Category: Trip Reports
An exceptional summer
31st July 2018 The long dry spell that has dominated since April has some thinking back as far as 1976. There are some good reasons for doing so. In the Irish countryside, grass is not as plentiful and farm wells have gone dry. Over there, the extent of this has got farmers worried about keeping livestock fed and brought about water usage restrictions for everyone else. Temperatures soared to 32° C during June and roads melted, causing road closures and even bringing out gritting trucks for reasons completely at odds with their usual usage.
So far, 2018 can be said to have two seasons: winter and summer. Spring scarcely came at all and the northern hemisphere has been treated to a long hot sunny spell like few other summers. Fires have started, either naturally, through error or as a result of vandalism. The last of these defies reason yet it is said to have had a human cost in such disparate places as Greece and California. The moors around Manchester and Bolton had their blazes but these thankfully did not threaten life and limb as much.
My venturing into the world of self-employment had limited my enjoyment of the long sunny spells more than a general inclination to keep in out of the heat. Still, I got to spend a day around Edinburgh that took me by the Firth of Forth and the banks of the River Almond before venturing into the Cammo Estate and the heart of Scotland's capital city. Any shady spots were relished because of the afternoon heat. The same applied on a day trip to Barmouth that took me strolling towards Cerrig Arthur before returning via the Panorama Walk while enjoy the views all around that part of the Mawddach estuary. The day was long and felt all the longer on a hot crowded train between Barmouth and Shrewsbury. What remains though are newly made good memories and they always outlast any recollections of ardour.
There has been a week spent in Ireland too with its usual mix of business and leisure. Evening walks took me by Springfield Castle and the village of Kilmeedy and it well bedecked in flowers everywhere you could look. Towards the end of the stay, much needed rain arrived but there was dry weather to savour before that happened. In fact, it may be that the idea of a trip for exclusively leisurely purposes can come to mind and there is a slot when it might happen.
Other than these, evening walks around Macclesfield have made pleasant use of the longer hours of daylight. No longer do I chide myself for not making good use of every sunny day that comes but using enough of them is sufficient nowadays. As long as the burdens of a working life are managed more carefully to leave enough emotional space, the energy and motivation could be enough to keep up my wandering.
The heat may have restrained things this summer but it also had me looking back through previous episodes that had me writing entries on here and that happened in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008, I even got to the subject of warm weather walking. Neither of these compares with 2018 and it even beat the benchmark summers of 1983, 1984 and 1989 that I recall from my childhood and adolescence. This has been a summer that will live long in younger minds as they mature and age. Surely, it will be the better bits that get recalled the most clearly.
Getting to know Norway: Part 1
24th June 2018 Another post has related what has distracted me over the last few months, and that is set to continue for a little while yet. This is a venture that needs a little more set up time and some added oversight compared with previous working arrangements that I have had in the U.K. That means that thoughts of overseas explorations have been put on hold though the ongoing sunny weather is certain to lure me out and about from time to time.
Nonetheless, I am not ruling out any chance of such excursions this summer, even if my current reading is more about research for possible opportunities about possibilities for further into the future. The Canadian Rockies and the Atlantic Canada have been of particular interest, though these would be more expensive trips than the ones around Europe that I have enjoyed lately. Despite this, it is good to have some idea of where to start with what is a very big country.
The subject of this post takes back to the summers of 2016 and 2017 when Norwegian encounters came to pass. The allure of Norway had lain with me for a few years before that, though, even when actual trips to the country were an impossibility due to personal circumstances. They were enough for me to collate an article on the place for future reference.
After trips to Iceland and Switzerland, thoughts of a trip to Oslo surfaced in November when I was left with annual leave to use after holding the days over in case ongoing legal works in Ireland required my presence over there. However, the short hours of daylight proved a deterrent, even if relaxing a book of an evening would have had its benefits and explorations under street lights would have been a possibility.
Nevertheless, visiting when hours of daylight were longer brought their rewards on my first trip in August 2016. That was an extended weekend trip that left me wanting more, and I returned in June 2017 for a longer stay. Between these, I got to explore around Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger even these only scratched the surface of what is to be found. This is a long country with lots more like the Jotunheimen National Park, the Lofoten Islands and Tromsø. Even around those areas that I did base myself, there remain plenty of unseen sights. Repeat visits would be rewarded, and I am left wondering if Norway could become an alternative to Scotland in some ways. Given that involves quieter corners away the frenzy of everyday life, that may be no bad thing.
Given the perceived limitations of my previous encounters, there was a temptation to put it all together into a single post, but looking back over previous ones about Scottish trips reminded my that I have split up such things in the past, and it may help readability, so I am doing the same here. There will be a mix of more leisurely strolling and boat trips to go with some longer hikes. Since this might become a longer outdoors exploration project, initial walking locations might be busier than what I otherwise would seek, but such things need to start somewhere, and I have spotted other options near them that could have their uses. It is not as if all opportunities in the featured areas have been exhausted.
