Category: Cheshire
Another pair of TNF Hedgehog shoes
14th November 2012 For the last four years, I have been well served by a pair of The North Face Hedgehog trail shoes. They may look more tatty these days but they have plenty of life left in them yet and I am not planning on retiring them prematurely either. Good service and durability has been what they have given so I have no complaints. In fact, they feel more like slippers than some footwear that I have and the shoes that I use for work come into this category.
The past two weekends have seen me head to Knutsford and Tatton Park on consecutive Saturdays. The first of these wasn't so successful in that blundering in the name of finding another entrance to that park resulted in a misadventure involving barbed wire that ripped a coat and had me inadvertently find the source of Tatton Mere. In so doing, I submerged my TNF Hedgehogs in utterly sodden earth and left them both wetter and browner than they should be. Only for a wrong turn taken in innocence and some bloody-mindedness, I would have avoided annoyance at my foolishness.
By the time that I was along the track through Dog Wood with warning signs to keep to its course because of the bog of water that makes it a Site of Special Scientific Interest; there apparently aren't that many sodden woodlands in Britain and I had to blunder about in one of them... As it happens, it isn't so unsound away from that track but it's best to stay near it in my experience.
The sunlit scenes for which I was hoping were stymied by advancing shower clouds but I rounded Tatton Mere regardless and pottered into a few of Knutsford's shops too. There were those into which I didn't venture and one was Rohan. Looking at the window display, I noted that they have DWR-coated down jackets on offer this winter and I was wondering if such items were available last winter. The fill is 800+ too so they should be toasty and I cannot say that I am not tempted. However, online investigations revealed that the price tag is a little hefty at around £245 for the Nightfall jacket so I'll sit on the idea for a little longer.
As if to wash my shoes, a rain shower did make its appearance before I left again for home. On arriving there, the Hedgehogs got a good scrubbing to make them more presentable. Then, because of the deliberate and not so deliberate wettings, they took a few days to completely dry afterwards. Even with any mud that I failed to remove, they look more like their true colours again so they're not getting hidden away just yet. In fact, there were a pair of Columbia trail shoes that came apart on me after crossing a wet Irish hillside so the way that the Hedgehogs survived the aberrant episode says a lot for their quality.
Nevertheless, I got to reckon that a more respectable pair might be a worthwhile acquisition and so around £100 got me newer ones by mail order from Ellis Brigham that look like the one you see above. The colours have changed since I last looked and the demure blue and grey scheme of the older specimens that I have is not available any more, hardly a surprise if truth be told. Still, the available colours left me indecisive as to which ones to pick. The black ones weren't to my taste and I wasn't too sure about the grey and khaki ones either, though subsequent inspection in the Macclesfield branch of Millets would have reassured me enough to get ones in that scheme if I had looked there earlier. Still, the blue ones look just fine and I'll stick with them.
More importantly, the fit is good too and shoes from The North Face tend to suit my feet anyway. They feel stiffer than the older pair, but that could be down to years of using the latter. The same might apply to any little restrictions that my big toes feel in the new shoes. There will be a little more internal wearing in yet before they go out of doors, which, of course, is the whole point of having them.
The thread pattern is more chunky in the new Hedgehogs and that's a good thing given how the smaller lugs were prone to breaking off on my older ones; both generations may have Vibram soles but they are very different items. Laces are flat now and not round as they once were so lacing should be more secure. The newer lacing may pick up more mud, but I have been known to wash laces and they enclosed in socks; it may sound strange, but that's how I cleaned those (third-party replacements for the originals, as it happens) of the older shoes after that muddy dunking and they came out looking fine too.
In the main, I keep trail shoes for less taxing walks and it was my Meindl Burma boots that I took on my second more successful outing to Tatton Park. The previous day's rain had softened the ground and not just in watersheds either. There was a muddy encounter when leaving the park, so my choice of footwear seemed better than my choice of trousers; it was nothing that a washing machine couldn't sort. There was plenty of sun around before then and I made of the most of what it did to liven up the autumn colours. Dog Wood and Tatton were passed again and I moved on towards Tatton Old Hall before being lured across parkland alongside herds of deer. Antlers may have been on display, but there was more grazing than autumnal rutting and quiet than guttural roars, whenever there wasn't a passing plane from Manchester Airport of course (the newer runaway is not that far away from Tatton). Though the second trip undid the nagging unfinished business after the first, it produced its own reasons for a reprise of some sort: a new vantage point for making a photo of Tatton Hall was found but only after light started declining for the day. After recent experiences, it may not act as a testing ground for those new shoes until we have had a longer dry spell of weather first. Lessons are there to be learned though being a less messy learner would better.
