Wednesday 16 April 2025 - GM Ringway Trail Stage 3

Eight of us plus Rufus met at 11am in the rain in Didsbury. Sue, Rick and I were very early due to the unexpected efficiency of Manchester's Metrolink tram system, so we managed a quick coffee in the Levante Café before joining the others at Didsbury Village station, where we had finished Stage 2. 

I reported on Stage 2 here, and today we lost Jenny from that walk and we regained Rick, who had missed Stage 2 due to a hospital appointment but has walked that section in the meantime.

The GM Ringway website describes today's walk in 180 steps. I'll just provide an overview here.

Today's first snap was taken out of the rain in a tunnel lined with corrugated iron, after we had followed the path by the tram line past its terminus at East Didsbury.

After a short spell on the Trans Pennine Trail we headed alongside the River Mersey to Manchester Road, along which we sped over both a railway and the M60 motorway before entering the grounds of Abney Hall, now a conference centre. Paul went on a minor adventure across a river to a bin in which to deposit the contents of Rufus's bowels.

We continued in light drizzle to a bridge that Paul could have used.

The trail is clearly signposted as it passes next to a man-made waterfall.

We passed next to a pond in Abney Hall Park, where a heron was busy fishing and the drizzle diminished into just the odd spot of rain.

We were soon on roads again, in Cheadle village, where the war memorial is currently showered in a confetti of cherry blossom.

 

There are plenty of places to stop for a break in Cheadle, but we just walked on past St Mary's church which has unusual clock faces.

Soon the Ladybrook Valley is entered. We followed that beside Micker Brook, with Rufus leading the way as usual.

Foliage has very noticeably greened up in the last few days.

We continued merrily along the route, still clearly marked with roundels and larger markers on existing signposts. Through Brookfield Park to a point where the route is currently closed due to construction work. So we had to proceed to Cheadle Road and Old Wool Lane to regain our path.

Paths through an industrial estate led eventually to the Ladybrook Cycleway, alongside Micker Brook. We passed under the Seven Arches railway viaduct to reach open country.

 

Bramhall Park was in due course reached, where we strolled beside the ornamental ponds. We'd been here before, both on a walk with Paul and Jeanette (the latter's childhood was spent in this area) and on Bramhall Park's 666th parkrun.

A Canada goose has carelessly laid her eggs right next to the busy path.

We'd also seen a good number of Mandarin ducks as well as the usual herons, coots and moorhens, etc.

From here it should have been a straightforward walk to Bramhall railway station. I thought it a bit odd that the signposted route didn't fit with the description, but we proceeded merrily on, along a path through the pretty Happy Valley.

Then I realised: Stage 3 leaves Bramhall Park via the Hall/Visitor Centre to reach the station, and Stage 4 returns the same way to continue through the park to Happy Valley. So we retraced our steps and found a café, Valentino Café, that served five of us very quickly, enabling us to get to the station in plenty of time for the 15:31 train to Manchester, for which Viv, Steve and Roger were waiting on a bench, having declined a café visit..

 

We finished up walking 16km as compared with the predicted 12km. That was my fault. Our route is shown below in pink, if you can make it out (click on the image, and magnify), and the correct route is the one in blue, under which most of the pink route is hidden.

Anyway, thankfully the rain had stopped early on and I think we all enjoyed the outing. We plan to re-assemble at Bramhall on Friday 9 May. The most convenient trains may be 9:46 from Piccadilly, arriving in Bramhall at 10:03, then returning from Middlewood on the 15:18, arriving at Piccadilly 15:47.

October 1997 - The 'Shipton/Tilman' Route - Day 14 - October 24

The camp site below Kauri Pass

 
Friday 24 October 

I had planned a 4:50 alarm, to leave at 5:00 to observe sunrise from Kauri Pass.

Up at 3am to release Ovaltine, and it was snowing. I didn't hear the alarm as the watch was buried in my sleeping bag, which was also being used, successfully, to dry my change of clothing (it almost dried yesterday) and keep boots warm.

