Category: Cheshire
It wasn’t all sunshine
14th December 2009 From Friday's weather, hopes for clear blue skies, unimpeded sunshine and crisp frosty air were building, but a look at weather maps confounded those aspirations somewhat. The lesson is that an anticyclone's ability to pull in cloud should not be underestimated and it was to come quite far west too. In circumstances like these, it is too easy to let the effect of realities on dreams stymie enthusiasm for outdoor activities but, not being in a mood to waste whatever the weekend might offer, I was out and about in Cheshire and Derbyshire.
In truth, I did play with the notion of heading to Wales, but that wasn't to be and I stayed local on Saturday to mend a bicycle wheel puncture and then test it out. You may be thinking that puncture repair testing wouldn't take me far but I was out for a few hours with the fallback that there were enough hours of daylight to walk the thing home if needed. There was some walking along the way, but the cause was a diversion over steep hills and not my failing to remove a thorn or a similarly undesirable object from a tyre. There was a reward for my risk taking in the form of the dissipation of cloud cover to reveal pleasingly lit hill country. It was just as well that I was out to enjoy it, then.
Sunday was to see me spend an afternoon walking from Edale to Hope, a station to station yomp over the Great Ridge from Mam Tor to Lose Hill (or Losehill Pike as the National Trust names it on their signs; there's also the label of Ward's Piece too but I am as yet unsure of the origins of that name). With Sunday having a verbatim start to Saturday, I was displaying signs of cold feet about the planned venture but lured myself out anyway. As it turned out, I would have been forgiven for having those doubts given that my Derbyshire amble was set to meet with rain. By then, my hand was turned to the proverbial plough so I got on with enjoying the walk, a task that was helped by there being some spotty sunshine before the rain that had brought some photographic satisfaction my way. All felt good.
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).
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.
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.
If it were done when it were done…
20th August 2009 An alternative title for this piece would be "You always can return and perhaps even should...". It might be the dawning of a realisation as regards how much time has passed but my previously shared assertion that you can always find a different side to any location that you've already visited has been joined by the idea that it's never any harm seeing the same things again. The provocation for this course of thought has been the passing earlier this year of the tenth birthday of the online photo gallery that you find on here. That milestone, a perhaps sobering one for me, has had me casting my eye back over the photos contained therein with some ideas coming to light.
My early forays armed with a 35 mm Ricoh compact camera were made in search of things to see and places to go while also capturing whatever landmark came my way. Living in Edinburgh meant that there were plenty on my doorstep and Cheshire is not bereft of them either. In these DSLR-equipped days, it is immersion in countryside of varying wildness that has held my attention with (hopefully) pleasing landscape photos resulting from those efforts. However, looking at the older photos has been revealing to me how my appraisal of photographic quality has changed over time. A big factor in that is the digital onslaught and the shot in the arm that is the digital darkroom. While sceptical at first, I have been won over by the vibrancy of colours and the crispness of results though I continue to use film from time to time. Speaking of film, I never did make the jump from negative to slide film and so had to put up with printing decisions made by someone else unless I took to scanning negatives and any attempts at that endeavour did leave me dissatisfied; it might have been the technology that I was using. The appeal of the digital darkroom might be small wonder then with all of the control that is on offer.
The conclusion where all of this is leading is towards my engaging in something of a photography project that causes me to revisit old haunts and have another go at recreating some of those earlier images albeit with a spot more success. Cheshire comes to mind as an obvious place to start and that is opportune given that the nights are now drawing in ahead of the shorter days of winter when it is so easy to hibernate. Local escapades that either use my bike (the appeal of cycling is becoming more resurgent within me for some reason or other) or other means of transport sound like good ways to keep active when time for a longer excursion isn't always available. That never is to say that I will not be exploring wondrous countryside for its own sake but savouring the more pleasing examples of what humanity has built in the countryside is no bad thing either, for a bit of variety if nothing else.
