Wednesday 23 January 2013 – A Plod from Scorton, to Dolphinholme and Nicky Nook

In the temporary absence of Reg, who normally organises these ‘Plodder’ walks, I had recently plotted four ‘Here and There’ walks to take place on alternate Wednesdays.  Details are included here.  Anyone is welcome to come along, whether or not they belong to the Long Distance Walkers Association, whence the ‘Plodders’ originate.

The rest of the ‘Magnificent Seven and Maude’ who attended this first walk in the series were aware that the routes haven’t been reconnoitred, so the paths we took were as new to me as to anyone else.  Indeed, most knew the area better than me.  Anyway, subject to a few minor mistakes (my map was thirty years old), and with the assistance of Alan R and a selection of randomly appointed guest navigators, we managed to find our way round this delightful circuit.

We were expecting snow, so it was a relief to find that it hadn’t barricaded the car park at Scorton Picnic Site.  In fact there was none at all just there.  However, this meant that after a week or two of walking on firm snow-covered ground we now became engulfed in mud as we plodded towards Shireshead on a very overcast day.  At least it wasn’t raining though.  My waterproofs haven’t been used this year.  Yet!

Health and Safety madness on the approach to Dolphinholme had us worrying unnecessarily about a ‘Closed Path’ ahead.  There had been a minor landslip that was easily negotiated.  Enough said.

After passing a pretty cottage, Coreless Mill was reached – clearly a well conducted restoration project with the waterwheel standing pristine in an enclosure in the garden.  Wyreside Hall, partly remodeled in 1790 by Parliamentarian John Fenton Cawthorne (1753-1831) before he was expelled for embezzlement, stands a little way to the east of the mill.  Its latest incarnation is apparently as a country house hotel, to which it currently appears to be in the process of conversion, much to the chagrin of the owner of Coreless Mill and others.  This quiet rural enclave does appear to have some ‘issues’.

The River Wyre was crossed in the pretty, but apparently publess, village of Dolphinholme, from where we slowly rose towards the snowline as we strode on along Wagon Road.

Once that line had been reached, Maude entertained us by persistently rolling in the snow in an effort to remove her coat.

A barn wall provided a sheltered, if smelly, venue for elevenses, and the first of several issues of sustenance (brownies).

A little further on, good progress was made along Waste Lane despite some more substantial drifts of the white stuff.

Beyond here we started to notice a series of 'Waterboard Gates', markers on field boundaries that indicate the line of a pipeline through which Manchester receives water from Thirlmere.

Continuing through mud and snow we passed a derelict cottage with an outhouse that Nancy's announced would be her next restoration project.  (The outhouse or the house, Nancy?)

After Lane Head we took to the hills, lunching on tussocky islands in the snow in a spot sheltered from the bitter breeze.

With the lofty summit of Nicky Nook now in our sights, and another fresh leader, the Magnificent Seven and Maude hastened on towards Fell End, where some Guineafowl were scrabbling in the snow.

The road to Nicky Nook was now clear ahead of us.  Maude was appointed leader and she willingly hauled Hilary up to the lofty 215 metre summit, leaving the rest of us in her wake as we puffed our way to the trig point.

It’s a fine viewpoint, especially on a clear day.  Today was dull and a tad misty, so we had to rely on our imagination as Nancy attempted to point out Blackpool Tower in the distance.

We then descended steeply into the shelter of Grize Dale, a lovely valley that leads to the outskirts of Scorton.

After slipping underneath the main road, and passing the church whose distinctive spire is familiar to motorists on that road, we soon found ourselves indulging in refreshments at one of Scorton’s friendly fleshpots.  “More brownies please!”

Despite Alan’s efforts to return to his car on this Ferguson TE20, we finished up on the pleasant, if slightly muddy, path to the picnic site.

Here’s our approximate route, excluding the ‘surprise extras’ – about 20km (12.5 miles) with just 350 metres ascent.  It took us around 6 hours, but could have been walked faster than that.

Alan has written about the walk (here) in a form that may be more understandable to his grandchildren than to some of those present.  A fine and entertaining piece of writing, Alan.  Well done!

I took more photos than are in this posting.  The light wasn’t brilliant, but should you wish to view them (and the accompanying commentary) they are here.

Finally, I should mention that Nancy is leading a walk in the same area, but on a virtually completely different route apart from Nicky Nook, on 13 March.  She will be pleased to see you.  Here’s the East Lancs LDWA programme.