Another cold night.

Woken by Pawan (Taku) and Bagwan at 6:30 with tea, to find the distant peaks lit by early morning sun. A beautiful sight through the trees.

                                       Ponies at Kauri Pass camp

Ablutions in the snow were followed by an al fresco breakfast of porridge followed by vegetable curry and paratha. (I'm sure they're not all paratha - these numerous references to it - but this was a pan-fried light sort of nan type of thing, we had a variety of these 'breads'.) This was seated with our table, next to a roaring fire, my stockinged feet steaming happily.

                                                             Breakfast

                    The ponies were keen to leave for warmer climes

Lots of photos, then after coffee we packed our daysacks (main bags already packed) and headed back up the hill, passing very large animal footprints - there are snow leopards around here - as far as the little temple, from which yet another set of panoramic photos was taken.

The snow was over 6" deep here, but we managed to avoid it entering boots and repeating yesterday's wetness.

                                              Back above the tree line

By now (9:30) the cloud had come down on some of the peaks, and there was also a lower band of cloud. Sadly, not perfect weather on any of our three main views of the panorama, but all still magnificent.

                                                A view from our high point

It took an hour to descend back to a dismantled camp, where the ponies left when I arrived, first down.
The others soon arrived and after lingering for a while at this last pleasant campsite of this trek, we continued the long descent to Tapoban, around 2000 metres or lower, so it was about a 4000 foot descent from the temple.

The heights around here are somewhat confusing, with Kauri Pass being given as anything between 3200 metres and 4000+ metres.

We reckon our camp was 3200m, with Kauri Pass 3500m, and our high point yesterday around 4000m.
The descent is fairly steep and muddy, through forests of walnut and other trees.

                                               Looking down towards Tapoban

Langur monkeys are seen, and increasing signs of habitation, before which we lunch in a smelly glade with good views of the peaks opposite.

The bird song increases and forget-me-nots and buttercups abound. Two children, high on the path, ask for sweets.

The path is wonderfully engineered - it's The Curzon Trail, built to the order of Lord Curzon, who sadly died before he could walk it - it's well graded with stone embankments supporting its generous width. Nevertheless, Anil is critical of pony men who simply ignore the zigzag grading and head straight up and down the hill, causing erosion.

The villages above Tapoban eventually come into view towards the end of our 4000 ft ish descent. Virtually everyone I see (I am as usual walking alone in front of Julia, John and Richard - I usually stay with them until lunchtime, as today - but behind Anil, Pawan and Bagwan) asks for something. Children follow me begging. I ignore them other than passing the usual "namaste" greeting. I'm using ski sticks today for the second day running, for the steep descent.

I pass an interesting double wall at the start of terraced cultivated land. Later, I decide this is the high level of an irrigation system which no longer appears to be used. It is extensive though and perhaps at certain times at least some of it operates.

The fields high up have been ploughed and are simple brown terraces. Noone is working in them. They have been prepared for winter. However, women (mainly) work in lower pastures, and conversations between people in neighbouring fields and further afield are noticed.

The magpies with beautiful blue tails are very tame here. As Tapoban is approached the day is hotly sunny and boots are drying out. The rush of water from converging mountain streams is a pleasant sound.

Eventually the village - for it can hardly be called a town - is reached. Anil and co are waiting in the centre, and Vicram has arrived with the Tata. The end of an excellent ten day walk.

                                                              Tapoban

[It could easily be backpacked in a week - but Pawan's cooking would be missed!]

The horse men are also waiting to say goodbye - and receive their tip. We eventually all meet up and Anil organises tea for each one of us as we arrive. He has been joined by a friend - Mariss - who it seems will join us for the next trek to the Valley of the Flowers. Mariss is a local lad who is a good skier and presumably has good local contacts.

The going rate for ponymen tips is 200-300Rup each. They have been no trouble and have not been troubled by us (eg accidents etc). John is not a 'tip' person and is reluctant to pay anything. The rest of us increase his suggestion of 200Rup each to 300Rup each (about £6) to each of the five horsemen. They are very happy and the cost to us is minimal.

