Wythenshawe parkrun number 359, and Conkers

Kate (Jacob’s mum) called: “He would like to visit you but he wants to collect a few conkers. I think you may have to go to Tatton, or at least Dunham.”

A: “No problem.”

Child duly delivered, we took a five minute stroll to nearby Newton Park, home to a lofty horse chestnut tree. In the gentle breeze the conkers rained down.

The contest was a draw: Sue and Jacob collected 2.5 kilos, and so did I. In between collections we enjoyed a game of frisbee, which the seven year old is very good at, before adjourning home for a game of boules. He’s good at that as well.

I hope the conkers will be put to good use; Jacob has a theory that they are used to ward of spiders, that despite my assurances he seems to dislike.

Earlier in the weekend Sue and I went along to Wythenshawe Park for the 359th parkrun held there. Some people never seem to learn….

Paul – you should know by now, it’s not a race!

Rather more leisurely in pace, Sue and Martha managed a shade under 30 minutes as well as a chat. Faster than Sue planned because she forgot her barcode and had to pedal furiously back home to collect it in order not to be anonymised.

Lurking just behind Sue and Martha it looks like Dan, who actually finished second. He must have done a third lap to ‘warm down’!

Full results here.

Thursday 4 October 2018 – Another Circuit from Marple (Rose Hill)

This was a very similar outing to that on 21 March 2017 with Paul and Andy. I omitted the Fox Inn loop and extended the route to 28 km by heading through Mellor to visit recently bereaved Linda in Hollins Lane.

Starting on a dull day down the Middlewood Way for 6.5 km, with an annoying headwind today, the track passes through a short corrugated iron tunnel before reaching the station at Nelson Pit in Higher Poynton.

After leaving the Middlewood Way to pass under the Macclesfield Canal, the route enters Lyme Park at West Parkgate. There’s a long and gentle ascent to another gate, pictured below beside a wall that needs to be rebuilt. On this ascent I encountered a group of park rangers including Nigel from SWOG. The rangers were learning about the geology of the park, and Nigel told me about some erratics near The Cage.

Nigel has also told me that he will be doing some dry stone walling. Apparently there is a constant need for wall maintenance around the park, for which the volunteers are greatly valued.

Lyme Hall soon came into view. It’s a magnificent building. I must find time to go round it sometime.

On a short promontory beyond the hall, is the Cage, originally a hunting lodge but later used as a park-keeper's cottage and as a lock-up for prisoners.

I went onto the promontory to investigate the boulders referred to by Nigel as being of geological interest. They apparently originated in the Lake District and they must have been deposited here by a glacier, some time ago. The first is shown below.

The second boulder, not far from the Cage, is a bit bigger.

As I was taking the above picture, I spotted a couple of the red deer whose ancestors have lived here since at least mediaeval times.

The day remained overcast apart from a brief spell of sunshine that I enjoyed by the Peak Forest Canal. Meanwhile my route exited the park and spent some time on the Gritstone Trail path, with views towards New Mills.

Though the picture doesn’t necessarily show it, this tree was absolutely laden with red berries. I imagine it comes under siege from time to time from migrating birds.

Steep paths with a dollop of loose rocks lead to the Peak Forest Canal. En route my back tyre picked up a metal tack. Had this happened last week, I’d have been in trouble, but earlier this morning I had called in at Bike Shak to buy the correct adaptor for my pump. It was needed, as was my spare inner tube.

The canal was littered with leaves, a first sign of autumn despite the lingering green of the foliage.

After a few comfortable kilometres, the route leaves the canal to descend to Strines, then steeply up to Greenclough Farm, where the usual car museum was on display.

Continued ascent to The Banks leads to a pleasant path beside a golf course, and onwards to Mellor. My usual route goes down a rocky track to Roman Lakes, then on roads to Rose Hill, but today I chose to visit Linda in Marple Bridge before taking the main road back to base.

It turned out to be a 28 km route with about 500 metres ascent. Whilst it took me 4 hours 40 minutes in total, the ‘moving time’ was just 2 hours 40 minutes.

It was a late lunch…

Henry Blofeld – Over and Out

We recently strolled down to Waterside Arts Centre in Sale to spend an evening, together with a packed audience of at least 400, with Henry Blofeld, a Test Match Special commentator from 1972 until his retirement at the age of 77.

He was very engaging, with lots of anecdotes, as one would expect, and even those (like Sue) with no particular interest in cricket came away feeling thoroughly entertained, even doubling the cost of their evening by spending £20 on a copy of Henry’s latest book. I noticed at half time that his wife was hiding behind a huge pile of books in the foyer and I wondered why they had brought so many, but by the end of the night the people who had queued for the longest time had to make do with a handshake with Henry across a bare table.

