Monday 9 August 2021 - Alderley Edge revisited

A visit from Ottawa parkrunner friends Linda and Keith triggered this morning walk around Alderley Edge. Our first walk for ages (12 July - must be a record!). Sue and Jenny came with me to the NT car park, from where - after watching the drizzle subside - we headed to the site of the Beacon, via the Engine Vein, pictured above. This former mining area used to be heavily eroded by visitors, but since being fenced off, it has grown wild again. There's a newly fenced off section where the tunnel is expected to collapse soon - the workings hereabouts have been fully explored and mapped, so there is no need to save these particular tunnels.

A little further on, beyond the Beacon site, we paused at several points to admire the views, which extend from the Welsh hills, over Jodrell Bank, across Greater Manchester to the South Pennines.

Eventually, after finding our way around the northern edge of the woodland, we crossed the Macclesfield Road via Mount Farm, and headed down Slade Lane to reach the track that is Hocker Lane, where the next two pictures were taken.

A right turn up Bradford Lane saw a continuation of the pleasant woodland, from which we eventually emerged at the main road near the Wizard cafe. Coffees etc went down well, then Linda and Keith moved on to nearby Styal, and the rest of us went home for lunch.

Here's the route we took - a very pleasant 9 km, taking exactly two hours.

It was good to see Linda and Keith - thanks to them for making the effort to meet up, and nice to get out for a walk after over a month.

Saturday 7 August 2021 - Burnley parkrun number 402

After our delicious meal at the White Swan, Sue and I stayed at Kate's house in Bacup (very quiet as the children were away with their dad), then we made our way back to Burnley for a Saturday morning parkrun, before heading down to Eccleshall in pouring rain to see Dot.

Set in spacious parkland, Towneley Hall dates from the 14th century and houses an eclectic museum. Maybe next time we will visit the hall.

However, today it was the pictureaque grounds and the parkrun that attracted us. It's the 39th different parkrun venue for me, and it was my 249th parkrun. The next picture shows lots of the 307 participants walking up the hill to the start, whereas we walked down the hill from a high up parking spot opposite the top entrance, as suggested by Kate.

No need for them to walk back down the hill after finishing, as the two-lap, figure of eight course finishes at the bottom of the hill. So we had a long walk back to the car!

Similar to our recent experiences at Wythenshawe, the organisation was superb. Efficient scanning of barcodes after the finish, and speedy texting/emailing of the results indicated that the event is supported both by the runners and by many enthusiastic volunteers. 

Here's Sue, after being scanned.

As usual, my camera lens misted up after the finish...

We set fairly modest times to beat on our next visit, with me running a little way behind Sue until the final speedy plunge downhill to the finish.

The full results are here.

To our delight, the rain very considerately chose to 'pause' between 8:45 and 9:30, so much to our surprise we stayed dry!

Friday 6 August 2021 - The White Swan at Fence

My daughter Kate is 40 later this year. She's had a difficult year and fancies some treats. A visit to the White Swan at Fence got her off to a brilliant start. "Perhaps the best meal I've ever had" was her assessment.

It's a fixed menu - currently as shown below:

Before embarking on the menu items, an amuse-bouche of carefully concealed pate set us off on this evening of culinary delights.

We selected our wine, a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and the Arlington egg dish followed.

The beer bread (not pictured) came in large hunks and helped to mop up any excess juices from the egg dish and the ravioli dish pictured below.

The pigeon and its accompaniments and dressings were delicious.

The process of choosing just four from the board of 18 cheeses took some time. Don't expect me to remember what they all are, but it's worth remembering that the UK has more varieties of cheese than France.

The two desserts were oh so tasty!

And after that, coffee with a lemony macaron and a peanut butter and salted caramel chocolate, both bursting with flavour, rounded off this perfect meal.

What a lovely evening, the first that we've enjoyed with Kate on her own for many years. We must do this again, though I expect other family members will insist on joining us next time!

Note that you need to book a couple of months in advance; this is a popular venue.

Finally, thank you to Sue and Kate for all these photos.

Pyramidal Orchid

I'm taking a rest from blogging on this busy day, but not before recalling a rest day in the Alps on 11 July 2008, during which this Pyramidal Orchid was 'snapped'.

