Diary Update

Thursday 6 March - crocuses in Solihull, before Sue's father's funeral, which went as planned apart from the unexpected illness of one of the mourners.

Friday 7 March - a lovely day with Isabella.

Saturday 8 March - Wythenshawe parkrun #609. 318 participants. 37:37 for me after I decided to walk after the first 2.5km lap. Full results are here.

Briefing from a DofE student

Volunteers getting ready to man the finishing line

318 fit easily onto the start line

The Barbers were out in force, with Frankie having returned from Vancouver for a few days.

Sunday 9 March - Wythenshawe Community Run - a 5km jog with Colin Davies. 33:46 for 5km today.

March 8 - 15 - a trip to Finland for Sue. She has sent me the following pictures and may in due course provide a separate diary entry. Envious? Yes!

Wednesday 12 March - Paul, Jeanette and Rufus joined me for a pleasant 10km Bollin Valley wander. A familiar route previously reported on here. 

Today the Bollin was calm and the hedgerows were showing the first signs of spring, though the weather is cooler this week.

At Ashley Hall some 'Tatton Studios' have appeared - a potato barn and a barley barn, but who knows their actual purpose?

Thursday 13 March - admin and TGO Challenge route vetting duties. 

Friday 14 March - a bit of planning.

Here's a summary of some walks and bike rides I'm planning. They are detailed on topwalks.com, and that web page will be updated for any changes. I'll try to add some travel tips for the GM Ringway stages. All welcome.

Monday 17 March
GM Ringway Trail - Stage 2 - Sale Water Park to Didsbury Village. Meet at 11:00am at

Sale Water Park metrolink station for this second 12km stage of the 20 stage circuit 

of Greater Manchester.

Monday 31 March
Stocks Reservoir circular walk. Meet at School Lane car park, Dalehead, near Slaidburn (SD 546 455) at 11:00am for a 11km stroll around the reservoir.

Friday 11 April
60km circuit: Timperley Bridge (meet there at 9:00am) > Bridgewater Canal > Stretford > Trans Pennine Trail > Peak Forest Canal > Ashton Canal > Manchester > Timperley.

Wednesday 16 April
GM Ringway Trail - Stage 3 - Didsbury Village to Bramhall Station. Meet at 11:00am 

at Didsbury Village metrolinkfor this third 12km stage of the 20 stage circuit of 

Greater Manchester.

Thursday 24 April

A 70km circuit starting at 9:00 from Timperley Bridge. Bridgewater Canal 

> Pennington Flash > Mucky Mountains Nature Reserve > Sankey Valley > 

Trans Pennine Trail > Timperley.

Wednesday 30 April

Willington. A circuit of a length suitable for those attending, but at least 5km, 

from the Sandstone Trail car park at Willington Corner 0.5km southeast of 

Kelsall (SJ 534 667). Start at 10am.

Friday 9 May

GM Ringway Trail - Stage 4 - Bramhall Station to Middlewood Station. 

Meet at 11:00am at Bramhall Station for this fourth 13km stage of the 

20 stage circuit of Greater Manchester.

Thursday 5 June

Silverdale. A walk starting around 10:30am from RSPB Leighton Moss 

(members only car park) after refreshments in the cafe. 

Adjustable route, up to 23km.

Wednesday 11 June

GM Ringway Trail - Stage 5 - Middlewood Station to Strines Station. 

Meet at 11:00am at Middlewood Station for this fifth 13km stage of the 

20 stage circuit of Greater Manchester.

Sunday 20 July

Hathersage Hilly Triathlon.

7 to 17 September
Collett's Mountain Holidays - Austrian Alps - Ehrwald.

Sunday 7 December

The Tatton Yule Yomp - a 10km gallop around Tatton Park, starting at 9:30am.

Sunday 14 December

A Christmas Walk - provisionally starting at 10.00am from outside the 

Lime Lounge Coffee House in Bakewell (SK 218 686, by the bridge), 

stopping at The Crispin in Great Longstone for lunch.

1 to 3 March 2025 - Around St Briavels

                                                St Briavels Castle courtyard

This was supposed to be a Ramsoc weekend (Sue's old Nottingham University hiking club) in the Wye Valley at what used to be Welsh Bicknor Youth Hostel. We visited it in 2014 (see here) and many years before that I visited with my UMIST hiking club (TDHHC) when our misbehaviour led to the then warden's 'You are the leaders of tomorrow' speech.

Unfortunately the road to the Wye Valley hostel has been washed away, so the YHA kindly re-located us to St Briavels hostel, which is a rather ancient castle.

En route on 28 February I'd enjoyed two nice walks up Walton Hill and May Hill, and on 1 March ten of our contingent of 32 visited the Severn Bridge parkrun.

So this entry starts after we had driven from the Chatterbox Cafe after the parkrun to the car park at Beacon Ash, from where we walked back to St Briavels.

Note that my camera seems to have switched from the usual 4:3 format to 16:9. I didn't notice at the time. Some pictures may benefit, others will not have done. [ToDo: learn camera settings.]

There are lots of photos in this posting; click on any image for a better version and access to a slideshow. 

A woodland walk took us high above the Wye Valley, with views from the Devil's Pulpit down to Tintern Abbey.

Sue and Paul

Sue and Phil

Good paths led down and over a bridge to Tintern, where entry to the abbey was free of charge for the day as it was St David's Day.

We found various benches on which to enjoy lunch in the sun.

After lunch we wandered past St Michael's Church and enjoyed a riverside stroll before re-crossing the river and heading up quiet lanes and tracks to St Briavels.

Eventually we paused for a final tea break before enjoying more tea and cake back at the hostel.

Here's our route - 16km with 450 metres ascent, taking five and a half hours.

Later - great food at the hostel, thanks to several of those attending, including Sal's lovely sponge cake. It didn't last very long!

On Sunday 2 March, we admired the entrance to the castle, while 23 of our group of 32 readied themselves for a walk on which various folk fell by the wayside, so only 13 finished together.

The path led down from St Briavels, past a heron, to yesterday's bridge over the River Wye.

We crossed the bridge and took the Wye Valley Walk path through Coed Beddick woods to a good spot for lunch.

There were good views down the valley.

Our path took us through Bargain Wood, then Cuckoo Wood, to Llandogo and Bigsweir Bridge.

Then it was mainly uphill, with our depleted party of 13, back to the castle for more tea and cake.

Here's our route - 17km with 600 metres ascent, taking five and a half hours.

The evening was spent at the local pub, who produced a nice meal for the 25 of us who were staying a third night.

Monday morning, and a few photos from around the castle before we departed. Sue may provide some more images later.

There's a skeleton in the dungeon!

Some went home, and about 13 of us went to Kymin for another mainly woodland walk.

We started at a Naval Temple dating from 1800.

There were splendid views into Wales, with both the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons clearly visible on yet another sunny day.

We reached a trig point at the top of Buck Stone, where I took some final pictures of the group before realising they were heading further away from Kymin, whereas I returned to my car so as to get home at a reasonable hour. (Sue was traveling separately so as to stay with her mother in Solihull.)

My paths could be described generically thus:

My route today was about 10km, with 350 metres ascent, taking three and a half hours.

If you've made it this far, you might be amused by these pictures of a previous visit to St Briavels castle, when I was with the UMIST (TDHHC) hiking club and a local paper wanted some photos. Ann Moseley, on the right and Pete Watson's girlfriend on the left, duly obliged. My notes refer to it being November 1969. It was in the days of miniskirts and short shorts!

Well, that was another splendid weekend.

Here are some more pictures provided by Sue.