24 January 2015 – Wythenshawe Parkrun Number 171

Sue and I turned out for today’s Parkrun in fairly benign conditions, though in order to avoid further destruction of the northern touchlines, Andy and Co had devised a route to the south of the football pitches. I hope we didn’t do too much damage.

We started in a different place to usual, resulting in a little congestion in ‘Holloway’s Bog’, but nobody got too badly trampled.

As Sue had pulled a muscle in between getting out of bed and being handed her early morning cuppa, she helped to marshall at a distant part of the course, and took the opportunity to snap a few of us – 18 pictures that can be viewed here.

There were just two of us in my age group. I passed Michael on the first lap, accusing him of being an old timer (he’s a couple of weeks older than me), which he told me afterwards had given him the impetus to make an adrenaline fuelled spurt on the second lap which left me for dead. Well done, Michael.

The route, which is probably about 5.1 km (Parkrun ‘wet weather’ routes are always a little longer than the normal routes) was two laps of the course shown below. Everyone seemed quite happy with it, so well done ‘management’ on coming up with this after having to cancel the run last week for fear of damaging the pitches.

Today’s 183 ‘runners’ included 77 females, a good proportion, and everyone finished within an hour, in some cases only just within an hour, which makes me think that they either had a major incident, or did they perhaps walk? “Parkwalk?”

Anyway that made for a very sociable interlude in the cafe whilst the marshalls swept up the last of the runners and collected all the signage. In fact we’ve come to spend more time in the cafe than we do on the run – that’s to some extent the nature of Parkrun.

The results are here.

PS Sunday morning had me puzzling over a photo published on Wythenshawe Parkrun’s Facebook page, taken by volunteer Bea Holloway, one of the younger members of the Holloway dynasty. I couldn’t resist including it below – Wythenshawe Park at its best on a Saturday morning. Well done Bea, I hope you don’t mind me using your little piece of magic.

Wednesday 21 January 2015 – East Lancs LDWA Plodders Visit Manchester

Don’s flier for this walk also included a route description:

A City United by Canals

We will catch the Metrolink Tram to Stretford, where we will join the Bridgewater Canal and walk towards Manchester passing Old Trafford and onwards past Pomona Docks to join the Cheshire Ring through the City Centre and the Gay Village to pick up the Rochdale Canal for a short time and then join the Ashton Canal where we will walk to the Etihad Stadium.

At the Etihad Stadium we shall walk down Joe Mercer Way to Philips Park where we will cross the River Medlock and enter the Jewish Cemetery and then a bit of road walking to re-join the Rochdale Canal at Newton Heath and walk back to the City Centre to catch the Metrolink Tram home from Shudehill.

On a rainy morning the Timperley contingent made the short trip to Stretford, walked there and back to the A56 bridge, then shivered under the bridge next to the ‘Stretford Reach’ sculpture whilst Don and his disciples made their way to these ‘foreign parts’ from their rendezvous point in Radcliffe.

What a rabble! ‘Plodder’ numbers seem to be on the increase, with 16 turning up for this towpath ramble. Much to the annoyance of the cyclists, Canadian Geese and small children in push chairs who got booted into the canal by the unruly hikers. Well, perhaps they would have been if they’d ventured out into the rain to confront this bunch of miscreants.

The newly surfaced towpath now leads past Watersmeet and all the way to the long-standing diversion around some construction work in Old Trafford.

The diversion afforded us the opportunity to admire the two "Skyhook" sculptures that were unveiled in 1995 as part of the regeneration of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate.  "Skyhooks" was commissioned from Brian Fell who actually produced two 17-metres high hooks and chains. The first is pictured below at the entrance to the Park, and the second one, pictured above, is located on the other side of the old Telephone Exchange near Wharf End.

Don’s well researched route passed some convenient picnic benches in Castlefield where the rain eased for a while as we tucked into our jam butties.

Luckily, there were exactly 16 portions of cake, with which to bribe the assembled entourage into a self-timed attendance record.

Soon it was time to leave – heading into the complexity of the canal system at Castlefield. Looking back, that’s the Wharf pub – an excellent place that despite the lack of custom gained from our party graciously allowed the rabble to use their ‘facilities’.

