Category: Europe
Not short on places to go for a stroll
16th February 2012 Before the snow arrived at the start of the month, I took the opportunity to pop out for a lunchtime from work to take in The Carrs in Wilmslow. Though I'd skirted the public park a fair few times, it was the first time that I'd deliberately walked through the place only to realise that there was one part of it that I had glimpsed before without realising where I was gazing. That the River Bollin passes through makes the oversight that bit more remarkable to my eyes. It's amazing how not looking at a map can cause you to miss things and prospects of an evening stroll to Macclesfield after work when daylight hours are longer come to mind. That sort of plan has surfaced before only for nothing to come of it so we'll have to see about it happening in reality.
The Carrs aren't the only spot available for anyone to do a spot of strolling in Wilmslow and I am more familiar with the delights of Lindow Common, particularly that part of it which surrounds Black Lake. Sometimes, it freezes too, though only foolhardy souls would venture on the surface then. It is fenced off too, so that puts paid to any such temptations. A recent sorry tale about a little dog meeting an untimely end on an icy pond in Macclesfield (a local fire brigade team couldn't help because they had no boat and needed to wait for a team from Knutsford who were too late when they came; it's happenings like this that explain why folk come a cropper on icy rivers while rescuing daring foolish pets but it was just as well that it wasn't a child who was involved) might explain the fencing but for the fact that this also is a haven for water voles, a far more cheery development since they are in peril elsewhere. Wildfowl congregate here too and were concentrated on the one part of the lake's surface that was unfrozen on the day when I captured the image you see below.
With both of these spots not far from my workplace, I should be better at making time for little lunchtime escapades than I am. Recent outings kept telling me that my legs needed more acclimatisation and these are two options that should do the trick; they just need the making of time during a busy workday. Maybe those longer evenings could help yet.
A freezing February
11th February 2012 This day last week, a weather front was making its way down Britain throwing out good coverings of snow as it did so. Macclesfield didn't escape either, though it sounds as if other places got more; there were several inches left on cars in Harlow in Essex last Saturday night. Transport got disrupted too and Twitter was set alight with updates regarding bus and train services along with any poor road condition reports. If anyone believed that February heralds the start of spring and that has been taught in Irish primary schools, this year's February should be troubling that kind of belief.
Sunday saw me spend a few hours trudging through the snow near the river Bollin and between Macclesfield, Prestbury and Tytherington, using muscles that hadn't been active for a while and they were telling me all about it for a few days afterwards; somehow walking through uses different ones to normal walking if my perception is correct. As they did so, they were reiterating a message that I need to get out wandering through the countryside more often. The walk had been through snow-blanketed countryside in foggy conditions that delighted in their own way more than the abounding greyness might have suggested.
When I returned home, I decided to clear the snow covering the pavements around my house because the temperatures were softening it sufficiently that thoughts of its condition on refreezing weren't good ones. There was rain that night but it didn't take all the snow before frost revisited us on Monday and some remains with us even now to leave some footpaths less than passable. On higher ground, the white stuff persists and I was looking forward to walking along the Manifold Way today until a seasonal sore throat frustratingly forestalled the plan. Hopefully, that won't be the way for much longer.
Stiffness
17th January 2012 In weather terms, 2012 started like a lion in some parts, with Scotland getting a particular battering. Before that, the second day of the year saw me crossing hills to pop over to Buxton. That act planted in my mind the prospect of exploring more of Macclesfield's hills this year. However, the following weekend was a quiet one for me.
The weather may have been offering in other places, but a prior commitment was the cause of my staying close to home and not getting out among hills in parts like Shropshire or even wandering along the streets of somewhere pleasing to the eye like Edinburgh or even Shrewsbury. That's not to say that I wasn't doing some more playing with ideas for outdoors outings, though.
While adjusting albums in the photo gallery, thoughts were drawn to revisiting places where I haven't been for a while. The online photo albums that attracted my attention were that for the Pennine Way and the Scottish Southern Uplands and Borders. The refresh involved adding photos were added, removing an old one rewriting a few descriptions. The trip ideas that came to mind while adjusting those photos included a stay in Peebles to explore the surrounding hills, as well as getting to walk more of the Pennine Way or even the Southern Upland Way. Old and not so old photos act as reminders for me of past glories and lure me back to where I found them before.
Last weekend's cold, frosty sunny weather was enough to draw out among more hills on Saturday. It was a day when any part of Britain's hill country would have delighted, and I did play with a walk around Sedbergh that involved an out and back yomp into and onto the Howgill Fells. Looking a bus timetables caused me to leave it for later in the year. Remembering how stiff I felt after a trot about Church Stretton's hills before Christmas was a factor too in not deciding to not set my sights too high. Thus, I opted for a hike from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton that mainly followed the Dane Valley Way with a deliberate diversion or two. After all, the prospect of seeing the Three Shire Heads bridge in full winter lighting was too good to miss; it may have added to the distance covered but proved to be well worth that. If all goes to plan, more will be said about the walk sooner instead of later.
