Medley: parkrun, jazz, bike ride to Moore

Reflections on our Trossachs trip. (That's my type of jigsaw!)

After spending Friday with Isabella, Sue and I assembled on Saturday morning for Wythenshawe parkrun #606. It went well for most of us. Full results are here. There were only 266 bar code tokens to sort, and with Jane's help we did that so quickly, despite the tokens being damp from the drizzle, that it didn't warrant any volunteer credits.

Monday lunchtime found us at Eagley Jazz Club for their first ever lunchtime performance. The Chicago Teddy Bears were excellent, though the line-up had to be adjusted to compensate for the band members who still hold down daytime jobs.

Just for the record, this is how the gig was advertised:

Our doors will be open from 11am and the band will play 12 noon to 1pm, followed by a 45-minute interval when pasties (meat & potato or cheese), peas and red cabbage will be available for you to purchase for £3.  The bar will be open as usual.  We will also have the raffle (all prize donations will be welcomed!) and a sweet or 2 to round off the interval!   

The second half will commence at 1.45pm to 2.45pm, giving you time to avoid the school traffic and rush hour.   

The lineup of the Chicago Teddy Bears is:

Jim Lucas: Trumpet, Andrew Mackenzie: Trombone, Liam Byrne: Reeds, Dean Revera: Bass (absent today), Brian Singleton: Drums, Rae Owens: Banjo, guitar (Bass today) and band leader, plus today only - Ian McCann on guitar and banjo. A superb lineup; this event promises to be a real ''cracker''!

The committee was hoping for an audience of 40. The turnout was 74, so the whole event was a great success.

Tuesday was a (programmed) bike ride to Moore and back. On another cool morning, nobody turned up to accompany me on this ride over familiar ground. It was a nice ride, hampered only by a collapsing seat post, and despite having a bag of tools and tubes I didn't have the tape that would have eased the problem. (So I have one bike with a loose seat post whilst the seat post on my other bike is jammed solid!)

The ride starts along the towpath to the end of the surfaced section shortly beyond the site of the Bay Malton. It's muddy beyond this and the towpath is closed due to the damage caused by an inundated culvert in storms earier this year.

Looking back along the canal towards Altrincham

When I started using this route a few years ago, the path shown below, linking the towpath with the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) didn't exist. You cycled through the woodland on the left, and you still can do that, but this (sometimes boggy) field path has far fewer tree routes to contend with.

Soon the TPT route along the old railway line is reached. It's followed all the way to beyond Lymm, though currently one section is closed due to it being resurfaced.

After crossing under the canal in Lymm, my route follows minor roads and tracks, eventually crossing back over the canal in Grappenhall, where I've taken the next picture from the canal bridge.

After crossing and re-crossing the towpath yet again, I eventually arrive at Moore. The 'Phoenix Park' route (also here) is left here in favour of a path near the Ship Canal that eventually joins the TPT to go through Warrington to Thelwall, where the next picture was taken. The bridge on the left houses the old railway line that the TPT joins a little further on. There's a ruin of a building on the right on the banks of the Ship Canal that had me wondering as to its use.

Anyway, the resurfacing of the trail from Warrington to beyond Lymm has drastiically sanitised this section of the TPT. The mountain bike isn't really needed (but it's all I've got).

The TPT is then followed more or less as per the outward route, returning home along the towpath on which I started out at 9:30.

Today's ride was 30 miles (47km), taking a little over three and a half hours at a gentle pace with just 150 metres of gentle ascents. Always a pleasant way of getting a bit of exercise, and home by lunchtime.

Thursday 13 February 2025 - GM Ringway Trail Stage 1 - Manchester to Sale Water Park

I was honoured to be joined by five friends - Rick, Viv, Paul, Jeanette and Steve, plus Rufus the dog - for this first stage of the GM Ringway Trail. It's a fairly recent project that proceeds around Greater Manchester in 20 stages, all accessible by public transport. Today was an experiment - if successful I would plan further stages. The photo above is of the starting line up next to the 'Pebble' sculpture outside the Bridgewater Hall, just a few pedestrian crossings away from the start of the walk in St Peter's Square next to the asylum seekers' tented village.

The route took us down some steps to the Rochdale Canal, from where we followed the towpath all the way to beyond Old Trafford.

Once on the towpath and still in town, we wondered as to the purpose of this tall thin old building.

After some narrow sections of towpath we emerged onto Castle Street, where route markers pointed us across Catalan Square and over the distinctive Merchant's Bridge to the Bridgewater Canal towpath. 

Looking back, we could see that we had already escaped from the skyscrapers of central Manchester.

Some of us are very familiar with this section of Canal. It's part of the Fallowfield Loop and the Trans Pennine Trail/Cheshire Ring bike rides that we enjoy from time to time.

The towpath was still muddy from recent flooding, but there was a dry line and after crossing to the opposite side of the canal at Throstle's Nest bridge we soon reached the environs of the Red enclave of Manchester.

Beyond Water's Meet, the left branch of the canal led us to Stretford Marina.

Soon after this we said goodbye to the canal, leaving it after passing under the A56, Chester Road. Now for a section I'd never walked before, despite living close by. A right turn down Christie Road, then a footpath beyond the Renton Road junction, led us to an unusual metal bridge over the railway.