The Beetham Tower loomed in front of us through the gloom of the rainy January day.

Can you spot the bird box? We saw lots today.

Mike needed a hand to cross this lock, but all except one of the party managed to cross without incident.

“We’ve lost one, Don” shouted Ken after a discreet shove had seen off an elite poser.

After rubbing him down (Barbara did that) and sending him home, the rest of us continued to a ‘light blue zone’ that had some members of the party drooling inanely over something like Ardwick Association FC, and others running for cover.

Following the route so adequately provided by Don above, we soon made it to Philips Park, where Don produced his second instalment of jam butties and announced a second lunch break.

It didn’t last very long, as unaware of this ‘Plodder’ tradition, most of us had eaten all we had at the first opportunity in Castlefield.

Not to worry, it was a good spot to pause for a cuppa before heading across the River Medlock and into the Jewish Cemetery.

We soon found ourselves heading back into Manchester along the Rochdale Canal on a route oft described on these pages. In fact, there’s nothing new about any of this walk, apart from some of Don’s clever jinks through Castlefield, hence the introduction of a fictional element. (I can confirm that no children, cyclists or old men were drowned by thugs during this walk.)

Here’s the route which, including our there and back to Stretford stroll at the start, amounted to some 20 km, with minimal ascent, and took a shade over four and a half hours.

Thanks go to Don for organising this and for so charismatically gaining a record turnout in rainy Manchester when anyone with any sense was out playing in the snow that currently graces our surrounding countryside.

Sunday 18 January 2015 - A Short Walk from La Croix Fry

 

Last night's concert at the Salle des Fêtes de Thônes (a nearby village) was excellent. Billed as the 'Concert du Nouvel An' it comprised performances from a number of local orchestras, including at least one of Yolaine's family, a little drummer boy with long hair and a blue shirt. Ginger Baker would have been impressed! Numerous relatives and friends were in attendance (Yolaine has 32 cousins) and we were made to feel part of the family.

Today we rose to a crisp blue sky day that saw La Clusaz and its surroundings full to capacity. With limited time available we drove up to La Croix Fry and enjoyed a walk along the path towards the Beauregard Plateau, admiring the snow laden trees and the views towards Mont Blanc as we went. Sue is pictured on a piste facing the latter, and today's other picture is a parting shot of La Clusaz as we left the village that has been our home for the last week.

Our apologies go to P and Y for not spending as much time as we should have done cleaning the apartment, I'm sure that given the superb weather you can understand why we left that job to Shawn. Thank you for having us and we hope to see you all again soon.

Sent from The Far North (aka Timperley). 

Saturday 17 January 2015 - Snow in La Clusaz

The snow started last night. A late night move from 'Free Parking' to the multi-storey car park saved us from being sealed into our spot by the first snowplough. 

We woke to less greenery than we've been accustomed to - the view from the apartment is pictured top.

Pierre and Yolaine wisely decided to stay in Annecy rather than meet us for a snowshoe walk, so we enjoyed a lazy morning watching the blizzard from the comfort of our living room. About a foot of snow has fallen. 

My photos from last year's TGO Challenge are now finally indexed thanks to this window of free time.

This afternoon we overcame our lassitude and hopped onto the skibus to Les Confins, where most of the Nordic skiing trails are now open and crowded. There has been a massive influx of people overnight.

In a couple of weeks we should be back on our own skis, so today we gave the rented ones a miss and simply strolled back down a 5 km walking piste to La Clusaz. Views were limited due to the continuing light snow; the bottom two pictures offer a flavour of the experience. I doubt that we were on any footpaths - we just followed the yellow marker posts through the fields. 

P and Y are due for afternoon tea (this French couple prefer tea to coffee) shortly and we may be out after that, so in the interests of being sociable this is all from another day of genuine 'holiday' in La Clusaz.

Friday 16 January 2015 - Tête du Danay

Today's hike took us up to 1734 metres, to a summit so spoilt for views that it has three separate orientation plinths. Whilst modest in height by local standards, it's the highest point between a number of valleys that are otherwise surrounded by high mountains, and is therefore home to some wonderful panoramas even on grey days like this one. 