Imputation
18th June 2018 It is not often that you will see a statistical term as the heading for an entry on here, but the reason is that, around twenty years ago, I took my first steps into online publishing. Though the exact date is lost to me, I am settling for the middle of June and that inspired the title. After all, this is an educated guess when accurate recollection has faded.
Back then, I was a university student, unsure of what the future might hold. There was the act of writing up a thesis and having it examined before I found a way into a life of work that continuously conveyed me until last August, when a much-needed career break began. That ended last month with my starting out as a freelance consultant. Another adventure has begun, and it brings its delights and agonies, but the hope is that any added sense of autonomy, flexibility and space for managing my affairs would outweigh any episodes of irritation. There is much to learn, and that is its own motivation.
That changeover was not distracted by all the fine weather over the last few weeks. Priorities were such that a trip to Ireland in May brought more in the way of exploring than otherwise was the case. The city of Kilkenny was explored, as was Castletown House near Celbridge in County Kildare. Various walks and cycles around my home in Cheshire have been complimented by episodes of website enhancement. The visible changes have been subtle, but things should load faster now.
What has not been forgotten that there are trip reports outstanding, and that recent round of website tinkering reminded me that I used to split some trip reports into several parts. That was opportune for those relating my Norwegian wanderings will follow that scheme. There will be one each for the 2016 and 2017 trips, and there may be an introductory one too. Chances for such things this summer may be limited by the need to build up some savings again after a period of reduced earnings, but time may bring its own surprises yet.
Of anniversaries and birthdays
7th May 2018 A warm sunny bank holiday weekend may be a rare thing but I have not been lured out and about. In any event, temperatures have risen a little too high for what I call comfortable walking and other preoccupations have overtaken me. Still, they have not been all-consuming so I have not passed the twelfth anniversary of my setting up this blog after a May Day bank holiday trip to Scotland that took in Lochaber, Inverness and highland Perthshire. Sometime in June (the actual date itself is lost to me) marks the twentieth anniversary of my setting up a website for the first time and November is when my public transport website reaches its tenth birthday.
It goes without saying that a lot has happened during these time intervals. Family and work circumstances have changed while my explorations of hill country have become more international; the process of recounting my Norwegian wanderings is an ongoing project. There have been new beginnings and false starts but life has continued in its many ups and downs. The need for constant supply of new and happy memories has been made plain to me as my explorations continue.
Finally, I have got to reading Graham Wilson's Climbing Down and I have other books by the same author to keep me going after that. Guidebooks to parts of North America as well as New Zealand have been perused in the off chance that my wanderings may become intercontinental. Canada's western reaches have their scenic allure together with a hint of danger added by the presence of bears and other wild creatures. It is my intention that those readings continue as I rediscover the necessity of reading books from cover to cover in place of dipping in and out of certain sections. Any way that adds an extra overview has its place. They have added thoughts of visiting Vancouver Island and the Canadian Rockies while any prospect of going as far as New Zealand is more of a long shot.
Before all that, there is a possible venture in my working life that will need setting up if it comes to pass. Once such a thing is place and things are more settled, my hope is that my outdoor explorations will continue. After all, May is the best time of year in Britain and Ireland and I hardly want to let that slip by me if I can help it. Longer outdoors outings may not have happened since February for a variety of reasons but there should be more of the year left for such pursuits. Life's adventure continues.
Wandering around by the Roaches
15th April 2018 After the preceding post leaping forward to April 2017, this one returns to May 2016 when I walked from Leek to Macclesfield by way of the Roaches. It had been a while since I last explored these parts for there was a circular walk from Leek that took in Hen Cloud on a Sunday in a time when there was a direct Sunday bus service between Leek and Macclesfield (now, you need to travel to Stoke-on-Trent by train before travelling by bus from there). That was followed in 2009 with another Sunday stroll that took me from Leek back to Macclesfield while glimpsing the Roaches from afar. Both inspired the route of the more recent encounter because it linked the two towns of the second outing while taking in more of the hills that featured in the first. Given the lack of a direct Sunday bus service and a point-to-point walk not being compatible with the use of a car, it may not surprise anyone that this account tells of a Saturday walk instead.
Like its predecessor in May 2009, this hike also had a lunchtime start. With lengthening hours of daylight allowing more time in an evening, that was no issue and there also was a greater chance of seeing surrounding scenery in more flattering light too. That was just as well because the preceding sunny week had been beset with a fragile mindset. There might have been the foreboding prospect of a meeting involving senior management and work life was not going as I had liked either. Given energy, it was a useful time to go for a long walk.
One thing that gave my spirits a lift was that I got more sunshine than was forecast. Clouds may have got in the way at times, but there was enough sunshine to allow the making of memorable photos as I sauntered along. After getting off the bus before it went on a circuitous route around Leek, I started to encounter and enjoy my first spells of sunshine on the way to and across Brough Park on the way towards Haregate.
From Haregate, I had intended to follow a public footpath that would take me along the eastern side of Tittesworth Reservoir. A seven-year absence made its presence felt by sending me along the western side instead. Faded memories and any new buildings in the intervening period cannot have helped my route finding. There was no irritation though and I opted for a visit to the reservoir itself and a stroll all around it on a path then newly constructed by Severn Trent Water. My attire and rucksack must have looked like a case of overkill to any families who were enjoying the amenity but I was en route to other places that were more in keeping with my appearance.
