Spring Flowers (4)

Another of our regular visits to Dunham Massey took place on Thursday 24 March, when the images in this posting were taken, mainly by Sue.

There are numerous different varieties of daffodil in the Winter Garden.  They seem to be coming into flower at different times in the warm and sunny weather.

Hazel (aka SAHH) took the chance to get a welcome respite from weightier matters by accompanying us on this pleasant interlude.

 

Wednesday 30 March 2011 – A New Recruit

JJ, a founder and co-conspirator of the Timperley Tipplers and Trampers, has raked in another new recruit.  This one is John McN, pictured above on the left.  JJ has snapped him up after discovering that he retired a month ago.

Having abandoned a plan to visit Wetherlam today, a quartet of fresh air fiends – JJ, John McN, Rick and me, assembled outside Timperley Metrolink Station for a 12 km stroll along paths that don’t often see our feet.  We succeeded, with a minimal amount of road walking, and under the watchful eye of a kestrel we even discovered a path that maybe none of us had previously visited.  It provides a link between the new recycling plant and Sinderland Road.  A disused railway line is crossed that links Timperley with Partington.  This is obviously used, but it hasn’t been converted to an official footpath.  Worthy of further exploration…

Here’s John (above), recalling that a team of men posing as ‘officials’ had removed the rails with impunity, only for the real officials to discover that they had been stolen for scrap.

Anyway, we pressed on past ploughed fields with acrobatic lapwings to Red House Farm, as I needed some tomatoes.  None of the others had been there before, so it was something of a surprise to them to be able to enjoy coffee and cake, or freshly baked scones, in very jolly surroundings.  There was also some Oxford Blue (which appears to be made in Hartington, so how does it get its name?!) ‘on draught’ – it’s excellent on toast.

We lingered in the tea room.  It had started to rain.  This was not unexpected.  We had waterproofs.  Even our new recruit had waterproofs.  You can’t miss him.  Guess where he used to work?

For what it’s worth, here’s our route:

18 to 20 March 2011 – Rentahostel in Eskdale

There were 37 names on this year’s spreadsheet, and Sue and I were doing the cooking for the weekend, so a bit of preparation was needed.

Anyway we deposited half the food with R&J and crammed the rest into the old Peugeot before setting off on a lovely Friday afternoon.

The Birker Fell road from Ulpha yielded some fine views (see above) that necessitated a pause, then it was down to Eskdale Youth Hostel to unload the motor and enjoy a pot of tea in the sunshine with Anne and Andrew, who had both also arrived early.

All 37 gradually arrived, in dribs and drabs, and by 7.30 the majority were tucking into steak and Guinness stew, followed by the ‘whisky cake’ that Joshua liked so much, so here’s a link to the recipe.

37 is rather a large group for just one walk, so it was just as well that there were several separate agendas for Saturday’s perambulations.  Some headed quickly up Scafell and beyond; others were satisfied with Scafell on its own, and some small ‘splinters’ went cragging or on the narrow gauge railway.

I couldn’t recall having been up Hard Knott, so with a desire to get back at a reasonable time in order to resume our cooking duties, Sue and I decided on an easy round of 7 ‘Birketts’, including Hard Knott. 

[Birketts are the 541 Lakeland summits identified by Bill Birkett as being over 1000 feet in height.  He has written a superb guide, available here.]

We duly set off, fortified by the full breakfast produced by our able assistant, Ken, from the foot of Hard Knott pass.  Seven others had elected to join us on this low level circuit.

We soon came upon the magnificent and extensive site of Hardknott Roman Fort.  The Commandant enjoyed a fine view towards the Scafells from his sumptuous quarters.

It looks as if the Fort was constructed with rather thick cavity walls.

We took lots of photos (see link to slideshow below) before heading on up the pleasant path that leads to the summit of the Hard Knott road pass.

Frogs had been busy hereabouts, with great pools full of fresh spawn.

Two cyclists were just about to set off towards Wrynose on a big 80 mile practice for a forthcoming endurance event.  We waved them off and headed up a grassy rake towards Border End, our first Birkett of the day and a spot that enjoys a fine view down Eskdale.

Sadly it was more overcast than expected – not quite the ‘blue-sky’ day we had anticipated, so not so many images.

A self-timed picture was however deemed appropriate at the next summit, our high point of the day, Hard Knott – 549 metres.

The sun briefly illuminated our merry band as we descended towards Yew Bank, our third summit of the day.

