and 11 October 1981 - The Great Langdale Horseshoe Walk

The Langdale Horseshoe (or 'How the Wind Became')

The Diarist on this trip was Nick

Saturday 

On this trip: Nick, Martin, Dave, Roger and Laurie (RIP) (late).

We were woken around 6:30 by mewing, scratching and general falling around by a small black bogle* in the kitchen. Kept awake by Dave's wonderful electronic alarm - I wonder whether a well-placed brick would shut it up?

Set off 8:00 then had to wait outside Laurie's house while he woke up. He wasn't keen due to all the rain and wind we'd seen on Friday night. Lots of isobars on the weather map and sleet forecast on high ground. We'll see. 

Whizzed up the motorway - sunny clear morning - M61 - 9:10 - red ignition light came on - no fan belt!# 

Tied bootlaces around where the fan belt should have been, then drove slowly to the garage next to the Tickled Trout, where a new belt was duly purchased. Installation was rather tricky and we eventually restarted at 9:55 with a trip to Preston. (Fan belt still not on.) Borrowed a spanner from a garage up the road, and set off again at 10:15. First breakdown for this car.

Arrived in Elterwater 11:40 - a long trip. (See top photo.)

Set off 11:55. Lunch stop 12:30 after route finding difficulty. Path more or less discovered and we got moving again at 13:15, heading for Lingmoor Quarry and Brown How (Lingmoor Fell). At last a summit! (14:30)

Chapel Stile, from the quarry above Elterwater

 

View NE over Loughrigg towards Kirkstone

View from Lingmoor Fell to Elterwater and Windermere

Big Goose
Heron

                                                                     The path ahead, looking west

Blustery, some hail - all wearing full waterproofs. 

The party donns waterproofs near Side Pike

Some more route problems on the way. Rog went quarrying and caving. Side Pike. (15:30) Spot height 735' (now 224 metres) for ascent of Wrynose Fell to Pike of Blisco. 

Again, differing opinions on the route. Laurie got his rucksack caught in a crack in the rocks. He should realise that he's not as thin as Martin. 

Watched a helicopter on manoeuvres (or rescues?) on Bowfell. 

Reached summit of Pike of Blisco 16:50. Dave and Rog nowhere to be seen. Decided to camp in the vicinity of Red Tarn. As we left the top we were struck by a very heavy, blustery hailstorm which we had just noticed coming across from Jack's Rake etc. Cagoules and overtrousers were donned just as there was a flash and a bang of thunder. 

Lots of stinging hail, which stopped just before we pitched camp near the path by Red Tarn (17:45) 1675ft. 

Camp site on the path near Red Tarn at the top of Brown Gill, from Martin's wedge tent

Menus

Laurie and Dave: moussaka 'substitute' (L forgot tin opener); apple and custard (as usual took all night to cook).

Roger: virgin (?!) and sweetcorn soup; paella (Vesta) in a new blue packet.

Martin: tea; beef risotto

Nick: paella (Oxo) - good; fruit cake; coffee.

More hailstorms. New tent (Nick's) very well behaved so far (20:00). Glad I got new batteries for torch! Distance covered - a paltry 4½ - 5 miles (ashamed to record it).

Added by Dave: "Hope I'm well pegged down." 

(Back to Nick) Dave has not yet ripped his new black cords. He's very confident that they won't be rationalised (ICL jargon) by tomorrow. 

Dave, Rog and Laurie [sharing Roger's new Vango Mk4 tent] made a dessert of 'coffee broth with hailstones'. It contained mince, onion, mushroom, aubergine, courgette, mixed dried veg, rice, peppers, coffee (not important), but definitely not tinned tomatoes [no tin opener]. Recipe: add the above to one pan with blown hailstones, heat and decant into cups. Serve immediately.

Sunday

4:25 am, Martin retreated to the Vango. Cries of "help" as he tried to bundle his tent in. Very strong winds. Rather worried. 

The diary includes this sketch from Martin

8:00 Cold hands > 8:30 - fun taking tents down. Roger's poles are a funny shape. Much searching for equipment. [My tent pegs etc.]. 

Off about 8:45. Up and over Crinkle Crags. Still very windy and sometimes hard to stay upright. Sky generally blue, but we've seen sleet/rain/hail come shooting across very quickly. Luckily managed to avoid most of these. 

The view down the Langdale valley from Crinkle Crags

Stopped for food at the Bad Step, then M, D and R went through dragging rucksacks. Nick climbed up the side to take photos, and Laurie nambie-pambied around the other side.

This picture is captioned 'Rog at Bad Step'. Could we in those days crawl through a gap by the chockstone, rather than undertake the 10 ft climb by the side of the cleft?

11:05 Three Tarns, for Bowfell. No-one else around. 

