Thursday 9 January 2025 - The David Hockney Immersive Art Exhibition

Sue treated me to a visit to this exhibition at the Aviva studios in Manchester.

It's a rolling 52 minutes of images that take a personal journey through sixty years of Hockney art.

The 'phone camera couldn't really capture the ambience of the occasion, but here are a few images along the way. 

Hockney has spent much time in Los Angeles, so it was distressing to think about how many of his vibrant scenes would look today in the smouldering cityscape.

Had my seat got a backrest I'd likely have stayed for two full rounds of the 52 minute reel. There were some fascinating images and ideas.

Wednesday 8 January 2025 - Another Bollington Circuit

We've been here before, so little by way of commentary is needed - just enjoy the pictures. Click on any of them for a slideshow. Click here for an earlier report on this walk, with  a history of White Nancy, and here for all our Bollington walks since 2007.

I think it's the first time we've walked this route in snow. Sue and I were joined by Cary, who conveniently has winter tyres for his car. Here he is, slogging his way up the final steep slope to White Nancy, with (above) views back to snow clad Bollington and as far as the skyscrapers of Manchester.

We  soon set off along the Saddle of Kerridge, into a hazy sun.

The Saddle is blessed with  some lovely woodland, particularly attractive in the fresh snow.

There are views to the east down to the village of Rainow.

It's a good walk up Kerridge Hill, seen below in the distance beyond a lady carrying a child in a papoose who had passed us, from where you can continue towards Rainow for a choice of ways back to Bollington. 

Our route goes to the right by the wall in the middle distance.

A gentle descent on a good path, with some switchbacks needed to stay on the right of way, brought us conveniently to an elevenses bench near Swanscoe Hall. Cary's fig rolls were much appreciated.

Soon we reached the Macclesfield Canal, and an easy walk back to Bollington along the snowy towpath.. Here, way below the ridge, it was not quite so scenic as cloud had rolled in and the tree branches down here had released their overnight snow.

Some of the flowerheads had gathered a crust of hoar frost.

I think Sue's picture (below) trumps mine.

There were some slithers involved in crossing from one side of the canal to the other.

Soon afterwards we strolled into Bollington at 13:19, after a three hour walk of 9.26 kilometres, according to my 'phone.

We decided to look for a cafe for lunch, rather than drive home. The Mulberry Leaf saw to all our needs, with excellent, tasty food for up to £10 a head.

A very jolly outing in excellent conditions. Thanks to Cary for joining us and providing the transport.

Here's the current programme. Feel free to join me/us, but best check the topwalks.com website for any changes, or let me know if you are coming.

Thursday 16 January	Bike Ride	The Fallowfield Loop - a 40km circuit, starting from Timperley Bridge at 9.30am. Cafe at the Velodrome.
Tuesday 21 January	Day Walk	Rivington Terraced Gardens - A Leisurely Exploration. Meet at the Great House Barn on Rivington Lane at 10:30am.
Wednesday 29 January	Bike Ride	From Rose Hill, Marple, a 35km circuit > Middlewood Way > Lyme Park > New Mills > Brook Bottom > Mellor Church > Marple Bridge > Marple. Start at 10:30am. Bring a snack - it'll take 3-4 hours.
Thursday 13 February	Day Walk	GM Ringway Trail - Stage 1 - Manchester to Sale Water Park. Meet at 10:30am in St Peter's Square for this first 12km stage of the 20 stage circuit of Greater Manchester. (An experiment.)
Tuesday 18 February	Bike Ride	A 50km lollipop route to Moore Lane (by Moore, beyond Warrington) and back, mainly on the Trans Pennine Trail. Start at 9:30am from Timperley Bridge, 9:35 from Seamons Bridge.
Wednesday 26 February	Day Walk	Delph Reservoir. A 12km circuit from the car park at SD 699 166 to the north of Delph Reservoir, near Dimple, north of Egerton, for a circuit of the reservoir. Start at 10am.