We started from the apartment, passing an obscenely loud great tit outside the front door and heading through the village and past the swimming pool. At the end of the tarmac a red and white tape with a 'snowshoers only - respect their space' sign barred our way. We ignored it and continued past rummaging blackbirds along the woodland path on which Sue is pictured. 

A booming woman's voice from a ski school across the valley accompanied us for a while as we continued along the path signed to Les Confins. 

Eventually we reached an area of sparse snow and awkward bits of ice. Crampons would have been more help than snowshoes, but we didn't regret having neither. 

There was nobody else around. In fact we met one person all day. Gloves were not needed as we continued to climb snowshoe trail number 12.

At the Mouilles de la Perrière Sue spotted a strange object under a tarpaulin (pictured - centre). "I wonder what that is?" she asked. I hadn't a clue but I bet Sheila doesn't ask such questions! 

A few metres after this we turned sharp left with a view to ascending what would be our first hill of the year. The path rose steadily. I'd noticed a point on the map at 1561 metres that I'd planned to pause at - half way up the 400 metre ascent from the Mouilles. This was going to be the first time this week that we'd regret having forgotten to pack our flask.

Imagine our surprise to discover that the building at point 1561 was in fact 'La Ferme du Danay' a restaurant and buvette where we were able to enjoy a coffee and eat our sandwiches in the company of the tenants, Carinne and Mitch. We spent a happy time with them, chatting about (guess what?) a host of outdoor topics.

Then trail 33 led easily on hard packed snow to the 1734 metre summit of Tête du Danay for the wonderful panoramic views mentioned earlier, one of which is shown in the lower picture. (Remember this was a grey day on which rain was forecast to fall all day - the fact that we got any view at all and stayed perfectly dry was something of a surprise.)

Continuing along the ridge, we soon came across the Bellavarde ski piste that we'd enjoyed on Monday from Les Confins. It was open today, and several people were struggling round a steep corner where I'd taken off my skis on Monday.

Snowshoe trail number 32 then took us north for a couple of hours down packed snow towards the Grand-Bornand valley. An easy and enjoyable descent, despite the gloomy weather and a few sheets of ice lower down before the snow completely disappeared. The Nordic ski tracks at Le Grand-Bornand were mostly 'ice rink' quality and were very decisively marked 'closed' in numerous languages, albeit anyone attempting them would have to be crazy.

A short ride on the free skibus got us back to a rainy La Clusaz shortly after 4 pm, after this 14 km outing with around 700 metres ascent, taking about five hours.

Thursday 15 January 2015 - Annecy

Last night the six of us (Sue and I were joined by Chantal, Joël, Yolaine and Pierre) enjoyed an excellent meal at La Caleche, which can be entered from P and Y's apartment without going outside the building. The French chef told us he learnt his art (of French chefery working for two years in Chichester. Chantal told us that in the high season (most of February) the restaurant would be full of English voices, with the locals feeling transported to a foreign land. She also demanded that we provide a name and a recipe for our version of Tartiflette,  and did I hear her observe that it sounded quite good! Next week, Chantal. 

No skiing today. No more 'face plants' on icy pistes. I'm 5 - 0 up in that contest. Unusually for Sue she hasn't come a cropper even once.

Fearing the worst in the Nordic skiing pistes department, we'd returned our skis etc yesterday, with today's visit to Annecy already in mind. 

It's an easy half hour drive to Bonlieu car park in the centre of town, from where we enjoyed a lakeside wander in bright sunshine with the snow clad Tournette massif, which tops out at 2351 metres (Annecy is 450 metres) glittering in the distance beyond the head of the lake.

Our La Clusaz choughs have been replaced down here with coots and black-headed gulls, goosanders and mallards, with cormorants and bigger gulls and divers such as great crested grebes further out on the lake. The squabbling gulls and mallards might have been at Sale waterfront, but for the surprising absence of Canada geese. There were lots of runners out exercising on the walkways by the lake.

Statues and old buildings guided us to the old town to the south of the river. 

Pedestrian streets between tall buildings, with some tourists but not too many, occupied our time until an overwhelming desire for elevenses drew us into the welcoming Bistrot Café Bar Saint Clair. So welcoming in fact that had the proprietor had Ebola she would no doubt have passed it on to all her customers; she really shouldn't have been at work. Rue Saint Clair is near the old prison pictured (top).

