Wednesday 20 January 2016 – Affetside Amble

My ears were burning as I drew up at Affetside for my first outing with The Plodders since last April. Times have changed since then. Norman has a Kindle Fire and can access the internet! He’d been extolling the virtues of my report on his Breath of Fresh Air walk around Lancaster.
Plodder Walks seem to be evolving back towards mainstream LDWA walks, today’s outing being the best part of twelve miles. My last ‘Plodder’ walk was a mere six miles. Numbers are up. The regulars (Don, John P, Neil, Phil, Barbara Peter and others) have been joined by some new faces, including Chris Langabeer, today’s leader. He delivered a ‘welcome address’ from a pedestal near Affetside’s medieval cross.

Affetside is at the top of a hill, so the only barrier to quick progress down to Jumbles Country Park was the incidence of a number of stiles that paused the progress of the 21 stumblers plodders.
Neil was full of beans (or whatever else he had for breakfast) at this point, but later he had extracted all available nutrients and needed a short cut to get back to the start.

Since I last saw him, JP has honed his body to a suitable shape for LS Lowry to copy onto his easel. (He’s dead, John!)

It was another ‘Blue Sky’ day, perfectly clear, with the low sun casting long shadows as we progressed along surprisingly mud free paths to Jumbles Country Park.

The grass on the dam at Jumbles Reservoir was a vivid green in the bright sunshine.

Norman has been seen here before. Note the piping system has been changed since this visit in November 2011.

After pulling Norman out of the mire (again) we soon found ourselves strolling down a pleasant lane strewn with No Parking signs.

Chris seemed to spend much of the day leading from the rear. “I know the way” cried the four-eyed monster out in front.

This ornate foot-tunnel is of great benefit to the residents of Horobin Fold, if they want to visit their friends at Torra Barn (or vice-versa). Don and Norman just enjoyed playing hide and seek in it.

Our route joined the Witton Weavers Way for a while. The section below was boarded, so as to avoid a deep bog. There were however numerous complaints about the slippery nature of the boards, perhaps because the plumber at the head of the line was emitting a viscous fluid.

“Sorry about the snot on the boards” announced Norman, “watch me dive into this pool of slime.”
“Take your sunspecs off” advised Don “- it’s grass, not a pool, and the path isn’t that way.” (“You Stupid Man!”)

Norman did eventually park his bottom on the top step (see picture at the head of this posting) and make an important announcement – something to do with the ongoing conception of his great grandchildren, in an attempt by his family to outnumber any other in East Lancashire.
Turton and Entwistle Reservoir was serene in the sunshine. A small group of cormorants was drying out on the white landing stage.

By and by we came upon the Strawbury Duck. It used to be a fine walkers’ pub. Not any more.

Soon afterwards Chris spotted that we were passing The Wellbeing Farm. It was past 1 pm, and he wisely decided that for the wellbeing of his Plodders, two of whom had already been burnt off by the blistering pace, a break for lunch was in order.
Norman nuzzled up to me and grabbed the last piece of cake, whilst three reprobates posed next to the sign. And what an advertisement they are for said farm!

Up above Edgworth, one of the group was caught furtively examining the contents of a Post Box.

Descending through Hawkshaw, past John and Janet’s road, I couldn’t help reflecting on how sad it is that John’s health prevents him from joining us on outings such as this one.

The steep path back up to Affetside was, luckily for those who needed to catch their breath, punctuated by more stiles.

Looking back, there ‘s a fine view over Hawkshaw to Holcombe Moor.

By about 3 pm we were back at Affetside, outside the Pack Horse, still blinded by that pesky sun. Some of the group went in, claiming it was better to wait until after the rush hour to get home.

I joined the pack that were on cooking duty and had to get home before the rush hour. Phil and I paused to admire the medieval cross that apparently served as a waymarker for pilgrims travelling from Bolton (what were pilgrims doing in Bolton?) to Whalley Abbey.

Here’s our route – 18 km with 400 metres ascent, taking around 5 hours.

An excellent day out in superb weather. Apologies to anyone who has been accidentally maligned in the above text. I’m afraid my fading memory sometimes results in minor unintentional insults and inaccuracies, or so I’m told.