A left and a right then took us down Norwood Road, once a rat run but now blocked by substantial flower boxes, and along Longford Avenue to an entrance to Longford Park.

A short way into the park a cafe is passed. We were overdue a break, especially as everyone except me had drinks with them. Anyway, four of us enjoyed coffees in the warm interior, whilst Viv and Steve enjoyed their lunches on a bench outside, on the cool, overcast, February day.

Once we got going again, by-passing pets corner and other attractions, we soon reached the fine looking entrance to Longford Hall Garden. Once the home of John and Enriqueta Rylands, founders of the famous library, a glance into the garden revealed a sorry sight. There must be a volunteer group out there with a mission to restore the garden to its former glory. Sadly, the actual hall isn't capable of restoration. I remember it well as I lived close by in the 1980s, when the hall was used for a variety of functions. It survived until 1995, when the local council that owned it decided to demolish the building in order to eliminate the necessary maintenance costs. 

Beyond the tennis courts there's a bee sculpture that's in good condition compared with other nearby sculptures that are slowly rotting away.

A group photo with me in it presented some difficulty as nobody other than me seemed capable of pressing the shutter on my camera. You just need to tap the digital shutter... not press hard.

After that delay we nipped across Edge Lane and went down Turn Moss Road, passing to the left of the car park and continuing on across the grass next to a high hedge. This took us to the tarmac surface of Hawthorn Lane, where we turned right along the centuries old country lane.

On reaching a junction, some steps led us to the raised bank of the River Mersey. 

With debris up to a certain height, and banks badly eroded by the water, the effects of the recent flooding were clear to see.

We turned left along the bank to join the Trans Pennine Trail, where our path turned right over Chorlton Brook.

The Trans Pennine Trail was then followed, to the left of Chorlton Ees, where a new information sign glistened brightly on the dull day.

Back at the river, we crossed via Jackson's bridge, the site of an old ferry crossing. Back in the 1960s there was a left over concrete pipe here for many years that was brilliant for launching low flying but very powerful rockets on bonfire night. It was amazing to see what Dave King and his fellow undergraduates could concoct in their chemistry lab! I also remember having to walk home on one such occasion after spending the evening in Jackson's Boat pub and hitting a kerb with such force that my front wheel was irretrievably buckled and had to be pushed home. Not as bad as the day most of the spokes on the front wheel of another bike came adrift, resulting in a tedious 'carry' from Upper Brook Street to Levenshulme, where the only water in our rented house in Drury Street was in the kitchen sink and the toilet (which was outside in the back yard).

Anyway, enough of the reminiscing, today we crossed over the bridge and doubled back to the flood defence.

Here's the route, shown in pink - about 12km with no appreciable ascent, taking us around 3 hours.

So was this experiment a success? It would appear so. The next stage will take us to Didsbury, with possible diversions due to the recent flooding of the River Mersey. I'll consult with the others regarding dates, adding anyone who wants to 'catch up' by walking stage 1 in the meantime. This will include Sue, who was unfortunately absent today as she was supporting her mother following her father's death on 3 February. I'll be suggesting that people bring refreshments to keep them going in case there is no convenient tearoom.

Next Stage

Stage repeated
Index

Sunday 9 February 2025 - Four Small Hills

Our last day at Tigh Mor. Jessica went for a walk from Brig o'Turk and the remaining eight of us - Sue, me, Julie, David, Roger Phil, Richard and Jenny went on a 16km circuit from the Glen Sherup Forestry Commission car park, a drive of nearly an hour from Tigh Mor. Russell and Alison - on a separate booking - had gone home as planned.

The main purpose of the walk was to 'bag' Julie's last 'Donald', a Donald being a Lowland hill of over 2000 feet which may or may not fall into an assortment of other 'bagging' categories. There are currently 89 such hills.

This was the coldest day of the trip, with a cold wind to make us grateful that we weren't going much over 600 metres. We were protected from the wind until we emerged from the forest in Glen Devon.

A bench had looked an enticing resting point until we noted that it was covered in ice.

We gathered together, with the long slope up to Innerdownie, the lowest of the 89 Donalds, stretching into the distance, with the summit being some way further on than the point on the horizon in the next picture.

After a while, we gathered together at the summit of Innerdownie. It was cold.

Then it was a steady stroll up to the broad summit of Whitewisp Hill, and on to Julie's unclimbed target, Tarmangie Hill.

By now we were well and truly in a cold cloud, so whilst a celebration was in order, the bottle was stashed for the time being.

Some forestry was expected. It was shown on the map and would have provided a sheltered lunch spot. Never mind, an alternative was found and the Prosecco was opened.

A little further on, a signpost encouraged us to climb a final 100 metres to the summit of Ben Shee.

After some brief glimpses to the reservoirs below, the summit of Ben Shee was a bit anticlimactic as it revealed neither a cairn nor a view.

The descent above Glen Sherup slowly drew us out of the cloud and into the relative warmth of the valley.

We doubled back to cross the Glensherup Reservoir dam to gain the track back to the car park.

We felt we had earned a spell in the sauna and the steam room, before concocting an excellent meal from leftovers.

Here's our route - 16km, 600 metres ascent, taking around 5 hours.

Then on Monday morning we said goodbye to Tigh Mor, with its turreted wings and the view to Ben Venue.

An excellent trip. Thanks to those who organised it.