After leaving the reservoir following a call to the visitor centre for some sustenance and to address some ablution needs, there was some road walking before I found the route of the Churnet Way that I should have been using all the while. The road leading to Tittesworth Reservoir is narrow so I was happy to leave it after me because the pleasant afternoon meant that others were driving along it. Having to keep your wits about you all the time on a walk hardly is a recipe for relaxation and I had a better way of reaching Upper Hulme. After that staging post and a short stretch of a quiet lane, I was back threading on grassy ground again and with Hen Cloud in sight.
Having come around its eastern flank, I reached the saddle between Hen Cloud and the rest of the Roaches. Though it was by now late afternoon, the prospect of a short up and down visit to Hen Cloud's summit was too alluring to resist and it showed me just how popular the crags of the Roaches were with climbers for a line of parked cars could not be missed in these wilder surroundings. The ascent route was subject to diversions and the direct route that I followed involved some scrambling before I reached the top where gentler gradients and better paths prevailed. Thankfully, the way down was a gentler affair aside from having knee-testing gradients.
After returning to the saddle, I made for those tops that I had been surveying from the top of Hen Cloud. Though the place is criss-crossed with different paths, I fancied sticking to the public footpath, so my line was a less direct one around the eastern side of the Roaches. It meant that any encounter with climbers was delayed as I made my indistinct way uphill over ground that would be soggy if I came at another time. Doing so meant putting any qualms about route finding to one side because I can find myself fussing too much about such things at times. Soon enough, I was brought to the spine of the eminence and climbers were so well scattered as not to present any intrusion. It was becoming a quiet evening stroll and I was surprised by coming across Doxey Pool even if I would have spotted it on a map if I had planned things in more detail beforehand.
My preference is for keeping plans flexible because hill countries can be different to what you expect and I had been playing with the idea of a circular walk from Leek similar to the one I enjoyed in January 2008. The time of day and the pleasant surroundings decided me, so a walk to Macclesfield was to occupy for the rest of any daylight hours. Possibilities for other excursions in the area were presented to me in the form of Ramshaw Rocks, another haven for crag climbers. It might be that a hat-trick of Leek to Macclesfield walks might be completed if I go around by these sometime. The prospect is an appealing one that could have made use of the sunny day on which I am writing these words. Sunnier and warmer weather is forecast for later in the coming week, so that could have a use yet.
The northern end of the Roaches is more rounded than other parts and is topped with a trig point that I reached during what was by then a sun-blessed amble. It, too, has its weathered rocky outcrops though and I was to leave this as I lost height, first to reach a lane near Roach End and then to reach the River Dane near Gradbach after passing through Forest Wood where I had rested a while. It all seemed so calm that one could surmise that a piece of heaven had been encountered.
A short stretch of the Dane Valley Way beckoned before I passed a noisy scout troop camped near what once was a YHA hostel. It left me wondering why some felt the need to disturb the wondrous peace of such a location but I soon noted that the old hostel had been turned into an outdoor pursuits centre before a steep uphill climb presented itself after a crossing of the River Dane using a useful bridge.
Once the gradients levelled off, there was a lane crossing ahead of me before I started on a track that would convey me to the A54. While there was some disquiet in my mind about passing signs of a working farm, it was here that I also got some wonderful backward glances of where I had been. The added height meant that I could see as far as Roach End and Ramshaw Rocks from well within the county of Cheshire. Staffordshire may have been left for the day but it was not out of sight just yet.
That took a crossing of the A54 after which exploratory route finding was needed to ensure that I was on the right path. It was early evening by then, so there was no soul to disturb with my wanderings. Others must come this way too for there was an honesty box station purveying such items as cartons of orange juice and I was to relish one of these after contributing the appropriate recompense. The village of Wildboarclough was my next landmark after some descent near Berry Bank Farm and getting there needed more attention to navigation.
After Wildboarclough, fields again were crossed to reach the lane leading to Greenway Bridge and the use of red and green bucket lids to make out the positions of stiles was welcome given how far apart the field boundaries were. Fields of suckler cows and calves were negotiated with signs declaring some leniency in the line of the path to be followed, never a bad thing given incidents where cows injure passing walkers though my farm upbringing adds extra experience that others may not possess.
At Greenway Bridge, I could have taken another path around by Oakenclough Farm but decided to stay with the road because of the time of day. That may have had the unintended effect of exposing tired legs to even stepper gradients, but steady progress with a few rest stops got me to the road that was to take me down via Higher Sutton. Tarmac travel made for sore feet though but I was glad of the still easier progress as the sun was setting. Daylight stayed long enough for me to meet with street lights after Gurnett and not have to worry about its decline any more. It had been a good simple day out, something much needed after the complexities of the preceding week. The good weather continued for another day, but my limbs needed recuperation so I limited myself to less strenuous enjoyment.
Travel Arrangements
Bus service 109 from Macclesfield to Leek.