A Quiet January in Timperley

Wythenshawe Park is rather waterlogged at present (see picture below). Saturday’s parkrun was cancelled. We went to Woodbank (Stockport) instead. We survived the ice and enjoyed three laps of good exercise.

I’m trying to clear our dining room of boxes of surplus possessions. Nine boxes of books went to the charity bookshop in Bakewell. Other items went to Oxfam in Altrincham. Freecycle and eBay are also being deployed, as well as our local recycling plant. The room remains seemingly full of boxes. Today’s purchase of a shredder will help reduce their number.

The route to and from the recycling plant is along the disused railway line that used to link West Timperley and Glazebrook, as part of a line between Liverpool and Stockport. The track is still there in places.

On Sunday (17 January), Sue and I had planned a visit to the eastern side of the Peak District. However, given the weather as we returned home from Saturday night out in Altrincham – see top picture – we chose the lie-in option instead.

We did however manage a stroll to Dunham Massey and back. As you can see, it was rather a dull, chilly day.

Is that graffiti I see there? (Click to enlarge.)

Dunham Massey had its usual huge quota of visitors.

Then Mike cooked dinner for us, overseen by Millie.

Last night it was good to see Reg and others at Eagley Jazz Club. The Harlem Hot Stompers (great name) overcame the loss of their trombone player by recruiting an accomplished replacement, but Bill Smith’s sudden, but not life-threatening, affliction left them without a trumpet. They managed brilliantly – some great improvisations and solo performances.

That’s it really, with a few omissions such as Cary’s excellent slideshow featuring the Sierra Nevada, and a small reunion meal for some of my old UMIST contemporaries, So why haven’t we found time to go through the 2500 images that we accumulated in Argentina and Chile?

I don’t know. Quiz night tonight. £500 jackpot.

Graffiti from the Southern Half (7)

This house might look rather tatty without the graffiti…

I’ve not attempted to photoshop the deep shadow cast by a telegraph pole in the bright sunshine.

Tuesday 12 January 2016 – A Walk from Over Haddon with the AAC

The Austrian Alpine Club has nearly 10,000 members, most of whom join the club solely in order to benefit from mountain rescue insurance and discounted accommodation costs in affiliated European mountain huts.

Some social and other events are however organised, and an email last week advertised this short walk from Over Haddon, courtesy of Chris Radcliffe. That was enticing for me as I could combine it with a trip to Great Longstone to deliver nine boxes of books for which we have no space, for the benefit of Book End Bookshop, a second hand book shop in Bakewell set up to support Bakewell and Eyam Community Transport.

A satisfactory turnout of nine veterans of the AAC got going soon after 10am on a surprisingly fine morning. We were soon studying the remains of the aqueduct at Mandale Lead Mine.

The aqueduct was constructed in 1840 to supply water to a wheel of 35 feet in diameter, used for pumping at the Lodge Shaft. The mine was abandoned in 1851 and has slowly deteriorated since then. Wooden troughs originally spanned the tops of the aqueduct’s piers, transferring water from a leat (open watercourse) on the south bank to one on the north bank of the River Lathkill.

Steps lead down to this water filled shaft on the south bank.

Heading west, a narrow strip of ‘land’ provided a path between the rushing river and a docile overflow area that has seen recent inundation.

I’ve an old guide book (one that narrowly evaded a trip to Book End Bookshop) that remarks that ‘unfortunately the river bed is sometimes dry to this point, which spoils the beauty of the spot’.

It’s a delightful stroll up the valley bottom towards Monyash. The sun even put in a brief appearance.

Water was gushing out of Lathkill Head Cave. Apparently this is a very low cave for some distance, before ‘solution cavities’ lead down to other levels. Those cavities quickly fill when it rains, so would be inundated just now after our recent rain.

Whilst there has been wet weather in the Peak District, I think the area has avoided the severe deluges that have afflicted the Lake District and the South Pennines. The paths were wet but not overly boggy.

Here are the backmarkers approaching Monyash.

The header picture shows some of our group leaving the café at Monyash after a very pleasant lunch that we tucked in to whilst the day’s only rain cloud exhausted itself outside.

