Outdoor Discoveries

What originally was a news section for the rest of the website soon became a place for me to write about human-powered wanderings in the countryside. Photography inspires me to get out there, mostly on foot these days, though cycling got me started. Musings on the wider context of outdoor activity complete the picture, so I hope that there is something of interest in all that you find here. Thank you for coming!

Unenticing weather

21st November 2009

The least sign of dampness or greyness shouldn’t be enough to put anyone off spending a day exploring hill country, but there are conditions that can cause one to challenge the sense of any such scheme. A day-long soaking or hefty showers coming in on top of one another are on that list, but the recent record-breaking deluges only can be sure to send you indoors. As those who have had it happen to them will tell you, that’s all very fine, so long as the nasty conditions stay outside and don’t come in after you or put out your heating or lighting. Anyone who has come a cropper in the flooding that has visited too many places has my sympathy (seeing photos showing Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake nearly becoming one really captures the scale of things for me).

Chester Cathedral, Abbey Square, Chester, Cheshire

It was all so different last Sunday when I grabbed the chance of an outing in bright sunshine. My destination may not have been the countryside, but I got to see plenty of that out through the train windows as I wound my way over to Chester and back again. Any gaping at what lay outside has planted some ideas in my brain for future outings that are relatively near to hand. An amble about Delamere Forest is one such possibility, as is a stroll along the banks of the River Dane near Northwich. Aside from this pondering, I came away with photos (the main motivation on the day) even with Chester being under cloudier skies that only release the sun late on during my visit. A late train allowed me to potter around Stockport to explore its more pleasing parts (yes, they do exist!) and make more of them than I was to make of Chester’s much more esteemed architecture.

St. Mary's Church, Market Place, Stockport, Cheshire, England

Last Sunday’s trip may have been urban in the main, yet it did break any descent into the rut of indoor winter hibernation. An escape into some fine countryside would make an ideal next step, but it would be better if the threat of deluges was lifted, but there’s little sign of that now (it’s raining well as I write this). However, just as good spells of weather have to end, the bad episodes can’t last forever either, even if we remember them all the more clearly. I’ll be awaiting that chance of an escapade.

Travel details:

Return train trip from Macclesfield to Chester with a change in Stockport.

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