Though our settled spell of weather is leaving us at the time of writing, there are promising signs for the coming weekend too. While my limbs were stiff on Sunday and Monday, I took that as a cue for trying to get out a little more often than last year, and January 2012 isn't over yet. What I am not planning is anything as frenetic as this month last year when I walked successively in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Pacing oneself is no bad thing either, and quiet moments are essential for collating more ideas too. A recent catch-up with an article from one of last year's issues of TGO has me wanting to sit with it and pore over maps while ogling the contained photos of splendid Lake District hill country. Wandering needs forethought at times.
Wasn’t expecting to see any snow
2nd January 2012 Today came as a lovely sunny if chilly day around Macclesfield so thoughts turned to a little trip out of doors. A certain lethargy meant that I couldn't muster up enthusiasm for a wander on foot through the countryside so I went by bus through the hills to Buxton instead. Looking through the bus windows, I was reminded of just how much hill country there is between Macclesfield and Buxton. It looked resplendent with the sun shining on it too so I am reminded again of what lies on my doorstep so I need to do more with it.
What surprised me was the amount of snow that remained wherever as sheltered spot could be found. The covering may have been light but there has been a green and grey Christmas and New Year for much of Britain and Ireland so I wasn't expecting to see so much. An overnight frost did whiten some of the hillsides too though much of that was gone by the time that I passed the way. Sightings of the white just proved what a little height does sometimes so it came as little surprise to learn that Scotland was getting more of the white stuff with a front passing over that country, even while I was out in dry weather around Cheshire and Derbyshire.
There were a good few folk around Buxton with some taking in the dry sunny weather and more surveying the winter sales. When the clouds obscured the sun, I must admit to doing some of the latter too. Nevertheless, I get to savouring a little of Buxton Country Park too with a short walking idea for around there collected for possible future use. A potter to Grinlow Tower or Solomon's Temple sounds tempting, as does following another part of the Dane Valley Way, and I recall one occasion when I walked from Buxton to the Cat and Fiddle Inn with part of the journey taking me through the said country park when a snow shower came the way. It was magical enough passing through snow-covered woods for the first time in my life without that so the memory gets reinforced. Beyond them the air cleared and it was patchy snow coverings that I met for the rest of the way. Maybe I need to revisit some of that again. It became a day for collecting walking ideas while still never far from humanity.
Travel Arrangements:
Bus service 58 between Macclesfield and Buxton.
And so to 2012
1st January 2012 Having had a few days to catch up with a few recent issues of TGO, a realisation has popped into my mind: maybe basing myself somewhere on a trip away might allow me to get more from it, especially for those places that take a little longer to get to them. Using Dunoon as a base for exploring Cowal worked very well in 2011, so I need to spend a little time pre-assembling some designs so that they have some hope of becoming reality. Along with the wilder parts of Scotland, Northumberland also comes to mind with the longer travel times needed for getting there and because of my whetting my appetite for its hill country during the summer of 2011. Parts of Wales, such as the countryside round about Brecon or the Heart of Wales railway line also come to mind, as do the eastern fells of the Lake District in Cumbria and the Cairngorms in Scotland. Methinks that setting aside a little time to think these over might be no bad idea, and there are others that I could list here too, but there are enough mentioned for now.
The end of one year and the beginning of another is as good a time as any to take stock of things. One of these that comes to mind pertains to numerous loose ends outstanding in my hill wandering from the last few years. The biggest of these is the Pennine Way, along which I haven't walked for a while, and it now looks like multi-day trips are need to add to the mileage already completed. The mention of the Pennine Way also reminds that unused plans exist for walking Derbyshire countryside too, both new and already frequented. Then, there's the prospect of extending what I have walked of the Rob Roy Way and the perennial desire to savour more of what my home country, Ireland, has to offer the hill wanderer. Those should mean no shortage of trip ideas like what I felt to be the case at the end of 2010, at least until I started to catch up with then unread issues of TGO anyway.
2011 has been a busy year for me and I hope that 2012 lets me outside more often, though the future will decide that when it first becomes the present and then the past. After all, there's hill country near Macclesfield that needs to be revisited and other possibilities may come my way. Unlike the end of 2010 when I felt that I had run out of ideas, a year later sees me pondering a fair few options as the blog goes into its seventh calendar year, although its actual birthday is at the start of May; 2012 will see the sixth one being reached. Any designs that I concoct may not be as grand as those of other folk, but having a few of them manage to come to pass will more than do me. Hopefully, 2012 will turn out to be a good outdoors year for you, dear reader, too.
