Sunday 17 December 2023 - A Christmas Walk Around Shutlingsloe

Parking beside Ridgegate Reservoir on a Sunday morning isn't the easiest, but 16 or so of us managed to congregate outside the Leather's Smithy in time to start our walk roughly on time at 10 0'clock.

After a leisurely start around the reservoir, it was uphill all the way to the summit of Shutlingsloe.

After leaving the trees behind, we continued on to the final steep ascent, pausing at the stile shown below.

Then it was single file up the steep steps to the summit.

GS was missing, otherwise it was a good turnout. I was joined (L-R) by David, Phil, Roger, Graeme, Jill, Carol, Graham, Ruth, Tove, Anne, Tom, Sue, Ken and Sue. Keith was away bagging a sub-tump hill summit.

It was cool and breezy on top, so we found a sheltered spot a little lower down to enjoy our coffee and cake.

Returning initially the way we came, we soon turned onto the boggy path to the car park above Bollin Brook. This was conveniently frozen over on my most recent visit. Today the surface was loose but not as bad as I had expected. Trail shoes were adequate to avoid wet feet.

The surface soon firms up, and after the next stile it's easy going to the car park, with good views back to Shutlingsloe.

After a lovely woodland section, it's a steep climb up to the quiet lane to the chapel at Macclesfield Forest.

Before the road reaches the chapel, a left turn takes us steeply up a lane and back into the forest, where a trusty soul has left a decorated tree and some Christmas presents. We have encountered these before - it's a local tradition.

Soon we were re-joined by Keith, Sue and Phil, who had diverted to another sub-tump that I'd been up many times on my mountain bike, for a lovely walk through the moss clad trees of the forest.

A final pause near the finish was to finish off any remaining coffee and cake before reaching the haven of the Leather's Smithy.

No more pictures were taken, but Graeme went home and Andrew joined us for lunch in the pub. Quite a contrast to recent Xmas lunches in the Crispin, (other Christmas Walk reports are here) but perfectly acceptable in a hostelry where food delivery issues were making life quite challenging for the chefs. We had ordered six gammon, but on the third recount (there were lots of other parties) the chefs could only allocate us two of them. So four of our group switched to haddock. "Oh dear" said landlord John, "I'm not sure how many haddock we have left!"

It's actually good to see a busy, friendly pub. Our experience there was a good one and some of us will be back for a lunchtime soup in the New Year when business has calmed down.

Here's our route - 10.5km with 350 metres ascent, the walk taking 3.5 hours. In a break with tradition, there was no afternoon walk other than that back to our randomly parked cars.

Any ideas for next year?