Taking a longer way home
28th October 2012 The Bollin Valley Way is one of those long-distance trails that aren't marked on any OS map that I have encountered. Most do get recognition at some point, but this one seems not to have got it so far. Given that, it's just as well that good waymarking is a feature of much of its length so as not to have one using an incorrect right of way. However, it is prone to river bank erosion and that saw me confounded at one point on an evening walk last June.
Getting stuck on a bus that took around two hours that should not have taken it longer than forty minutes can put ideas into your head. The cause was a closure of the M6 that forced everyone onto the section of the A34 and traffic ground to a halt because of it. The sight of a Megabus coach going through Wilmslow was a hint of what was coming and there was no Alderley Edge bypass then.
Then, a bicycle ride would have got me from Wilmslow to Macclesfield is less than an hour. However, the length of time taken had me thinking of another option: walking. One winter's afternoon saw me following the Bollin Valley Way from Macclesfield and I was surprised at how quickly I got to Wilmslow after a lunchtime start. After catching a bus, it still was daylight when I got home. So, it wasn't that mad an alternative to being on a bus for two hours at all.
At my previous place of employment, there were times when even the longer hours of daylight in late April and early May were enough to get me trotting through the countryside on the way home after a day's work. Those escapades had me using a variety of rights of way that included sections of the North Cheshire Way as well as the aforementioned Bollin Valley Way.
Placing all of the above thoughts together, I got my act together of an evening this past June and started my evening stroll by the Bollin in The Carrs, a riverside park in Wilmslow, using part of the North Cheshire Way. There was road walking by the town's old Anglican church and the war memorial garden before crossing under the railway viaduct and the town's A34 bypass. Negotiating that lot finally landed me in pasture with soft earth underfoot again, always a good prospect.
Though the path that I was following was not itself a right of way, but that did nothing to stop any others from using it. In fact, there were plenty of joggers about and I was wondering if I was holding them up by being there. Even a stop to survey a weir was not used by them as a means for getting past me, something that surprised me a little at the time.
On the approach to Vardon Bridge, that path joined a public footpath and it was only on crossing the road near that bridge that I finally left any joggers after me. Though I may have hoped for fewer clouds, there were enough to ensure that any episodes of sunlight were fleeting. As I continued eastwards along the public footpath, there were a few of these moments. Stops in fields full of sheep or cattle needed to be fleeting since animals can get curious, not that I ever dawdled long enough for that to manifest itself.
There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me on my toes before I got as far as Newton Farm. There was a woodland crossing that wasn't expected from my map before that of a meadow. For whatever reason, the public footpath crosses a lawn at Newton Farm but it caused no disturbance and that's always nice. The footpath leading to Mottram Bridge was found too and I was there in good time.
However, river erosion wasn't to help my cause as the course of the suggested diversion left me uncertain enough to return to Mill Lane again and go by road again before picking up another footpath after Willot Hall that took me to another section of the North Cheshire Way near Top o' th' Hill. That deposited me at a footbridge and crossing it put me on the Bollin Valley Way again. All that took up time and I have it in mind to go having a look at the lie of the land when I have a longer stretch of time to do so. Avoiding walking along a busy road would be a bonus too.
The rest of the way was familiar to me since quite a few walks have taken me that way. Normally, a sewage works wouldn't be welcome but it was an unmissable landmark and I needed that after the earlier bout of cold feet near Mottram Bridge. The only drama on the way to Prestbury was a fallen tree that blocked the path. It resulted in a tip-off to a Cheshire East Council ranger that saw it removed on a day that was wet enough to make most of us take cover.
Getting through Prestbury and then to Macclesfield has become so familiar to me that I scarcely need a map to do so. That the right of way stops part way between both places hardly mattered since a well-used path on council land took up the slack. Any Longhorn cattle that were out in pasture or any dog walkers using later stages of the same riverside park did nothing to perturb my delayed course home.
The longer days of midsummer ensure that I still was home before dark, so having a longer walk was no problem. Like many a good walk, there is an excuse for a reprise. Seeing what paths go where around Mottram Bridge and Mill Farm would be good. That errand probably needs a mind that hasn't been tired by a day at work too and would make a good use for one of the shorter days of winter that are coming to us.
Why go elsewhere when there are good things nearby?