Our group, for the record, comprised two Gillians, two Rogers, Chris, David, Adrian, Derek and myself, though I may have to meet them all again in order to avoid a minor mix up!

Here they are, strolling along the Limestone Way, the chosen (and obvious) route back to Over Haddon.

There’s a deep cleft to negotiated, Cales Dale, after passing the empty pigsties at One Ash Grange Farm.

After some muddy fields, we dropped back to cross the River Lathkill near Over Haddon.

Instead of returning directly to our cars, we looped back to base by first continuing alongside the north bank of the river past a series of eleven weirs.

Our turning point was the medieval Conksbury Bridge, a packhorse bridge which seems to be withstanding the high level of water flowing under it at present.

The sign says ‘PRIVATE NO ROAD’. That seems rather odd today, but in the summer this may be a very dry area with little or no water in the river.

The high path back to Over Haddon affords good views down to the eleven weirs.

This lovely soft green field signalled the last few metres of our excellent stroll.

Here’s our route: 18km, with 550 metres ascent, taking 5 to 6 hours. Click to enlarge.

Other postings with information about the AAC can be found here.

Graffiti from the Southern Half (6)

See below (click to enlarge) for these two images to be viewed in context. So far as I can tell, although they are huge they can only be seen clearly from this high point above Valparaiso’s docks.

Graffiti from the Southern Half (5)

“Hello World”

Graffiti from the Southern Half (4)

On the wall of a house. I’m sure it must have a deep meaning to somebody!

Graffiti from the Southern Half (3)

Here’s another image courtesy of a Valparaiso street artist. I’ll be posting more of these in the same vein, often with no description. I’ll try, as in this case (not very successful in this instance), to provide a second image in an effort to show the graffiti in the context of its background/building.

A Christmas Quiz

Those who attended our Christmas walk and lunch on 20 December may remember this. Others may like to see whether or not they can match the ‘Bah Humbug’ team’s tally of 21½ out of 30. Here are the questions.

1 Which hill?
2 Which Castle?
3 Which long distance walk?
4 What type of duck?
5 Who is this?
6 Which mountain range?
7 Which Hall?
8 Name this tractor
9 Where is the sculpture?
10 Name the mountain
11 Name the flower
12 Where?
13 Which event in May 2015?
14 Which loch?
15 Name the valley
16 Name the crag
18 Which island?
19 Name the flower
20 Where is this wreck?
21 Which summit?
22 Which cave?
23 Of which university was this the main building?
25 Name the city
26 Whose pigeon tower?
27 Which regular Saturday event?
28 Which 'lake'?
29 Where is this?
31 Which lakes?
32 Which mountain?
33 Which loch?

A larger version of the image has been uploaded here. Click on the collage image and zoom…

If you email your answers to me at quiz@topwalks.com, I’ll let you know how you got on. Note that some of the other people attending the walk contributed some of the images.

Graffiti from the Southern Half (2)

Thanks for the encouragement, Conrad. Here’s another piece of graffiti from the same shed wall. The two images are shown in context below, on what is a typical artists’ ‘canvas’ in Valparaiso.

I’ve also started an online album – here, as the images, especially the first one (Sue’s more vibrant version is included), are better viewed at higher resolution on a full screen. You can of course also click on them here to enlarge.

The cables above the beautifully cobbled street are for the trolley buses that operate on a fixed circular route around the town. I’ll show you some later if you like.

Graffiti from the Southern Half (1)

graffiti
ɡrəˈfiːti/
noun: graffito; plural noun: graffiti

• “writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place”

Manchester has become noted for graffiti in its Northern Quarter. Valparaiso is also noted for its graffiti. Some people we came across last month hated it. We regarded it more as ‘street art’, though technically it is graffiti. The owner of the hostal we stayed in told us that a noted ‘street artist’ from Europe had stayed in the hostal. He’d gone for a wander, returning with the words “I think I’ll have to up my game here”.

I felt the graffiti added to the character of this enthralling town, so I’m going to post a few images on days when nothing of much note is happening here in Timperley. I’ll enjoy revisiting Valparaiso, others may never want to go near the place..