I’ve not yet read the book, but I’m sure it’ll provide good entertainment for a few hours.

Henry’s ‘78 Retired’ tour continues at various venues until mid November.

Monday 1 October 2018 – Another TPT/Cheshire Ring Bike Ride

A more detailed photographic essay of this route is to be found here.

It was another lovely Monday morning. Appropriate to celebrate a few anniversaries together with Sue, Paul, Jeanette and Richard:

15 years since I stopped full time work;
5 years since Paul retired;
11 years and 3069 postings since I started this blog.

Richard hasn’t long retired. It was his prerogative to be confused about the road system between Hale and Timperley, but he turned up eventually. Meanwhile we’d enjoyed a chat in the sunshine. Our slow start set the pace for the day. I normally complete this ride in about 4 hours; today it took us 7 hours!

The conversion of our local office block, Nelson House, into apartments is virtually complete. It looks quite smart in the sunshine.

Commuters were still making their way to work.

We made good progress down the towpath to Stretford, and then along the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) to Northenden, where Sue turned back to avoid getting lost as she wanted a shorter outing.

The heron that graces the banks of the Mersey in Northenden was eying up the moon today; the remains of the Tatton Arms were looking just a bit more dilapidated.

Here’s the gang (minus Sue, who had returned home) beside the sculpture.

After a tea break by the river, we muddled our way through Stockport and headed to Reddish Vale. I took a wrong turn, heading by mistake through a dark tunnel towards Bredbury. It was down here that Richard picked up a puncture. Looking at the map, I think there may be an acceptable (and slightly shorter) alternative route to the Peak Forest Canal via Bredbury.

Anyway, we returned to the ‘normal’ TPT route and soon reached the canal, which was in better shape than on my last visit, when it looked terribly polluted.  There were a couple of maintenance vehicles of a type I haven’t seen before.

Before reaching Dukinfield we saw a mink on the footpath ahead of us. We were within feet of it as it swam across the canal. I don’t recall having seen one before. We also saw Jays and Herons, and rather noisy Grey Wagtails, amongst the usual common species.

A café that we’d been aiming for at the junction of the Peak Forest and Ashton canals turned out to be closed on Mondays. It took a while to establish that, and Jeanette discovered that it is slow work negotiating steep cobbles in her shoes that appear to have pedals attached to their soles.

A little further on a diversion caused a further delay, exacerbated by my poor map reading, so what with more cobbles on some of the descents beside the locks, it seemed to take ages to reach the Velodrome at the National Cycling Centre. We paused for coffee and cake. Richard had a full meal. ‘Lunch hour’ was exactly that.

Before leaving the Velo’drone we had to admire some of the Manchester bees that are on display here.

I should have dedicated a posting to these bees, but we were busy in the Alps.

On leaving the café, I discovered that my back tyre had a slow puncture, and I didn’t have the correct attachment to my pump. Paul to the rescue. Eventually, after several pumping sessions every few kilometres, we gave up pumping and changed the inner tube – twice, as the first one seemed defective. Luckily I carry two spares. Punctures are common at this time of year when the hawthorn hedges are being trimmed.

Here’s our route – 65 km (normally it’s 60 km) with about 250 metres ascent (ie essentially flat). It took us 7 hours! More for those who had to make the 3 km each way return trip from and to Hale. A very pleasant way to spend the day.

Next Monday: meet under Timperley Bridge at 8.30 for a 70 km ride to Bury then across to Middleton, and back along the Rochdale Canal.

Saturday 29 September 2018 – Wythenshawe parkrun number 358

Our first run for five weeks, and we hadn’t seen Paul and Jeanette for just as long. Jeanette was sporting her new ‘250’ shirt after reaching that target whilst on a visit to Shetland; Paul’s is quite old. They have completed 566 parkruns between them, and their son Greg has managed a further 379.

It was a lovely morning. I jogged a slow first kilometre to warm up, before speeding up to finish in a respectable time, albeit position 83, just ahead of Jeanette, some way behind whom Sue ran in with Cary. She had intended to walk, but her Achilles problem doesn’t seem to have affected her too much today and she enjoyed a chat with Cary.

Results here.

It’s a red letter week for the hall, damaged by fire in March 2016. The bell tower has been repositioned in its rightful place.

Here’s what it looked like immediately after the fire.

So there’s hope for the future behind all that scaffolding. I think the work is supposed to be completed in January 2019.

It’s great to see so many bikes at the parkrun these days. The message really does seem to have got home to a good number of people that parking is limited and cycling to the event is the perfect way to digest your breakfast on a Saturday morning.

We were also pleased to see that there’s a new, more convenient for us, run at Orleans in Ottawa, where friends took part in the inaugural run on Saturday. We look forward to joining them on our next visit. 38 people took part, which is encouraging.