A journey from peak to plain
5th August 2009 The mixture that has been the weather during the last few weeks may or may not have made the boffins in the Met Office look a little foolish, to say the least. More seriously, it is having an adverse impact on many Irish dairy farmers following what was for them a less than ideal winter; the combination of high feed and fertiliser prices, low grass growth due to sodden ground and a collapse in the price of milk is proving the undoing of many otherwise sound businesses and even may provoke an exodus from the industry yet. In these constrained times, alternatives are rare, so forestry is coming out in the wash as one option because of the possibility of E.U. funding. It leaves me wondering if that could turn out a good thing for walkers, but only time and progress regarding access will tell on that score. Nevertheless, calling these times interesting would be an understatement...
That predicament puts into perspective any moaning that there has been about those unfulfilled dreams of sunshine holidays at home. As one sunseeker put it to me about enjoying Britain all year around, sunbathing isn't much of an option away from the summer months, and I only can agree. It also rather explains very well the traditional fixation with getting a summer with copious amounts of warm sunshine. Thought the greyness can irritate, those of a more active inclination always have the option of wrapping up warm for the cold and using waterproof clothing if they desire to face the rain. A mixture of sunshine and light showers is more than bearable but calling quits becomes a less easy inclination to fight off when the rain turns heavy and incessant.
Regardless of being equipped to deal with what the weather puts your way, I still find the possibility of some dryness much more amenable, and last Saturday week didn't fail to supply exactly that. It was a merry counterpoint to the near pervasive wetness that has so dominated July's weather. Casting my eye over the weather forecast map of Britain, the idea of hiking from Grasmere to Borrowdale by way of Grasmere Common and Greenup Edge came into my mind. In the event, circumstances did not allow for this, so I stayed local to enjoy a pleasant afternoon's and early evening's walking along a mixture of thoroughfares as I wandered through some Staffordshire and Cheshire countryside.
A train to Kidsgrove got me to the start of my trek, and the first task was to get out of Kidsgrove to Mow Cop, a village divided between Cheshire and Staffordshire. Following the Gritstone Trail as it followed canal towpaths before heading east on a mixture of road and footpath walking might have been the clearer option, but I chose to muddle my way across Kidsgrove instead. While that may have taken longer than might have been liked, I now know better and got to crossing fields in due time anyway. My journey even took me through some corn fields as Mow Cop was made to grow ever nearer.
The final stretches of the way to Mow Cop Castle were over tarmac, and I took the chance to linger awhile on those upward slopes. Clouds packed the sky, so sunshine was spotty, so it looked like photographic ambitions of making photos of the aforementioned erstwhile summerhouse were to come to naught. However, the decision to hang about on National Trust property was rewarded when the sun got through to light up the Castle, built by a former resident of nearby Rode Hall. It is a well-known landmark round these parts, but there's more to that to Mow Cop, as you'll realise if you ever come by a free leaflet produced by the Mow Cop Resident's Association with Heritage Lottery funding to promote their Heritage Trail. A read of the said document should reveal that a lot is packed into what looks for all the world to be a small, inconsequential spot. The Castle might be visible from as far away as Siddington and Marton, but an afternoon or day long visit should be well spent if you put in the effort.
Making my way north from the Castle brought me to my turn for the South Cheshire Way in the sight of the Old Man o' Mow, an artefact left behind after quarrying works came to an end. Downhill progress took me through damp pasture and into Hanging Wood, where mud simply was unavoidable, hardly a surprise after the preceding weather. If anything, I should have encountered more mud than I actually did, but that may be a consequence of the quality of the land that I was crossing. Beyond the wood, it was onto pasture frequented by curious cattle who were quickly left after me when I found a good track that took me to Acker's Crossing and with an underpass taking me across the West Coast Mainline too.
A snippet of tarmac bashing landed me on the banks of the Macclesfield Canal. The plan was to follow the South Cheshire Way around by Little Moreton Hall until I met the Mersey & Trent Canal near Thurlwood. In the event, an absence of waymarks, well turned up turf and unpromising stiles gave me the wrong impression, so I stuck with the canal towpath to pass Ramsdell Hall and pick up a more promising right of way that escorted me to Scholar Green.