The path to Bowfell from Three Tarns

11:40 Bowfell. Met four others. Good views all round. Down to Ore Gap > Angle Tarn. 

Angle Tarn and the Langdale Pikes

13:00 - At stream at Angle Tarn. Rog is "medium knackered" so we debate whether or not to go down. Didn't go down. It rained (again).

View across Mickleden to Langdale Fell

Looking back up the valley from near Raw Pike, with Crinkle Crags and Bowfell

 
Martin adds (September 2021)

Nick's diary entry ends at "It rained again" apart from my summary of the route that confirms our continuation of the classic round described by Tom Price in "The Big Walks", 20 miles with 2000 metres ascent, as pictured at the foot of this entry. 

I've inserted a few observations into the text in blue.

I still have a vivid memory of the wind in the night continuously shifting the poles of my Karrimor wedge tent, making it assume a banana shape. So I tried to re-pitch the tent in a better position for the wind. The next thing I knew was that the pegs all came out and the tent and its contents were blowing in the wind, just like a kite, anchored only by a guy line wrapped around my right hand index finger. I managed to gather most of the stuff into Roger's tent, where the four of us squeezed in for the rest of the night, with Roger hanging on to his bending poles for dear life! 

* This must have been Nell's cat, we presumably spent the night at her house, 232 Oswald Road, Chorlton.

# The Cortina Estate was no longer a new car!

Any additional memories from the participants would be welcome.

Wednesday 1 September 2021 - Around Daresbury

I suddenly got the urge to do a short walk from near home. It's a shame that I chose to find the first rain (drizzle) for some time. That started after I'd headed off to Daresbury to park opposite the church in Daresbury Lane.

This was intended to be a check on Jen Darling's route description for Walk 2 in her 'Walks in West Cheshire and Wirral' book. 

'Daresbury - In the footsteps of Lewis Carroll'

I was nearly floored at the first hurdle, but I was able to ignore the 'closed path' notice and find my way across the fields to Old Chester Road, where there would also have been plenty of room to park.

The primary school is said to date from around 1600, according to Jen, who taught there some 370 years later - when apparently it still didn't have inside toilets. (Nor did the house that I lived in around that time, we just had an outside toilet and a kitchen sink, no bathroom.)

The weather vane celebrates Daresbury's connections with Lewis Carroll

I soon turned left onto a footpath, opposite a barn with a grinning Cheshire Cat.

The path led very soon to Daresbury Firs and Keckwick Hill.

Click on the image for a readable version

I tried to find the orientation table described by Jen, but all I could locate was a bench in the woods, surrounded by high trees that would negate any views.

Descending back to the main path, before being attacked by two dogs I discovered that I was on the route of the Mersey Valley Timberland Trail, a 21 mile route that would be nice to do. I'll have to get a lift to the start at Runcorn Hill Visitor Centre and walk home.

Looking back up the hill, the now timid dogs were hiding behind the trees.

On exiting the Firs area, the path passed a field across which there were views towards the industrial sites of the Mersey Valley.

The Bridgewater Canal was soon reached, at Keckwick Hill Bridge.

The canal towpath is good hereabouts, opposite the pristine site of Sci-Tech Daresbury - opened by Harold Wilson in 1967 under the banner of 'Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory' and re-named several times, most recently in 2012.

About 1300 people work for 150 companies on this site, monitored by a heron who is much more shy than his Timperley relations.

Keckwick Bridge is another of the old fashioned 'hump back' variety that date from the original construction of the canal in the 1770s. There's a bench next to it that provided a suitable spot for coffee etc in light drizzle.

The Bridgewater Way goes through here, though this section is deemed unfit for cyclists..

Bridge construction methods have changed since 1770!

This is a very pleasant section of canal to walk along, often accompanied with hordes of ducks and geese, but not today.

The regularly placed gantries are ready and waiting with timbers to isolate sections of canal if the need arises - there are no locks on the Bridgewater Canal.

Moorefield Bridge is another of the hump back variety.

The plaque in memory of Kenneth Henry Thomas, and the associated views are self explanatory.

Just down the road, the Red Lion welcomes customers.

 

Two views from Moore Bridge, where my route left the canal in favour of Hobb Lane.

After crossing the A56 road, I found my way blocked by a closed path guarded by two men who refused me entry to the public footpath. A festival site was being dismantled. After losing my argument with these jobsworths I found a reasonable path beside the main road, all the way back to Daresbury.

The Ring 'O Bells looked as if it would be open for business later.

The church has associations with Lewis Carroll, whose father was Vicar of Daresbury when Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, as Lewis Carroll was then known, was a child. There's an exhibition in the church, and a memorial window in a side chapel that I didn't find.

Here's my route - 7.8 km, with 100 metres ascent. The correct route should go along Hall Lane. That will be possible from tomorrow, when the festival site has been cleared.