Summer in the Alps - 2018

This is part of a regular Wednesday evening programme for Stockport Walking and Outdoor Group.

All are welcome on this or any other Wednesday.

Many thanks to all 35 or so who filled the room and made the effort of producing the slideshow so soon after we had returned from the trip worthwhile.

Friday 28 September 2018 – A Bike Ride to Bury

On another lovely sunny morning I set off soon after Sue had pedalled off to work, on an experimental route involving a visit to Bury, then across to the Rochdale Canal in Middleton, and back home along the towpaths.

On the way to Waters Meet my leisurely pace saw whizzing commuters passing in both directions whilst I dodged the overhanging willow trees and admired reflections on the glassy surface in the bright morning light.

Crossing to the Rochdale link of the Bridgewater Canal (via the distant bridge in the photo above), I passed the jumble of construction work at Pomona Dock where the Trafford Centre Metrolink line is being constructed.

A tram rumbled along towards Pomona station.

Approaching Castlefield Basin, I located Regent Bridge and National Cycle Trail number 6. I was to follow this trail all the way to Bury, initially beside roads as the route passed the building sites of Salford, seen here on Adelphi Street.

I’ll try a different route next time, taking advantage of some paths by the River Irwell rather than the roads chosen by route 6.

Beyond Agecroft Bridge, constructed in 1892 by Manchester Corporation to carry water pipes from the Lake District, the route entered pleasant woodland and passed through an area of historic industrial archaeology. This totem pole is one of the Irwell Sculpture Trail exhibits.

The route is well signposted. There are lots of parks around here.

Having said that, it’s unclear as to whether to go under this bridge or go off to the right. Either route leads to the continuation of route 6 on the top of the bridge.

Another sculpture was passed. Some correspondents have been critical of the perceived paucity of sculptures along the Irwell Sculpture Trail. It’s a long trail, and the exhibits comprise industrial artefacts placed at wide intervals.

A fairly lengthy section of woodland made for easy, enjoyable riding. I met a policewoman on a horse, but nobody else.

The final section into Bury was beside the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, a disused canal built in 1808 to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles long and was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford.

The next picture is of the Rochdale Canal in Middleton. I took no intervening photos as I wrestled my way across the grain of the transport arteries.

After 30km I stopped to take advantage of my flask and banana in a small park by Wellington Road. I then headed along Gigg Lane towards Pilsworth. What looked like a good route beyond Brick House turned out to be a horrible path outside the boundary of a golf course where visitors on cycles were not welcomed.

So my next attempt at this route will take a more northerly direction along tracks and roads that look more favourable.

On this occasion I headed south through Unsworth and across the M66 to another golf course dead end. Later, a good path around the northern perimeter of Heaton Park led to a footbridge over the M60. What appeared to be a white road beyond the little used footbridge turned out to be a farmer’s field.

Retracing again, I made my way successfully through Simister and past The Same Yet pub that I used to visit regularly when living in Blackley, to Middleton and the Rochdale Canal.

Navigation was no longer a problem. Just stick to the towpath apart from a short section in the gay village in Manchester, where the road next to the canal needs to be taken. There are some sections that go under buildings in the city centre, but the canal goes through pleasant countryside even in places like Chadderton.

Large flocks of Canada Geese rule the roost in these parts. In the Miles Platting area a short section of canal has been drained. It’s quite a mess.

Eventually the Castlefield Basin was reached. Anyone coming this way for the first time could be confused by the canal network here. You come across the Merchants’ Bridge pictured below, then double back to the left of the picture.

It was still a lovely day and a delight to be outdoors on this gentle ride. The route should have been about 70km, but I actually rode for 80km. If you look closely at the map below you might just spot a couple of significant ‘there and back’ incidents between Bury and Middleton. Considering the length of the route, the ascent data of about 400 metres really indicates a basically flat route. In fact it’s all downhill from Middleton. It took me a most enjoyable six hours.

Mike Collier (1947 to 2018)

Yesterday, 26 September 2018, was the happy occasion of my granddaughter Jessica’s fifth birthday. Sadly it was also the occasion of Mike Collier’s funeral.

The above picture shows Mike, on the right, with a group of friends, at Sue’s parents’ house in Tenbury Wells on a visit in the early 1970s. Five of those in the photo were at the funeral, and it was great to see Sue (far left) again after many years.

Mike’s send off was a moving occasion and included a lovely remembrance of Mike’s life composed by Linda. He was “a loving husband, father, thinker, gentle-man”, and for someone who didn’t put himself about – apart from his rapport with the local cat population – the full chapel spoke for itself.

A good man in both his home and his professional life. Our thoughts are with Linda, Andrew, David, Winnie and the rest of the family.