More road walking awaited before a crossing of the A34 took me off-road again on a driveway that changed to a narrow path between two overgrown hedges. Another minor road crossing ensued as I picked my way through the fields, one a grain field, to the south of Rode Hall. After passing through Bratt's Wood, I needed my navigational wits about me to make up for a waymarking malfunction to reach the aforementioned Mersey & Trent Canal. Knowing that I was less likely to come into conflict with a landowner given the time of day and my being out of sight of any habitation may have meant that I could go direction finding with a certain confidence that was found lacking earlier in the day.
On reaching the canal, I had a decision to make. Looping back to Kidsgrove's train station was one option, but the option of spending some of the evening hours extending my stroll to Wheelock proved too tempting. Thus, I plied the towpath, marvelling at the number of locks that I was passing. The village of Lawton-gate was passed without delay, while Thurlwood offered the chance to relax awhile in the company of swans and ducks. From there, I took to a steady pace to shorten the distance to the M6, under which I was to pass. Farm machinery was in action in the fields for the harvesting of silage and what I believe to be oil seed rape, but I am no expert on the latter; the sight of a working forage harvester rather than a combine is what is sending my thoughts this way. The activity was a reminder that agriculture continues to bustle if not flourish in some places, even if it is suffering in others.
After passing under the M6, the hubbub of traffic and farm machinery was left behind me for quieter parts. Wheelock turned out to be very near at hand, as I found myself making light work of the remaining distance on a pleasant summer's evening with patchy sunshine. My destination isn't the largest of places and its situation on the Cheshire Plain means a less dramatic aspect than that at Mow Cop, but it remains a pretty spot nonetheless. Having a direct and regular bus connection played a part in my deciding to finish there. In hindsight, I suppose that I could have stayed there a little longer, but my mind was set on getting home, and the next bus came at a good time to end a day that was far from wasted by my exertions.
Travel Arrangements:
Direct train from Macclesfield to Kidsgrove and bus service 38 from Wheelock to Macclesfield.
Finding dry weather over the weekend
3rd August 2009 In marked contrast to July, I seem to have got in a proper hill walking outing right on the first day of August. It was a case of first deciding that I was going somewhere and then finding a dry spot on the weather map. That took me on a train journey to Machynlleth in Wales by way of a wet Wolverhampton. More specifically, I ended up walking what might be termed a Cwm Cau horseshoe and that took me over Cadair Idris. Starting and finishing at the Minfford Hotel meant that I ended up avoiding Dolgellau, a perhaps more usual starting point but with a longer walk in to the hills, too. When I finally begin to get the lead out with my trip reports, I'll tell you more about the escapade but a good day was had with a cap of cloud keeping both sunburn and heatstroke at bay. That might have limited the photographic output but there was still plenty of that too with the sun coming through at times.
Yesterday saw me pulling out the bike for an afternoon run around Macclesfield. Given that I was (and am) still feeling the effects of Saturday's exertions in my legs, steeper inclines were avoided on a spin that took in places such a Siddington, Marton, North Rode, Oakgrove and Sutton. The weather was reminiscent of what I enjoyed in Wales the day before so it wasn't unsuited to a spot of activity. Some roads like the A537, A34, A54 and A523 had their fair share of traffic but Cheshire has its allotment of quiet country lanes too. They can be both narrow and twisty so keeping so being alert in readiness for the occasional car is always clearly in order. Even so, sufficient opportunity for relaxing progress was on offer and the surroundings were resplendent to boot.
All in all, the weekend made an excellent start to August (and autumn? Well, some are wondering...) so long as you picked the right spot. It has been a bank holiday one in Éire and Scotland so I hope that they were able to make something of it. July hasn't been so kind to us so the only hope is that the predicted mixture of rain and sunshine allows some drier interludes for enjoying the countryside at this point in the year and there's a bank holiday weekend for England and Wales at the end of the month.