The next ‘Here and There’ plod is on Wednesday 6 February - 10.30am at the small car park in Simon's Lane at SJ 518 766, for Beacon Hill and Delamere Forest, featuring the first part of the Sandstone Trail.  It would be good to see you…

TGO Challenge 2013 – A Route is Born

This week I finally got round to drafting a route for the backpack that takes place between 10 and 23 May.  Whilst it’s my seventh Challenge, I’ve managed to restrict any duplication with previous routes to just 3 km along the north shore of Loch Monar, where the route intersects my 2007 route. 

Moreover, of the 360 km (225 miles) that I’ll be walking, only about 20 km will have seen the soles of my boots before, so it’s pretty much all new ground.

I could surmise… ‘if I haven’t been there before, are these places really worth visiting?’ but time will only tell.  There’s a bit too much tarmac towards the end, but at least it’s ‘fresh’ tarmac.

My route is basically …. Plockton > Struy > Inverness > Grantown-on-Spey > Huntly > Turriff > Kinnaird Head (Frazerburgh), including around 11,500 metres ascent (6 Munros, 1 Corbett, 2 Grahams, 3 Marilyns, and 11 other hills).  It should be fun, but encounters with other Challengers may be something of a rarity!

Update:  By 1 February my route had been returned, duly vetted.  I got a map reference wrong, and have apparently chosen an aircraft wreck on which to pitch my tent at one point!  I hope the cockpit is intact!  See you in Montrose…

The Joy of Hill …. Walking?

For those of you who would rather not think of snow …

[Themed from a post by Andy Howell.  Hope you don’t mind, Andy]

Wednesday 16 January 2013 – Dunham Winter Garden (1)

Despite feeling distinctly ‘under the weather’ (norovirus for the second time this winter!), it was too nice a morning for staying at home, so my camera and I visited Dunham Massey, on the first of what I hope will be regular visits over the next two to three months. 

The weak sunshine failed to melt the frost or make much impact on the icy lake.

The Winter Garden is just waking up.  The witch hazels have burst forth, brightening up bare branches – there are red ones as well as yellow.

Whilst there is so little colour, the frosted leaves stood out, forming their own sculptures:

At the far end of the garden is a patch of grass where, in a couple of weeks time, snowdrops will be flowering.  But for now, these tiny aconites are the only ones braving life above the soil.

Some of the garden’s trees and shrubs might be bare, but the red bark of the Prunus and Cornus complements the greens and browns.  Staff also keep the white bark of the silver birch grove washed – soon the white will be reflected by the snowdrops beneath the birches.

 
The Orangery wasn’t receiving  many warming rays, but it makes a lovely focal point.

Nearby, these scented blossoms had burst forth, looking particularly fragile:

The snowdrops were budding, so will imminently be in flower, along with the Christmas roses.  Then the beautiful miniature irises will carpet the beds – I hope the ones I have planted will be as successful…!

Wednesday 16 January 2013 – The Ashworth and Naden Valleys with East Lancs LDWA

The drive from South Manchester in light traffic was remarkably quick, leaving me a good 45 minutes early, and first to arrive at the vast parking area at Ashworth Moor Reservoir, opposite Owd Betts pub.  With over thirty people and a good handful of dogs turning up for the walk, it was just as well there was lots of space.  Even Don, stalwart Plodder with a mending ankle, turned up to say hello to his mates.  It was good to see you Don.

Soon after 10am we could be seen snaking up the path onto Knowl Moor.  Hilary tried to gather everyone together for a group photo, and from what I see below, she succeeded.  I hope she doesn’t mind me using her image.

Then we continued to rise over a thin but firm veneer of snow on a lovely sunny day, on a walk featuring many wind turbines.

We gathered on the summit of Knowl Hill in benign weather.  It was below freezing, but given the lack of wind, not at all unpleasant.

Recent snow had coated the South Pennines with a fairly uniform white blanket, and as I write – a couple of days later – that layer is being consolidated and thickened.  Snow shoes next week?!

A pleasant descent led to the Naden Valley Reservoirs, the construction of which In days past may have attracted similar criticism and debate as today's wind turbines.  The three upper dams, constructed in the mid nineteenth century, have recently been reduced to two dams.  Here’s the upper one.