October 1997 - The 'Shipton/Tilman' Route - Day 6 - October 16

Thursday 16th October

We have set a routine: tea will be provided at 6:30. We must be packed up by 7:30 - hot washing water having been provided shortly after tea - and breakfast is served at 7:30. This is to be fairly leisurely, as we don't leave camp until 8:30.


                                    A Dog's View from the Mandoli campsite

In fact it is a lovely morning and we sit happily in the sun eating cornflakes, omelettes and other things (chips) and toast and jam / marmalade.

                                                Anil at camp

The campsite at Mandoli

                                   Buildings near Mandoli camp

                                                          Children at Mandoli

                                              Packing up at Mandoli camp

We admire the distant mountains and eventually leave on the 6-hour walk to Wan, at 9am. We have seven ponies, with three/four handlers.

                                                        A view from the trail

Again, we four set off together, but only briefly as the others soon get distracted. 

                                                            Julia takes a break

The path winds gently through forests. There are wonderful mature trees and occasional distant views of Nanda Ghunti.

                                        Pictures from the path to Wan

I walk alone until meeting up with Anil, who provides company through the ongoing woods. There are occasional glimpses of mountains, but this lovely path is more reminiscent of European forests. The trees include cyprus and many more. There are magpie like birds with long tails, jays, tits, creepers and more.

                                                                 En route to Wan

                                    Views from the path between Mandoli and Wan

Lunch, which had been laid out on a sleeping mat at 8am, comprised a boiled egg, a mango fruit juice, a potato (!), a packet of biscuits, a small sort of Mars bar, and a cheese, onion and tomato butty.

The ponies were well ahead. There were numerous more flour mills as Wan was approached. This village has nicely painted houses which I didn't have the nerve to photograph, with residents working outside. 

                                                   Flowers of the Himalaya

                                        Bark (with termites?)

Anil and I decided to have tea before embarking on the roughly 600 foot ascent to the Rest House next to which we were to camp.

                                                      At the foot of the climb

We had already passed fields of cannabis, and those hereabouts certainly appeared to be affected. 

                             Cannabis? no, I think this is the crop they use to mill flour

The tea shop was shut, but we persevered, and the locals arrived to open up. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the primus lit and eventually they resorted to lighting a log by the entrance. This boiled water remarkably quickly and we were soon enduring more sweet milky tea. Onlookers engaged us in conversation. "Say what you like" said Anil "they're all on trips."

Hereabouts the only men who work are those who do portering or other jobs to raise enough cash to buy a field. Once they have achieved this, they set their wife to work the land, do the housework, cooking and all other domestic chores. The men spend all day sitting around, smoking joints and drinking tea. 

There is no alcohol though, and everything seems happy and sedate, several hours away from the nearest roadhead.

The children here were a little stressed today, as a nurse had arrived to give them injections.

                                                   School house near Wan

                                                   Schoolchildren at Wan

Soon we were off to the campsite by the Rest House, with a lovely view down through magnificent tall mature pines to the roofs of Wan below.

                                                      Pony men at Wan

There is a temple near here, apparently worth a visit, but we failed to read Monte Erskine's (last year's leader) notes and missed it. There were affluent Bengalis in the Rest House. Anil likes them not! They are apparently very aggressive and uncaring and try to overload the ponies.

                                                          Villagers at Wan

                                                                     At Wan

Pawan again cooked a lovely meal, Chinese tonight, with chop suey and various other dishes. There followed coffee, Baileys, and for me much diarrhoea and Diocalm, which has ceased to work. Up at 1:00am, the still fullish moon caused nearby trees to cast a shadow on the distant hillside.

My bowels were worse than ever. I finally resorted to taking the two Ciprox antibiotic tablets kindly provided by Sue. I wish I'd taken them a week earlier. They worked immediately and gave me a 55-hour break from the toilet tent, which I (inexplicably as I've used it a lot) failed to mention in yesterday's entry.

Tonight was my turn to sleep alone, luckily for the others, but hopefully the last of the problems, thanks to Ciprox.

[NB I traced the problem back to a prawn/mayo sandwich from M&S on 9 October. It was a nasty infection, and my bowels took over a year to return to normal.]

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