Wednesday 4 August 2021 - Quarry Bank Trail Race

We entered this running event in 2020, but the race didn't take place and the entries were carried over to this year. Our entries were organised by the Barbers, pictured below with us at the start.

We were there in plenty of time, so we could wander around before the start. Sue and I had no plans to extend ourselves as we'd hardly eaten anything for the last few days due to a bout of Norovirus emanating from our monster grandchild, Isabella.

Laura was also going to take it easy, as she is running a half marathon at the weekend.

That left Paul and Greg nudging their way to the front to start, whilst Laura took her time, and Sue and I started at the back of the entire field. That made for a slow start, as lots of people ahead of us seemed to have misinterpreted the 'Race' element of the event and had chosen to block the way up the hill with platoons of walkers.

Anyway, that wasn't a problem, the slow start provided an opportunity to warm up slowly, then once we were warm, a light shower of rain proved very refreshing as we continued our virus induced jogging.

It's a lovely course, about 7.4 km in length, with plenty of opportunities for rests during the second half of the run, due to the single file nature of parts of the course, and the reluctance of walkers to run up the steps in the Bollin Valley.

The race ends after a steep, wide section of tarmac that was an absolute delight. It felt as if I was passing a couple of hundred people on the descent as any brakes I may have had clearly failed, and I arrived at the finish in time to get the camera out to record Sue's finish.

The Barbers had all finished successfully, though Paul's plan to finish at the top of the VM60 age category was foiled by one person who crept in ahead of him!

Sue and I were feeling fine despite our recent illness, but the above image shows that my camera lens was misted up due to the rain. Thanks go to the Barbers for waiting for us to jog in.

Here are the results for all of us. You may need to click on the images to view them properly.

It was good to see a few familiar faces amongst the 465 participants, including Zoe from Wythenshawe parkrun, and Helen from SWOG.

Here's the route - 7.4 km with 120 metres ascent.

I believe that by dint of some sort of fluke I'm owed a prize (!!!), which Paul may snaffle as it will no doubt be sent to his address.

Today's (not)parkrun - 5km in 44 minutes - included an encounter with our local tame heron.

Winter (Memory of a Cold Day)

This takes me back to 5 February 2007. It's the view from Keogan Cabin on a very cold (minus 20C + windchill), overcast morning. We adjourned for lunch in the Rideau Centre.

I wonder when we will next get this view?

Where am I Now?

In October 2004, Sue, Andrew, Colin and I met up to walk a section of the South West Coast Path that we'd previously missed. Collating the diary entries and photos from all these trips is still an outstanding project. 

Does anyone know the identity of the subject of this picture taken on 7 October 2004 during that trip? I'll add that information in a couple of days if nobody guesses.

See Comments:
BC: The Bude Light Statue. But did you see it at night?
Me: Well done BC. My diary says 'The Bude Millenium Spire', and we didn't see it at night. We continued to Widemouth Manor, but staying in Bude may have provided a superior experience!

Sunday 1 August 2021 - Another Family Picnic

We've had a couple of family picnics in Fletcher Moss Park recently, but this was an altogether more lavish affair, held in St Nicholas Park in Warwick.

Some 32 relatives in Sue's family duly assembled on an 'ice cream' afternoon in the park. We had missed this picnic last year, for obvious reasons, but this outdoor event had all the hallmarks of being back to normal apart from a request to use masks and hand sanitiser when visiting the loo.

Isabella - 10 months, a few pictures for her Great Grandma

And even a visit to said Great Grandma.

Another parkrun at Wythenshawe

The solitude of my regular (not)parkrun - see the picture in De Quincey park above during my 400th or so (not)parkrun - was in stark contrast to this morning's parkrun at Wythenshawe, where 301 participants enjoyed three socially distanced laps around the football pitches, aided and encouraged by numerous volunteers.

My time, 25:52, was a bit quicker than last week, mainly due to my efforts to keep up with Rufus, a task in which I failed despite Rufus needing to stop to empty his bowels.

Afterwards, many of us braved the long queue for coffees etc at the Courtyard Café.

The 'management' spotted our table, idling the morning away, so we were given the task of sorting all 301 barcodes into order so that they can be handed out next week.

We love that job! Almost back to 'normal' apart from the hand sanitiser.