Beyond Greenbooth Reservoir, which was built in 1961 at the expense of the village of Greenbooth, the denizens of Rochdale were no doubt enjoying a sunny morning.  We enjoyed a tea break, in view of Canadian Geese and Black-headed Gulls, on a capacious 'bench' that extends right across the dam.

A short climb from the eastern bank of the reservoir led to Rooley Moor Road, which we followed in a northerly direction for some distance.  This is also known as a ‘cotton famine road’, being constructed in the early 1860’s at a time when due to a cutback in cotton production the factories ran out of raw cotton to process, leaving large parts of Lancashire’s working society unemployed.  The area went from being one of the most prosperous in Britain to one of the most impoverished.  Work for the unemployed was generated by way of the building or surfacing of roads such as this one, the construction of sewerage systems, the cleaning of rivers and the landscaping of parks.

By 1864, cotton production had been restored and the mills became larger.  Some towns had diversified out of cotton, and many thousands of workers had emigrated….

The view to Knowl Hill, across the valley, seemed littered with turbines, and in the opposite direction the view to Bacup seemed littered with pylons!

Alan R led a brave trio onto Top of Leach, at 474 metres our high point of the day.

We'd hoped this was Hail Storm Hill. Alan seemed for a while to think that it was, and he almost managed to convince me that the higher ground nearby was simply an optical illusion.  But it wasn't – Hail Storm Hill was indeed three metres higher and a good kilometre away.  We didn’t discover this until later, as not one of the three of us had any sort of map with us.  Under that circumstance we felt it judicious to hop across some semi-frozen bogs (they were mainly frozen but I managed to find a rare exception to that status) and try to find the rest of the group.

We were soon on the Rossendale Way track that passes above Cragg High Level Tank and Cowpe Reservoir in this land of reservoirs.

Huge icicles clung to the edges of Cragg Quarry.

Once we were on the well trodden path it was quite easy to track the prints of 30+ people and dogs, and the rest of the group was soon discovered hiding from us in a sheltered nook on the path by Cragg Quarry, below Cowpe Moss.  Luckily this non-Plodder (though some Plodders were present) LDWA walk seemed full of people on diets, so whilst I only had twelve pieces of cake there was enough to go round everyone who wanted a piece, with Bernard and me enjoying the last of a batch that had been massacred by last Sunday’s mountain bikers.

We soon descended above Dearden Clough to Edenfield, with Peel Tower dead ahead, crossing the main road to the interestingly named Michael Wife Lane.  This led deep into the valley above Shuttleworth, leaving us with an energetic ascent over icy rocks onto Harden Moor.

A couple of people who had being wearing Yaktrax or similar crampons all day certainly benefited from that footwear at this point.

As the gradient leveled out, a low sun emerged from behind some thin cloud to warm our backs as we strode on with fine views to Peel Tower and Ramsbottom, with Winter Hill's huge mast a little more distant.

The sun continued to illuminate our tramp over the rather spongy surface of Harden Moor, with Ashworth Moor Reservoir and our final destination soon coming into view.

Here’s our approximate route - 22km (14 miles), 600 metres ascent, taking about 5½ hours at a good (LDWA) pace.

There’s a modest slideshow here, though I think the pictures would have been better if I’d used the ‘snow’ setting!  Alan Rayner’s entertaining blog entry, with a link to many more photos, is here, and the LDWA’s own report, courtesy of Heather, is here.

Finally, thanks go to today’s leaders, who were apparently Mike Harrington and Andy Hayhurst, for an excellent route, which my Garmin gadget recorded thus:

Sunday 13 January 2013 – A Bike Ride from Marple

I’ve been a member for nearly a year now, but this was only my third ride with the Manchester Mountain Biker (MMB) Club.  I should join this friendly bunch more often, as these are always very jolly outings.

After nearly crashing into Huw in the car park, I recovered my composure and set off down the Middlewood Way with today’s leader, Steve Brok, in a group of 18, or was it 19 (we never seemed quite sure, but I don’t think anyone was lost), eager punters on a brilliantly sunny morning.

Huw came equipped with the latest breed of slimline mountain bikes, with skinny tyres and no gears.  It reminded me of one of my old bikes, except that it didn’t sport the fixed wheel that kept dumping me over the handlebars of my bike!

Glaring sunshine on the Middlewood Way gave way to shady tracks leading up from the West Gate of Lyme Park.

Four of us enjoyed a little excursion to the top of a hillock, whilst the majority regrouped.  Luckily, nobody saw me lose control completely as I flew down the far side of the hillock!