Now for another 'first time' for me, although John is a world expert. We head for a nearby 'hot spring'. I don't know what to expect and am somewhat surprised when we pull up at a deserted stream steaming down a hillside. 

We get out of the Tata and go up to look at very hot water spurting out of a hole in the hill above the road. It is lower than the tide mark indicates is usual, and impossible to bathe here. John explores and finds a spot lower down, where the water has been split into two channels and emerges, hot but not scalding, about 30 metres down the hill. He and I strip off to underpants and enjoy a full wash under this lovely hot bath temperature water, with a grandstand view of the high Himalaya. The water is not very sulphurous, although it has produced interesting formations of deposited chemicals down the hillside.

We linger under the hot water and Richard joins us. I spend the rest of the afternoon minus underwear, whilst Richard leaves his on and looks as if he's wet himself. My 'chammy' towel gets its first usage and does work much better than the usual j-cloth.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away. Pawan and Bagwag decided not to wash, though Pawan did wash his boots! 

                                                      Leaving Tapoban

On to Joshimath down a very twisty 15 km, from the Tapoban border post. The steep sided gorge to our right is most impressive.

                                                      The road to Joshimath

Joshimath is a bustling place full of army people and locals, including some of our horsemen, who have bussed it - the others are walking with the ponies and are seen later. Boulders are strewn amongst the corrugated iron roofs of the barracks, and tidy barrack roads have white edges. (The main road is virtually a dirt track.) The place has the air of a bustling shanty town border post.

We head to the bottom of the town to the Uday Palace Hotel - a new place. We are not allowed in as despite being booked in with full details we don't have the requisite voucher. For everything on this trip a voucher is needed, but this is covered by a voucher for 14 days for the trek, with reference to this hotel, and the Abercrombie and Kent voucher is deemed insufficient - apparently Mercury should have supplied vouchers for the hotel. We drive back into town, where Anil leaves us at a tea shop whilst he tries to contact his boss, colonel Kumar (69). He eventually returns, having failed to contact the colonel, but having arranged for some cash to be driven up by jeep from Joshimath so that the hotel bills can be settled. We have a free choice of hotel, and Mercury will pay cash. John wishes to avoid Uday Palace as they were so unhelpful, but I think it is probably the best hotel in Joshimath, and it seems to me likely that Mercury are at fault through not having dealt with red tape such as the requested voucher.

We go back to Uday Palace. Each of us has a single room, and we are soon 'showered' (using a large bucket of hot water and pouring jugfuls over you [or in my case standing in the bucket and washing with a flannel]) and assembled for food by 7pm. Our order has already been taken, and we eat from a card table at the end of the first-floor corridor which houses our rooms. Food appears to be served from the roof - the kitchen must be upstairs - but some items, eg cold drinks, come from downstairs but are still served on trays, from upstairs! The rooms have dangerous balconies with stupendous views.

                                                                 Joshimath

The food is good but not up to Pawan's standard. Anil and Mariss join us, and we agree to meet at 8:15 tomorrow to attempt to get to the Valley of the Flowers. There are no ponies available, so we are to travel light, with a few porters.

The others take a short trip to town to get cigarettes for Anil (John keeps taking Anil's fags), then we play cards till 10:45. Finally, I manage to win.

This was an excellent day to end the 10-day trek, and it’s actually nice to be in a comfortable hotel bed (despite the need for a sleeping bag!).

The nights in camp greatly benefited from my only significant purchase for this trip - the Thermarest. This proved excellent, especially for insulation in the snow, and my sleeping bag remained perfectly dry.

Next Day
Previous Day

Saturday 12 April 2025 - Wythenshawe parkrun #614

This was Owen's 250th parkrun and it was duly celebrated with vigour. I took just the one photo at the start, then I forgot about the camera until we were gathered in the courtyard tea room, so there's no photo of Owen actually running, which he did, for the full 5km, in 43:10, finishing together with a large entourage including folk who had finished nearly 20 minutes earlier. Full results for the 372 participants are here.

