Tuesday 7 July 2026 - Spunch Mellor

Spunch comes to Mellor, where the satellite points to be visited are almost all in the lovely countryside of the margins of the Peak District, so today's outing was somewhat undulating but offered some lovely early evening views. Sue and I started soon after 5:30, after when the cloud cover slowly cleared, providing the sunlit view of the church at Mellor seen in the picture above.

Back to our start... As I am suffering from Ischia Bursitis (Bum Pain) I've been told not to run for six weeks, so I enjoyed a two hour walk, covering about 10km, and Sue set off running in the opposite direction, covering over 14km in the two hours allowed for this event.

I soon met her coming the other way, in the fields on the path to/from Moorend.
 

It was a slow plod up to a high point, next to a hedge on an overgrown path, with good views in my rear view mirror.

Sue had time to pause for a picture of some Yellow Loosestrife.

Spunching is a family activity as well as a challenging activity for runners.

After a short diversion to pick up point 42, I went back up to a small pond and a high route to the disused quarry that houses a large cross. We've been here on evening walks with Stockport Walking and Outdoors Group (SWOG). En route to the quarry there were good views back into the Peak District.

After a short dogleg to pick up point 17, these two came flying past me.

While they went down the hill towards The Banks, I joined others in a bid to find all five points within the vicinity of the quarry. I don't know how I managed to miss point 4!

Meanwhile, Sue was approaching from the other direction. She had no trouble in finding all five points in the quarry.

After that, Sue headed along Black Lane. "You must be Spunchers, Andy will like that picture!"

Rosebay Willowherb is coming into flower beside Black Lane.

After crossing Longhurst Lane at point 68, I enjoyed a final climb up through vineyards to Mellor Church.

Then it was a short dash past the archaeological excitements in the vicinity of the church (see here for more details on a more leisurely visit) to grab point 27 before strolling down the hill and there and back to point 29, before finishing nearly 9 minutes inside the 120 minute deadline.

Sue soon arrived and we were tucking in to chicken curry and pints with over 100 other participants on a lovely evening in the garden of the Devonshire Arms.

Here are the results for the 33 '120' participants. Walking the route I'd chosen seemed to work well, and Sue managed on her own despite some 'uncertainty' at the golf course.

Here's a screenshot of my 10km route with 300 metres ascent. The green circles are the 40 points I visited and the solid blue line shows my approximate route between the points.

Here's the same screenshot for Sue - full page this time as she covered 51 ppoints in a wider area.

This final screenshot shows Sue's route in the context of the whole area. (Click on the image.)

That was a lovely outing in wonderful countryside, though I fear my Ischia Bursitis didn't appreciate it, so I'll be a bit slower next rime!