Paninis in a small shop were as good as we've had. Even here they were complaining about the lack of snow. They haven't had any yet this calendar year, and feared that tourists would be staying away.

We wandered around some more - a slideshow will reveal more in due course - before adjourning for a scenic drive around Lac d'Annecy on the now very sunny afternoon. 

We paused for a short walk near the impressive but very private chateau at Duingt, from where the lower picture of the Tournette massif was taken. Lounging on a small pier with some other walkers, we all soaked in the bright sunshine.

Neatly pruned plane trees accompanied us on our final stroll near Talloires, before we trundled back up to the delights of La Clusaz for another relaxing, agenda free, evening. 

Wednesday 14 January 2015 - Sticky Snow at Les Confins

Lie in.

Lazy morning with rain outside. 

Two hours skiing at Les Confins on tracks sticky with a thin layer of fresh snow. Only 4 km of pistes open, so we went round three times. Deserted when we arrived; full of children and groups training when we left. Snowing there but raining in La Clusaz. 

Back by 3.30 for welcome tea and biscuits and a most enjoyable lazy afternoon until our hosts arrive for aperitifs. 

Pictures:

Top - La Clusaz last night

Middle - this morning's view from our balcony

Bottom - the small chapel next to the pistes at Les Confins

Tuesday 13 January 2015 - Plateau de Beauregard

Another sunny morning saw us up at La Croix Fry (1477 metres) by 10.30. There were insufficient pistes open to warrant a charge - we should have bought our passes by the day rather than for three days. Never mind. 

The route through trees to the Beauregard Plateau was skiable but icy. It sported good views to l'Aiguille Vert (2322 metres) with Mont Blanc in the distance behind (pictured). Once on the plateau, the green Crulets piste was a delight, including the sound of woodpeckers in the trees. 

The longest of the four open pistes was the Lachat, an 8 km circuit. Icy in places but generally good fun. It usually links with other plateau pistes, but today we had to take our skis off and walk to Les Matins Clairs refuge for our morning coffees. There was just one other skier there, and a few walkers and snowshoers. There were very few skiers on the trails, and just a smattering of downhill aficionados on the easy slopes that criss crossed our 'Nordic' pistes.

There is so little snow that we pondered the benefit of snowshoes just now.

After a 'sunglasses and gloves' incident - I left sunglasses at the refuge, they had put them on one side, together with some gloves that I took to be Sue's despite their smart appearance. On return to Sue she denied owning them then embarked on a long dialogue with some French people heading for the refuge who eventually understood that their task was to reunite the smart gloves with their owner.

We then paused for lunch on the steps of a closed chalet that was well out of the cool westerly breeze - teeth jarring butties on which Sue seemed intent on me repeating last year's broken tooth incident. 

Then we continued along Lachat, diverting to enjoy the other open pistes, Colomban and Nant.

By the time we had skied back along the access piste to La Croix Fry, we'd covered a satisfactory 17 km; the sky was clouding over and Mont Blanc had disappeared. 

There followed a long period of supping tea and biscuits and contented relaxation back at the apartment. 

Monday 12 January 2015 - Les Confins

After yesterday's easy drive to La Clusaz, our 4pm rendezvous with Yolaine soon saw us efficiently installed in her and Pierre's studio apartment in the centre of town. It turns out that they have been living here recently due to building work on their home in Annecy, so the loan of the apartment for a week is all the more appreciated. Thank you Pierre and Yolaine. 

After moving the car to 'Free Parking' (keeping it in the main car park would cost us €75 for the week) we unpacked then strolled up to La Trace for dinner with Chantal and Joël, together with Yolaine and Pierre. Pierre came after attending the silent march in Annecy following the atrocities committed in Paris last week. 

Tartiflette a la Chantal was superb, following luxurious starters (it would be unfair to hungry readers to say more) and succeeded by a chocolaty pudding. There was a bemused look when I told our hosts that my version of Tartiflette includes mushrooms and an alternative to the Reblachon cheese that's hard to find in the UK. "That's NOT Tartiflette" they all assured me. 