Here's a selection of snaps from the tea room, including a picture of a commemorative plate kindly provided by one of Owen's stalwart running companions, Graham.

Then we sorted the 372 bar code tokens.

Friday 11 April 2025 - A Bike Ride around Manchester

It was a 9am start from Timperley Bridge, where nobody else turned up despite the continuing sunshine, and a pause more or less opposite our house, for a first photo of the glassy canal.

I took a familiar route to Didsbury, sticking to the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) - picked up in Stretford -  and soon passing through Chorlton Ees on the way to Jackson's Boat Bridge.

The River Mersey is low at present thanks to a lack of rain, but debris in trees the height of the upper embankment are a reminder of January storms. 

Workmen were removing debris that was caught in the weir at Northenden.

With the lower path being impassable by bike in places of deep sand, I took the narrow path on the high embankment bordering the golf course. Banks of Dandelions glittered beside the river.

At Fletcher Moss the TPT heads into Didsbury where the well signed route passes beside the Metrolink railway for a little way to its terminus at East Didsbury station.

The TPT then takes to a fairly new path near the River Mersey, with lots of freshly spouted Cowslips in evidence.

After this a narrow path beside the M60 motorway leads to a choice of routes. On this occasion I chose to avoid the fleshpots of Stockport Town Centre and headed past the Decathlon store and to the north of the centre.

I fumbled my way past Heaton Norris and soon reached the comfort of the old railway lines in Reddish Vale. Time for a break after an hour and a half in the saddle.

After pausing at the Visitor Centre in Reddish Vale, where the café was open today, I continued along the TPT and under the railway viaduct in Reddish. The next two pictures were taken from the same place, in opposite directions.

On leaving the Country Park, the TPT crosses the M60 motorway by way of a bridge that houses an old farm track.

The track emerges into housing at Haughton Green, from which a ginnel leads briefly to more housing and a right turn onto the A6017 main road. After a fast descent to a left hand turn into the woods, the road is left for the remainder of the route apart from a short section in central Manchester.

The TPT now enters Haughton Dale, once a hive of industry, now a Country Park where the path continues beside the River Tame, which feeds into the Mersey in Stockport.

Several weirs remind of an industrial past hereabouts.

After pleasant paths with the occasional bench or picnic table if needed, the TPT rises to reach the Peak Forest Canal. My route leaves the TPT after a bridge across the river and ascends to the canal towpath, leaving the TPT to find a way to Broadbottom and beyond.

The towpath switches banks a couple of times as it makes its way past Hyde and Dukinfield to reach a junction in Ashton-under-Lyne.

A left turn at the junction ahead takes us onto the Ashton Canal.

There's a café and museum across the basin from this junction. I didn't visit on this occasion, having plenty of refreshments and a break from the saddle nearby after three hours.

The Ashton Canal takes us into the centre of Manchester on a route that's familiar, apart from muddling through city centre roads on Whitworth Street where the towpath has been temporarily shut. It's the same route as that taken by the Fallowfield Loopline bike ride.

 

Approaching Manchester, there's also a problem with the towpath near Piccadilly, where I found myself on a bike lane on an unfamiliar street with sculptures.

The rest of the ride passed uneventfully. I stopped by the Merchant's Bridge to finish off my provisions, then pedalled home at a gentle pace along the Bridgewater Canal towpath.

A  'jiggle' at the end took my mileage for the morning up to 60km, and my Garmin gadget optimistically reckoned on 350 metres ascent during the five hour outing that was followed by lunch in the garden at 2pm on a sunny afternoon. Here's my route.

Next bike ride:

Thursday 24 April - A 70km circuit starting at 9:00 from Timperley Bridge. Bridgewater Canal > Pennington Flash > Mucky Mountains Nature Reserve > Sankey Valley > Trans Pennine Trail > Timperley. All welcome.