Cloud lurked on the arc of higher peaks, from Scafell to Crinkle Crags, that occupied our skyline to the north.  A rescue helicopter hovered over swarming humans on the summit of Scafell Pike.  We meandered over Yew Bank and down to Lingcove Beck, which was easily crossed.

Lunch was enjoyed in the lee of a huge slab of rock half way up our fourth summit, Throstlehow Crag, from where there was a fine view towards the slightly higher, at 439 metres, craggy summit of our next objective, Scar Lathing.  There was nobody else around.

There hadn’t been much rain in recent days, so crossing the River Esk didn’t present any insurmountable difficulties, though Phil’s ‘bouldering’ did produce some impressive splashes.

Andrew conked out and ambled off towards Scale Gill, but for the rest of us two more Birketts beckoned.  The sun was even shining as we reached the summit of High Scarth Crag.

Phil’s boulder throwing had tired him out.

After strolling through a deep and spongy bog to our final summit, the rocky knoll of Silverybield, there was a boot inspection.  Spot the new ones?

 
The descent to Eskdale, via Scale Gill, was easy, with Harter Fell beckoning us on.

That got us back to the cars around 4 pm, in plenty of time to get to the hostel for tea and cake (and a shower) before cooking duties commenced.

The day had been most enjoyable, covering 15 km, with just 850 metres of ascent, in a bit more than 6 hours.  Here’s the route, with the Birketts duly waymarked.

The meal went well.  Here, for record purposes, is the menu.  I’ll do a separate post with the recipe for the Baked Lemon Pudding that went down so well.  For anyone wishing to feed a party of this size, we can commend this menu – everything worked, and most of it could be prepared in advance.

Ken’s invaluable assistance with breakfast (Ken spent many years as a Youth Hostel warden, so he can cook breakfast for 40 with his eyes shut) fuelled us up for a wet Sunday.  Some people went home, but at least 20 of us (I don’t think anyone was counting) set off from Eskdale Green to conquer the 231 metre summit of Muncaster Fell.  As this substantial hill is neither a ‘Birkett’ nor a ‘Wainwright’, the ‘tickers’ in the group had to content themselves with a ‘Marilyn’.

It was a wet day.

But we made it to the summit.

All apart from Melinda, who felt poorly, made it down, and the ‘New Ownership’ at the King George IV pub didn’t baulk at serving pots of tea and plates of chips.

Here’s our route – 11 km, 400 metres ascent, taking a shade less than 4 hours.

Then we went home.

A great weekend, as always, with better weather than Sue W usually conjures up.  Thank you, Sue, for organising it, and thanks also to Tom, who has provided some of the images in the (click here) slideshow, especially the huge moon over Harter Fell.

Wednesday 16 March – Kent to Cape Wrath

Mick and Gayle are in the habit of undertaking long walks in the UK.  They drew a record audience for a slideshow to over thirty folk at last week’s regular Wednesday evening session that Stockport Walking and Outdoors Group holds at Hazel Grove Civic Centre, which is conveniently across the road from The Grapes.

Thanks Mick, and Gayle, for an excellent presentation.

Shortly afterwards they set off on another walk, from the furthest east of the UK to its most westerly point.  Lowestoft to Ardnamurchan.

Gayle is ‘mobile blogging’ – I enjoy following someone’s progress on a long walk in real time as opposed to reading their post trip write-ups, so M&G Go For a Walk will be receiving a daily visit from me (and no doubt many others) for the next few weeks.

[Their previous wanderings, available from the same link above, make a good read as well – recommended.]

They are currently up to ‘Day 5 - Swanton Morley to Pentney’.

Good luck you two.

Saturday 12 March 2011 – The TGO Challenge ‘Snake Reunion’

Alan Hardy (that’s not him above!) again kindly organised this reunion.

Whilst some attended the whole weekend, Sue and I joined a hard corps of about 30 folk – nobody was counting – for a 17 km walk; followed by an evening with 40 or so diners at the Snake Inn.

The route chosen for the walk was excellent – from The Snake we dropped through woodland to the River Ashop, for Essential Training – a river crossing.

But the crossing was hardly a practice for Scottish burns in May. Nobody got their feet wet.

Then a large portion of the day’s height gain was achieved on the ascent to Seal Stones. Peter struggled. He may need to adjust his red wine/exercise quotient to get fit for the Challenge.

But we were in no hurry. We pottered slowly along Seal Edge, then across Kinder Scout to the Downfall. There wasn’t much falling down; it has been dry.

