Tuesday 18 August 2026 - Spunch Lyme Taster

This was a free of charge 'Taster' Spunch event, supported by the National Trust in Lyme Park.

Sue and I were joined by first timers Fechin, Richard and Jenny. The map was at 1:4000 scale rather than the usual 1:12500 scale, and there were only 45 Spunch satellite points compared with the usual 90 or so.

After coffees from the kiosk, the five of us went to see Michelle and Sue in the courtyard and soon everyone was set up with the MapRun app and ready to go past the starting flag.

In a reverse of my original plan, we started by going around the gardens, picking up many points on the way. The little red circles on the MapRun app were rapidly turning green.

We headed round the back of the pond and managed to visit all the satellite points in the garden by using just about every path available. Families and children were having a great time Spunching and I regretted not having the grandchildren with us. They would love it.

The satellite points had been set so as to encourage participants to go round the gardens before exiting through the way out clearly marked on the map.

By then, a light drizzle was falling.

The second half of the outing involved going up to 'The Cage', an Elizabethan hunting tower, and descending back to the Hall via an assortment of paths.

There was very little running - it was clear that walking pace in the beautiful scenery (despite the drizzle) would easily get us to all the relevant points in plenty of time.

It was breezy up at The Cage, and the ground was welcoming a bit of lubrication after months of drought.

Here's Fechin, on his first visit to Lyme Park, approaching The Cage.

My last photo of the day was taken as we strolled down from The Cage, picking off the remaining Spunch points and not forgetting point number 3, which could easily have been missed.

By the time we got back to base in about an hour and ten minutes, we had been to all the satellite points and like the majority of today's 130+ participants we had excelled, with maximum scores of 900 all round apart from Fechin, who had a bit of technical trouble with his app, but he did finish with the rest of us and get a perfect score.

Here's our track - 5km with just 100 metres ascent.

An extract from the results is given below. Click on the image for a better version and you might spot another of the 'Oldies', John Archer, who seems to have taken his time over this event. It's a shame he didn't join us.

After lunch and a chat at the café, and birthday wishes to Fechin - 77 today (and he thanks Mike Curley and others for their best wishes) - we adjourned in the knowledge that this taster session had worked brilliantly, with all three 'first timers' hungry for more. The Spunch website gives details of forthcoming events, and those that Sue and I are booked on are shown on topwalks.com.

Edits and comments are welcome.

Saturday 5 April 2025 - Lyme Park parkrun #496

We were due to enjoy a TGO reunion walk from Hayfield, so Sue and I stopped off at Lyme Park to limber up for the walk. It was another lovely day. (We had enjoyed Friday with Isabella - report on a separate private word document.)

Sue and I were both mostly walking but I just about kept up with Alistair Pooler and Jenny Raffle, both of whom are TGO Challengers, but  they were not to be joining us later on the reunion walk from Hayfield.

The parkrun heads steeply up towards Bow Stones, turning left over easier ground to Harpers Wood, before climbing again up Cage Hill to the Cage. I was just about keeping up with Alistair, in bright yellow, after taking account of my stops for photos.

Beyond the Cage, superb views opened up and whilst Alistair was now a yellow speck far ahead, Jenny Raffle was more or less alongside. We had a brief chat before she passed me on the final gruelling ascent to the finish. A time of 36.59 for me - not my quickest 5km!

Sue strolled in about ten minutes later.

It's a tough but not too crowded run. Just the one lap, and fabulous views on a sunny day like this.

Full results are here. I was position 132 out of 164 participants; Sue was 158.

Anyway, that warmed me up for tail running at Sunday's Wythenshawe Community Run. Well attended. I jogged along with a 'Couch to 5km' lady who was running 5km for the very first time. She did well, finishing in under 40 minutes.

Saturday 5 October 2024 - Around Lyme Park

It was past 11am by the time eleven of us set off again up the Bow Stones path. This time we didn't turn left at the top of the woodland, instead carrying on at a modest strolling pace, above a backdrop of Greater Manchester, to the top of the path at Bow Stones, where an impressive footpath sign pointed us towards Kettleshulme, etc.

Beyond the Bow Stones, a good path led on to Sponds Hill, where we turned right to start our long descent to the Macclesfield Canal.

A navigational faux pas (my fault) led over a barbed wire fence above Bakestonedale to our unexpected arrival at a monument to mining around here. Situated on the lip of a disused quarry, the sealed off pit head has a trig point like memorial to the mining activity.

Ian Delve said this about it in November 2023:

An 1881 OS map of Bakestonedale shows lime kilns, brick kilns, coal shafts and a smithy along the narrow Bakestonedale valley road, near to Hammond's brick works. Ultimately brick production and the associated extraction of coal and fireclay became the sole preserve of Hammond's. Peak District National Park planners eventually put a stop to the industry in the mid 1960s. A number of deep mine shafts remained open until the 1970s when they were capped by the then National Coal Board, leaving distinctive concrete obelisks on the shaft tops.

Shortly before reaching the canal, the Coffee Tavern was passed. Had it been open, we would have offered some custom. As it was, we couldn't resisist taking advantage of the outdoor furniture to enjoy our packed lunches in comfort rather than on a soggy hillside.

The Macclesfield Canal towpath was soon joined, where more refreshments would have been available had we required them.

A sunny Sunday afternoon had brought out a good number of walkers and cyclists, as well as an assortment of barges.

We missed our turn off the canal and chose a route leading to the entrance to Lyme Park near Platt Wood Farm.

After following the sign to Lyme Park, we soon realised that due to closed paths (rutting season?) we were heading to the entrance in Disley rather than the Hall and the car park, so we re-traced our steps and headed along the path towards Green Farm. It was uphill, but correct, and we were soon back inside the Park, where The Cage came into view to confirm our position to any doubters.

Earlier, we had been first into the Park at 8:30. Now the car park was overflowing and the place was heaving with activity. It seemed a long time since we had arrived for the early morning parkrun.

We'd walked the best part of 16km, with 350 metres ascent, arriving back at the car park in mid afternoon. A lovely walk, in excellent weather.

Saturday 5 October 2024 - Lyme Park parkrun #474

Here are some of Saturday's 'tourists' at Lyme Park parkrun. L to R: Keith, Carol, Phil, SueW, Sue B, Jenny, Martin. Paul F and Andy W missed the photo, and Richard and Nigel didn't run.

It's up the hill towards the Bow Stones path to the start, where the run director was keen to acknowledge that today was the 20th anniversary of 'parkrun'.

Some of our team were keener than others to get to the front of the 149 participants. Carol was less keen!

The first kilometre is relentlessly uphill. I walked.

We turned left into some sunlit woodland, before heading up again to a left turn.

It's still uphill.

Soon I managed to catch up with Jenny, who had been walking faster than me.

The last of the hills for a while - we steadily approached 'The Cage', an ancient hunting lodge. It's described here.

Richard lay in wait with a camera, but he arrived too late for most of the action!

Then it was a gentle run over rough ground to get back to the bottom of the hill, with Greater Manchester laid out before us.

There were nine in our group, led home by Phil, with Jenny bringing up the rear at a walking pace most of us could only dream of.

The first three celebrated while waiting for Keith to stumble home.

All nine of us posed with Richard at the finish.

Our stats are below, and the full results for the 149 participants are here.

Given our wide age range, the age related percentages are a better guide to performance than the finishing positions.

Here's the 5km route, which unusually for a parkrun is just a single lap.

We enjoyed coffees and butties, etc, at the nearby cafe, before eleven of us (the nine runners plus Richard and Nigel) set off on a 16km hike.

What a great way to start the weekend!