9th October 2012 The past few weekends have seen me enjoy walks through some local countryside. For instance, Sunday saw me drop from the Cat and Fiddle Inn into the Goyt Valley before walking along its length as far as Whaley Bridge. Skies may have filled with cloud as I went and much mud may have been encountered, but that reminder from last January while on another walk from the same starting point that landed me in Buxton at its end was set to prove its worth and I wouldn't mind having another hike around there either.
The Saturday of the previous weekend came up sunny too, and I used the afternoon for a walk from Bollington back to my house that took in the Saddle of Kerridge and Tegg's Nose Country Park as I revisited parts that I should frequent more often than I do. In fact, that was a thought that occupied my thoughts as I took in my surroundings. Given that there is so much on my doorstep, I have been wondering about the reason why I am not out there more often.
That may get corrected on the evidence of the Saturday before that again when I followed part of Macclesfield Canal while en route to Lyme Green Retail Park on a shopping errand. A short snippet like that neatly fits into a life with other things that need doing. Little outings often have their uses in getting outside to build up to bigger ones, and that certainly has been happening over the last few weeks.
During that time, thoughts of wandering around Teesdale from Middleton-in-Teesdale has surfaced more than once, only for working week fatigue to put paid to the scheme. The same thing has defeated a trip to Abergavenny to go up and down Sgyrryd Fawr. Another is playing more of a part now as well: local attractions. That's quite a change, given how delights that were further away once blinded me to what lay nearby.
For instance, Sunday offered choices that I struggled to decide between them. One possibility was a walk that took me from the Cat and Fiddle Inn, over Shutlingsloe and then onto home. It was one that would have been my choice but for the sight of cloud advancing from the south. Reprising the Gritstone Trail between Bollington and Disley was another, and there's walking along the Macclesfield Canal between Macclesfield and Congleton in mind too. Then the sun shone and decision needed overcoming to get out the door. The Goyt Valley may have got my vote on the day, but the others remain tempting though and would make ideal walks for shorter days too.
However, that is not to imply that walks have been discounted because the list of trip reports that need writing include a range of destinations: Loch Ericht and Glen Tilt in Scotland, Cumbria's Howgill Fells, the Gower in south Wales and Pembrokeshire in west Wales. Of these, I scarcely have made any mention of those August visits to Wales. The Gower saw me walk from Rhossili to Port Eynon, and it is a hike that I can recommend. On a long deserved return to Pembrokeshire, I sampled part of the coastal path between Strumble Head and Fishguard. Cloud may have filled the skies on both of these - is that becoming something of a feature for me, I wonder? - but the walking was good and that's all that I ever ask.
So, I have some sharing to do and more ideas on places to explore and revisit. The shortness of some of my designs should mean that the shorter days of winter should not be an excuse for hibernation. Getting in (at least) one longer walk every month has become my target, and it seems to be happening so far. It's a habit that I wish to continue.
Littered with little walks
30th September 2012 One thing that I have noticed about the Derbyshire Dales is that many of the walks around there are short affairs. That would explain how I fitted in two on the same day last May. Also, a few weeks ago, I got to take in yet another: a trot from Thorpe to Hartington that followed the course of the River Dove that followed up on last May's venture.
Since part of the course that I followed was a busy stretch, I have been looking at what else the area has to offer. The sunny day had drawn out families, and they seemed to be everywhere, walking much further than I would normally expect. Usually, strollers like these are left after one quickly but the more level terrain and the beautiful day must have encouraged them.
Looking through Cicerone's White Peak Walks: The Southern Dales by Mark Richards revealed good supply of walks in the area, many of them short. With the hours of daylight now declining, that attribute could be a handy one for hibernation avoidance this winter. Options like Thorpe Cloud and others look promising and may offer less hemmed in savouring of the delights that are to be found around there.
The northern Derbyshire Dales but there seem to be longer walks there than in their southern counterparts if what's in Cicerone's White Peak Walks: The Northern Dales (again by Mark Richards). Still, they offer possibilities for shorter days that I feel inclined to investigate, especially those that are near at hand to those using public transport. One's that catch my notice are possibilities near Tideswell, Castleton and Bradwell since I haven't been around those parts for a while.
For when longer hours of daylight are restored to us again, there's Vertebrate Publishing's Day Walks in the Peak District by Norman Taylor and Barry Pope. These aren't limited to the White Peak with Dark Peak routes also included. However, they will fill a day nicely and without having to cut out a leisurely midday lunch either. One suggestion in that collection takes in Longnor and Crowdecote and that involves a deep-sided valley that hosts the upper reaches of the River Dove. There are plenty of others that I could use though, and an earlier start is a possibility since the Peak District is on my doorstep.