The well surfaced track of the Pennine Way saw us over Sandy Heys to William Clough, where lunch was taken and one of the less robust members of the party, who shall remain nameless, decided to take a short cut down the Snake Path and Ashop Clough.

The rest of us continued along the Pennine Way to Mill Hill, then along the long paved path across Featherbed Moss to the top of the A57 Snake Pass road.

After a long wait for JJ, who had been testing a vital item of Challenge Kit, the motley group carried on to ‘Old Woman’ before leaving the ‘Motorway’ that is the Pennine Way.

A light shower didn’t deter us from enjoying the final few kilometres down Lady Clough and back to the Snake Inn.

Here’s our route – 17 km, 620 metres ascent, taking a leisurely 6.5 hours.

Then, after a few beers etc, a jolly evening was had by all those who didn’t leave early, and by even more who arrived late.

Great to see you, folks.

There’s a slide show here – not very good images I’m afraid, but they do feature one Challenger who seems to be preparing his own head for target practice!

Wednesday 23 March 2011 - The Salford Trail (Part 3)

Avid readers (are there any?) may recall that a small team of Timperley Trotters and Tipplers joined an elite squad of mud splodgers from East Lancashire LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association) on 23 February for ‘Part 2’ of the Salford Trail.
Today we reconvened outside the Marriot Hotel at Worsley Old Hall, where walk leader Reg gave a short speech in the blinding sunshine to his 22 or so victims.
“Worsley Old Hall is part of a large Conservation area which includes the Marriott Hotel and Golf Course. The Hotel was formerly the Farm attached to the Hall. The Old Hall was the residence of James Brindley(1717-1771),employed by the Duke of Bridgewater to design and build the Bridgewater Canal and the Barton Aqueduct.”

A group photo was taken. Several late-comers contrived to avoid this ritual. I’ve borrowed the official photo.

Eventually we set off. Then we stopped almost immediately to remove all except base layers and to arrange a rendezvous with some latecomers. We were on a golf course. “Watch Out” screamed Norman (54, but thanks to SpecSavers still alert as a wary Meer cat) when a golf ball whistled past his ears. “Sorry” the wayward golfer apologised to the rest of us, “I’ll get him next time…!”
Our tour of the golf course continued, along bone dry paths, in beautiful 16C weather – what a contrast with that day in February when we did ‘Part 2’.
The tall spire of the Ellesmere Memorial towered above us, but somehow we contrived to walk in a loop around this Memorial, without actually managing to visit it!
The main A572 Leigh Road was negotiated with difficulty, but we were soon progressing nicely through fields full of bull rushes beyond a Garden Centre to the relative tranquility of the Bridgewater Canal’s towpath.

This path led gently to Worsley Green and a plethora of display boards detailing the history of the 250 year old canal and its associated mining and transport heritage.


We passed the half-timbered Packet House where passenger services on the canal to Manchester started in 1769.
By now we’d been going for nearly an hour, so a lengthy elevenses break was in order. Well, ‘twelvses’, perhaps – we hadn’t set off until after eleven. 
We feasted on the steps of Worsley's only monument to Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, "The Canal Duke" – 1736 to 1803. This was constructed from the base of the Works Yard chimney. Apparently it was originally a fountain, though sadly now dry. The base carries a Latin inscription:
A lofty column breathing smoke and fire,
Did I the builder's glory once aspire,
Whose founder was that Duke who far and wide
Bridged water through Bridgewater's countryside.
Stranger! This spot, where once did never cease
Great Vulcan's year, would sleep in silent peace,
But beneath my very stones does mount
That water's source, his honour's spring and fount.
Alas! That I who gazed o'er field and town
Should to these base proportions dwindle down.
But all's not over, still enough remains
To testify past glories, duties, pain.

We then wandered across to the Delph where Reg explained that the previously orange waters derived from seepage of iron ore into a sandstone quarry from where around 52 miles of underground channels served the Duke of Bridgewater’s coal mines as far as Walkden and Farnworth.
Reg offered another short speech: “The building of the Bridgewater Canal, linking coal mines in Worsley to Manchester, was responsible for halving the price of coal overnight thus fuelling the Industrial Revolution. A million tons of coal were mined each year until 1887.”
It’s much cleaner these days, with Kingfishers occasionally being seen hereabouts.
Our route continued into Worsley Woods and alongside the Old Warke Dam, at the end of which a black and white Tudor style cottage marked the point at which we descended some steps on to the old Tyldesley Loop Line footpath. The railway served the towns of Tyldesley and Leigh until its premature closure in 1965 thanks to Dr Beeching’s brutal axe.