Soon we found ourselves gliding along beside the Peak Forest Canal, trying as always to be courteous to other users of the towpath.  With 18/19 of us that may have been difficult, and I can understand some folk being a bit narked by such a large group of mountain bikers.  However, today’s sunshine brought the best out of everyone and I didn’t hear a single harsh word.

By the time we reached Strines, Steve seemed a bit concerned.  We were dangerously ahead of schedule. "I fancy a beer!" announced George.  I hadn’t even been aware of a ‘schedule’, but nobody seemed to complain about an extra loop being slotted into the ride in order to contrive a visit to the Fox Inn.  Huw disappeared for a while then reappeared at the pub – I think he may have found a different route, and I suspect he walked for a short distance…

The Fox Inn provided an excellent array of refreshments, supplemented by cake a little earlier at the top of the hill, and by chocolate biscuits from a birthday boy.

Until today, all my MMB rides had featured a chap called Keith, who is a quite fanatic mountain biker.  It had been a surprise not to see him on today’s ride, but I believe Keith does like a beer, so it should really have been no surprise to see him put in a guest appearance at our pub stop!

After a while – we’d cooled down a bit outside the pub – Steve decided we might now be a bit behind schedule, and was worrying on behalf of anyone who might be late for their Sunday lunch, so off we flew, down a lovely descent that I think he called the ‘Fox Trail’.  [Personally, I think it was his own lunch (or lack of it) that was worrying him.]

After arriving at Strines for the second time, we headed up to the farm with the old Ford Capri, where I was impressed with the leader’s ability to repair a broken chain in just a few short minutes. 

Another easy hill, just near the end of the ride, took us to a carefully arranged mudfest on the otherwise delightful descent of Strawberry Hill, to ensure that everyone went home 'gooey'.

Thanks for leading, Steve.  I think we all enjoyed this ride.

Here’s our rough route - approx 24 km (15 miles) with about 600 metres ascent, taking rather more than 3 hours.  I reckon it would be around 2½ hours (give or take) in a smaller group without the pub stop. I’ll try it soon, as my Garmin was out of action today.

There’s a slideshow with a few more images here.

Wednesday 9 January 2013 – A slideshow for SWOG – Tour of the Ecrins

This was at least our fifth slideshow for Stockport Walking and Outdoors Group, and achieved a record (for us) attendance of some 42 people.

We had a most enjoyable evening, reliving the experiences of our recent trip to the French Alps, the blog postings for which are here – hopefully I’ll soon find time to add an index to aid ‘navigation’ of the website, and we will of course be happy to present the slideshow to or answer any queries from folk who may be planning to visit this beautiful part of the Alps. 

You can email us via the ‘Contact us’ button on our topwalks.com website.

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Wednesday 9 January 2013 – Calf Top from Barbon

Heather and I contrived to choose the best day of the week to embark on a new route for me, a long planned circuit from Barbon taking in the horseshoe shaped ridge that leads for the best part of 10 km (6 miles) over Calf Top.

We set out from Barbon Church soon after 9.30 on a misty morning, with blue sky lurking enticingly above the skeletal wintry trees.

Soon we rose into a land of frosty grass above the mist laden environs of Barbon.

The 307 metre cairn on Eskholme Pike was a good vantage point (see header image), with Crag Hill and Gragareth just clearing the cloud that was rolling in from across Barbondale.

A little further on, the view ahead to Calf Top from Thorn Moor was sunny and clear.  It could be summer!

A silent wind turbine punctured the mist below, with a backdrop of the Coniston Fells.

The cloud chased us over Castle Knott and on to the summit of Calf Top - 609 metres – which afforded good views towards the Howgill Fells.

The Lake District was also seen, through a bit of a haze. It was frosty here, with the mist never far away.

Suddenly, on the descent, we found ourselves in cold mist, so we retraced a few steps into the sunshine for an early lunch, before descending to the Lune valley for an overcast afternoon's stroll back to Barbon.

It was pleasant enough, though, with good conversation, a long chat with a farmer near Middleton Hall, and easy paths intersected a couple of times by the dismantled Lune Valley Railway that linked Lowgill with Clapham for 107 years between 1860 and 1967.

Back at Barbon, the Inn was closed, so we went home…

Here’s our route - 22 km, 650 metres ascent, taking 6.5 hours.

An excellent day out in the best of company – thanks for joining me on this one Heather.  There’s a short slideshow here.