Returning to the apartment (thanks for the lift Yolaine) we passed a snow machine busy trying to keep the main downhill skiing route into town open. There has been very little snow here, so skiing options are more limited than usual.

Choughs congregated on the roofs below us as we breakfasted on the traditional tasty croissants this morning - somebody must regularly offer them breakfast. By the time we left, the Monday market was in full swing. 

A ski hire shop next to the chapel in Les Confins sorted us out with skis, boots and poles for €13 a day each, and piste passes cost a further €7 a day. Only about half of the Les Confins pistes were open today but we managed a couple of laps (Sue is pictured on one of these) of a 2.5 km route before coffees, then we enjoyed the 9 km Bellavarde route up to a minor summit at 1420 metres.

Given the warm, calm, blue sky nature of the day, we could hardly complain about the icy piste. My Porsche skis dragged me down three times on the descent after our al fresco lunch in warm sunshine. Sue miraculously managed to stay upright on her Ford Prefect skis.

The bottom two pictures were taken from our lunch spot and of our lunch spot respectively. 

Primroses and (maybe last year's) Carline Thistles are evident and other flowers are in bud. Winter seems to have been by passed by Spring.

After our 14 km ski we changed back into our only shoes for this trip (hiking boots) and strolled around Les Confins, noting several groups of walkers under the strict control of their guides. Is it me, or in these times of affluence are more and more people too lazy to organise even a short stroll for themselves? The majority of people we saw today were with either instructors or guides, which must at least be good for the local economy. 

By the way - thanks for your comments, I'm unlikely to reply by way of comment this week as we have to go to an obscure stairwell to pick up wifi from a nearby café, and the phone signal is variable.  

Right, I'll try to transmit this from the stairwell, on our way to give the 'huit to 8' shop a bit of custom. 

Sunday 11 January 2015 - A Short Walk in the Jura

Saturday morning's five km Parkrun in Wythenshawe Park was about the muddiest on record. With no spikes on our shoes the simple task of running alongside a couple of football pitches seemed more like treading treacle. 

So with the aid of Mike's Taxi and a little nudge from EasyJet and the dreaded Budget/Avis, we soon found ourselves noshing smoked salmon tart and supping excellent wine at Alistair and Laurence's hideout in Cessy, near the large Hadron Collider.

That set us up for today's short stroll in the Jura, virtually from their doorstep. Just 4 km, with Laurence nursing a headache at home (there were quite a few empty bottles lying around this morning) and lively Lyra, the golden retriever, joining us for the walk.

It was muddy after thrashing overnight rain and warm weather that had melted earlier snow. A bit like Wythenshawe Park if 'truth be known. We wound our way through stick rich forestry, emerging eventually onto a rounded summit topped by an ancient obelisk. Sue, Alistair and Lyra are pictured here. 

A nearby viewing platform helpfully pointed to a panoply of locations, including an invisible hill called Mont Blanc. At least it was quite warm, and not raining. 

Then, after more food, Sue and I jumped into Cleo and sped off to La Clusaz, pictured from where we abandoned the car in a lay by. 

TGO Challenge 2015

It will be my ninth ‘Challenge’, this year with Sue who will be making her fourth crossing of Scotland by foot (and in a boat across Loch Ness).

I booked some luxurious accommodation a couple of weeks ago and have now managed to link the ‘dots’. We go from Dornie > Cannich > Drumnadrochit > Aviemore > Braemar > Tarfside > North Water Bridge > Nether Woodston, so it’s a short and sociable route this time.

Anquet says 324 km (202 miles) with 11,500 metres ascent, but there’s every chance that the ascent will be much less if we avoid some of the high points we are I am aspiring to (Sue hasn’t been told yet) but will probably avoid.

I know various other bloggers are signed up for this year’s stroll, and Sue and I are looking forward to meeting some of you as well as many old and no doubt new friends, albeit Sue will probably be chatting whilst I bang away at the keyboard… I’ll try to be brief this year; there can’t be too much new to say!

You can click on the above picture to get a bigger version.

Hopefully it will be t-shirt weather again, as it was on much of last year’s Challenge. Here’s a random picture from Day 2 – ascending Sgurr Mhurlagain on a sunny afternoon.