The previously muddy course of the railway has now been nicely surfaced – an excellent amenity that from here provides a straight walk of about one mile to its end at Monton. On the way, the site of Worsley railway station is passed. Young mothers with prams were enjoying the sunny day on the long platforms.

From the end of the Loop Line in Monton, we turned right at the conservation area that is Monton Green and crossed the bridge over the canal, gaining the towpath by ‘The Waterside’ pub, directly opposite the Monton Lighthouse.

Monton Lighthouse is a recent structure, the forty-foot red and white building having been built with loving care by "Barnacle" Phil Austin over a four-year period.  The local media has provided good coverage, with various videos accessible from here.
I fancied a pint – there were lots of folk lazing in the Waterside’s beer garden. Norman, a confirmed alcoholic, would have joined me but was scared of the repercussions from Reg. “You know he was a ‘butcher’ – he’ll have my guts for garters” whispered Norman, turning pale at the mere thought of crossing our leader.

The canal towpath was fairly narrow. A cyclist encountered some difficulty with our procession. I was at the back, expecting to hear a big splash, but the lad emerged unscathed.

A railway passed overhead. Apparently this is the Liverpool to Manchester railway, opened in 1830, and the bridge is the world’s first example of a railway bridge over a canal.

Patricroft railway station is nearby, together with the Queens Arms pub, the worlds first railway pub. Originally named the Patricroft Tavern, this was opened in 1828 in anticipation of the business associated with the opening of the new railway. The name was changed following a visit to Salford by Queen Victoria in the 1850s. She arrived at Patricroft Station and then transferred to the Royal Barge on the nearby canal for transfer to Worsley where she stayed as a guest of the Duke of Bridgewater. A replica of the barge (another ‘Phil Austin project’) is stored beside the canal, covered by a tarpaulin that makes it less than photogenic. So no photo, I’m afraid.

We left the canal here, in favour of a path beside the railway line as far as Worsley Brook. Following the brook to a path under the motorway, we then jinked about and finished up at the side of a cemetery. Soon we emerged onto the moss land (Barton Moss) at the outer edge of the busy Barton Aerodrome.
It was 1.30. Time for lunch. For those who hadn’t eaten their lunch at our twelvses stop! I found a few more goodies in my bum bag – mini red cherry peppers stuffed with feta and mizythra cheeses – courtesy of Mr Sainsbury. Sorry I didn’t have enough for everyone (Norman refused to speak to me for at least ten minutes).
Apart from a little jink to cross the motorway, the path through the moss runs dead straight for nearly three miles.

Twelve Yards Road seems a most inappropriate name! It was pleasant enough though, in good chatty company under a burning sun, and before we knew it we’d reached the end of Twelve Yards Road and had turned left at Astley Road. This road was busier, with an assortment of vehicles from juggernauts to 4WD buggies out for a joy-ride to contend with. We survived, though, but I don’t know whether anyone noticed the unusual names of two of the farms along the way. Ebeneezer Farm and Hephzibah Farm.  Good old Salford names, in good old Salford countryside…?!

Soon after re-crossing the motorway, we eschewed the footpath sign that provided a clue to the continuation of the Salford Trail (that will be ‘Part 4’) and continued down Astley Road to the A57, where a right turn led us back to some cars at Irlam rail station. I think everyone managed to get a lift back to Worsley Old Hall. I know that we managed to acquire a new recruit for the Timperley Tipplers – Moira was on her first LDWA walk and it turns out that she lives very close to our little quartet (JJ, Rick, V and me). So she won a lift home. Well, as far as a pot of tea at Chez Rick, anyway.
It was also good to see Alan and Sheila (Alan’s entertaining take on the day is here), and John from Stockport, who we also saw later at a most enjoyable show of a cine film taken on an overland journey from London to Kathmandu in 1968.
What a lovely day!
Reg‘s official LDWA report on the walk is here, and Roy Bullock’s Salford Trail website is here. I’ve borrowed an image from the LDWA and a few words from Roy’s site – I hope nobody minds. Thank you, anyway!
I’ve uploaded a few more photos to an album here if anyone is interested.
Today’s route is shown below – 18 km, with all of 50 metres ascent, in a little less than 5 hours.