For walks that are even closer by me, there's Eastern Cheshire Walks: From Peak to Plain by Graham Beech from Sigma Leisure. Having had a trot home from Bollington that took in the Saddle of Kerridge and Tegg's Nose on a wonderfully sunny afternoon. It left me wondering why I don't make more of the local area and why it is that some nearby hummocks only get an annual visit when I should do better than that. Maybe I need to peruse this little green book a few times in an effort to address that state of affairs.
Speaking of a certain remiss, the western side of Cheshire always seems to be devoid of my attention. The idea of walking from Frodsham to Delamere train station along the Sandstone Trail has occurred to me, but things have got no further than that. That trail has its own guide too in the form of Walking Cheshire's Sandstone Trail by Tony Bowerman. This is an attractive, glossily presented affair from Northern Eye Books, and it looks as if it needs more than has been the case up to now. As that were not enough, there's also Walks in West Cheshire and Wirral by Jen Darling from the same publisher. Some of the walks in there are short too, which could be handy for a quick sortie. That's not all either, since Mara Books, an imprint of Northern Eye Books, have produced Circular Walks around the Sandstone Trail by Carl Rogers, so I should not be short of walking ideas for a part of Cheshire that I scarcely have frequented up to now.
All in all, there should be plenty from the above to fuel shorter and longer escapades in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. With those shorter hours of daylight around the corner, they could have a use. All that needs doing now is not to make the walks feel longer than they are and to summon the energy needed to get outside in the first place. Sometimes life events and weather forestall that but my design of at least one walk per month has been bearing up well since May, so here's hoping.
More outings since last time
10th June 2012 This past weekend saw me stay at home after a few weekends away. Saturday turned damp all day around Macclesfield so a spot of domestic tidying and rearranging was a good escape from the conditions though a necessary shopping excursion had me out of doors for a little while too. Sunday may have come better but other matters occupied the day.
The Jubilee bank holiday weekend saw me return to Scotland for the first time in nearly twelve months and I have thoughts about not repeating that again. My base was Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire and I ventured to Dalwhinnie for a trot along the shore of Loch Ericht and to Blair Atholl for an incursion into Glen Tilt. Transport arrangements were such that I got to potter about Pitlochry too before heading off elsewhere for a few hours, with much of that time being spent beside Loch Faskally and River Tummel.
One unusual aspect of this Scottish getaway was that I only decided what I doing up there on my first night away from home. More usually, I leave home with ideas in mind but the weather forecast was such that I only could decide when I saw what I was getting. As it happened, I seemed to escape the deluges that fell elsewhere so I count myself thankful for that. Sun may have been obscured by clouds for much of the time but the only dampness I met was a light dusting of rain on Monday morning.
Temperatures weren't so high either and that made for pleasant walking conditions in wonderful alluring countryside. The incursions only may have been a taste of what is there but that did nothing to dispel a certain sense of satisfaction from what I had savoured. This contrasts with how I felt after spending a few days in the area nearly six years ago; then, it seemed that I was leaving unsated. Was it that I might have spread myself too thin or that hazy July days didn't offer much for photography that was the cause of this? If so, it amazes me that I left so much time go before making a return that more than dispelled that previous sensation.
The last weekend of May didn't have a bank holiday this year and hot sunny weather that visited us. Not only were many of us tempted out of doors to enjoy a brief experience of summer but events such as horse racing at York and the Edinburgh Marathon ensured that train services were far busier than usual too. It was an outing to Alnwick and Warkworth in Northumberland that was the cause of my discovering this for myself. The hot weather dissuaded me from a longer walk so shorter strolls taking in Northumberland's castles and a little of its coastline seemed a good option, especially after the cold that came my way the previous weekend. Overdoing exertion didn't look such a bright move to me and taking an easier less hurried course had its rewards too. Sometimes, a slower course reveals more of the character of an area.
Now that we are in June, it is tempting to look ahead to ideas for summer outings. When looking at my annual leave allocation for this year, I decided against an expansive escapade such as heading to the Western Isles. Those days have be rationed so shorter outings will need to be in order. There are no firm ideas in mind and I am grateful for those opportunities that have come my way already this year. Hopefully, there'll be a few more yet. Could a return to Perthshire's hill country be among them?