I must get round to doing something with last year’s TGOC pictures!

Thursday 1 January 2015 – The Adlington Circular Walk

Here we are, Robert, Sue, Lyn and me, enjoying New Year’s Day on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath in Adlington. It was to be Lyn’s longest walk since her disastrous arthroscopies over ten years ago.

Louise had joined us for the previous evening, but sadly had to miss the walk on account of being sent going to Coventry.

Instead of spending the last afternoon of the year looking for her boots, Lyn compiled this impressive menu.

On our arrival - thankfully we were armed with panna cotta of the prescribed flavour - we were greeted by Robert’s whispered whimpers over a pan full of belly pork along the lines “how do you want my nuts roasting, Lyn?” followed by Lyn’s sputtered gasp of worried confusion.

Anyway, the evening went very well. The food was delicious and before we knew it Robert had embarked on a ten minute wrestling match with a cathode ray tube in an effort to find an official countdown to the New Year. At least he was more successful than the officials in Manchester’s Piccadilly, whose countdown lasted an additional four minutes due to a tram inadvertently parking itself next to the fireworks.

After a comfy night on a new mattress (thanks Lyn) we enjoyed a lavish breakfast and set off at 10.30 on an Adlington Adventure.

Readers should by now have realised that this is Adlington near Chorley, not the one in Cheshire. Our first landmark was White Bear Marina, one of the very first clients I visited as an auditor when I started work as an articled clerk with Thornton Baker in 1971. I think I’ve aged rather more than the Marina.

Given this reminiscence, and the time of year, ‘The Thief of Time’ seemed an appropriate name over which to ponder.

We soon reached the following sign, confirming that we were ‘on track’. We could hardly go wrong given half an eye on the yellow signs marking the route.

From the above sign, you have this view of Idle Bridge – bridge number 72 on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The bridge dates from 1795.

The route deserts the canal at Idle Bridge and heads uphill past some major railway bridge works on the Manchester to Preston line, as all the bridges need to be raised for electrification of the line. A huge project with much local disruption.

Onwards we marched, in the direction of Winter Hill, our first Marilyn sighting of the year (only geeks will understand; non geeks can say they have seen a Marilyn, but their friends will just offer looks of bemusement).

The M61 motorway, busy as ever, was crossed and re-crossed.

Then we found ourselves on a path through ‘The Shawes’ which turns out to be the carriage drive from Anderton Hall to the Bolton to Chorley road. Apparently the last hall was built in 1870 and demolished in 1930; I have doubts about this but I can’t find anything to support either the above dates or my doubts.

The carriage drive remains a good path, from which there were signs of life in a nearby giant bird box. Our eyes were glued to it. Eventually a grey squirrel emerged and ran up the tree.

I’ve already commented on the well marked route. Perhaps it is a little too well marked in places!

After crossing the Bolton to Chorley road, the route follows a thin footpath all the way to the Adlington to Blackrod road. The River Douglas is encountered, with numerous bricked remnants of the old bleach works that operated here from the nineteenth century until the 1950s.

The pleasant path is literally yards from the centre of the village.

Some of the old fences seem to have succumbed to ‘ingrowing trees’, some of which have recently been felled. The stumps are studded with plastic vials from which chemicals might perhaps leach into the stumps and prevent further growth that might seriously erode the river bank and give rise to flooding.

In the following image, the fence appears to have been granted victory over this particular tree.

Sue didn’t know what to make of it all…

The following picture was taken just a few metres further along the path, which has now passed under the railway arch. The small object just below the parapet is another tree that appears to be growing in the bricks of the viaduct. Did the early Victorian engineers use fertiliser in their construction activities in the late 1830s?

The locals in Adlington have certainly been very busy with their signs for walkers. Well done them!

The late 18th century canal bridge looks less susceptible to rogue trees than the nearby railway bridge.

Our circuit ended back on the towpath for the short stroll back to White Bear Marina, then to Lyn’s house for lunch, just as the heavens opened for the rest of the day.

Here’s our route - 10 km, with 100 metres ascent, taking 2.25 hours. Very enjoyable, and a good way to start the New Year.