A hub for numerous hill country wanderings
3rd March 2012 January's walk from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton caused me to recall other walks that started or ended at the Cat and Fiddle Inn. When I set to pondering the trip report for that hike, the idea of collecting them together as a preamble to the trip report was stymied by there being so many of them over the years and there could (and should) have been more than these.
Thus, that planned preamble has been moved here. Most of those walks that featured the Cat and Fiddle Inn at some point in their route started from there, and I only recall one that finished there. Another thing that strikes me is that many of their number took place before this blog existed, so I reckon that it's no harm recalling them here. As it happens, time has made the memories of some more vague, so it's best to recall them somewhere before recollections fade further. It appears that writing those trip reports helps to reinforce memories, and it helps to be able to return to them later, too.
Buxton to the Cat and Fiddle Inn
The first on this list is what I believe to be the only walk from Buxton that landed me at the Cat and Fiddle Inn. It was a snowy affair and Buxton was snow-covered when I got there. Coming from the south-west of Ireland, as I do, meant that the sight remained a novelty even under slate grey skies as I lingered next to the cenotaph on The Slopes in the heart of the town. My next port of call was Poole Cavern Country Park where I passed through woodland with a white coating on its floor. That there was a snow shower as I went on my added to the magic of the experience.
From there, it was a matter of stitching a few public footpaths together to get me to where I wanted to be to await my bus home. As I continued west, the snow cover grew more tenuous. It was patchy as I passed the HSE Laboratory, but I seem to recall seeing a snowman by the side of the A54 as I passed that way. The A537 was encountered after that, and quiet lanes got me to my stopping point for the day. Looking at the map again, it appears that I may have passed Dane Head as I plied my way, though I seem to remain no images of its appearance that day, though sunshine was not plentiful. The year is one I cannot name either, but why does that matter when the experiences live on regardless?
Following the River Dane to Rushton Spencer
There are some years that don't get forgotten and 2004 was one of them for a few reasons. The summer was a washout though I did manage to pick off the best of the weather for a visit to the Western Highlands in Scotland during August before a wet autumn descended on us. Though I did manage a sunlit visit to Snowdonia in the previous month, my main memory still remains that 2004 wasn't a great year for walking.
The weather-induced autumnal hiatus caused me to leave walking aside until early November, and I was more than ready for a walk at that stage. Thanks to the weather, sodden terrain and soft going was my lot as I hiked from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Rushton Spencer. Though it left me with very muddy boots, the conditions did nothing to dispel the sense of satisfaction gained from getting outside again. The dirty footwear wasn't an impediment to catching a bus home that day, either, though the current state of the public finances has meant that it no longer runs these days. Hopefully, we may see a bus connection between Macclesfield and Leek again, most likely in better times.
After a soundtrack taking me by Danebower Hollow, the Dane Valley Way was to convey me for the rest of the way. This was where I met all the mud under overcast skies with a foolish footstep leaving me with a leg sunk in mud up to the shin in a gateway, always problematic places due to animal traffic and congregation. Three Shire Heads was behind me at this stage with a return needed for photographic purposes; that had to wait until January 2012, so there'll be more about that in time. Maybe I'll repeat the walk in similarly sunny conditions to refresh my memory and make the most of what's there.
Via Shutlingsloe to Macclesfield
While out on that November 2004 stroll, I spotted another footpath that caught my attention, but a few years were to follow before a hillwalking year was begun with a hike that made use of that route option. Then, I walked from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to my home in Macclesfield and took in a windswept Shutlingsloe before going down from there through Macclesfield Forest to start a more level route for the rest of the way. Then, ground conditions largely were favourable, apart from a section in Macclesfield Forest, and the day stayed dry, though the sun wasn't as free of the cloud cover as might have been hoped. It did nothing to take from the fact that 2009 got its debut as a walking year at the end of that January.
To Buxton via the Goyt Valley
March often sees a whitening of the countryside at its start and one such episode of this caused me to abandon a planned trot around the Derbyshire Dales in 2006 (shortly before I started what you find here) to embark on one that skirted Shining Tor and crossed the Goyt Valley to reach Buxton by following the Midshires Way. It was the white coating that caused the change of plan since not many scenes like that which you see above were my lot until more recent years. The result was that I wasn't going to leave this chance to go on me, and plenty of snow was trodden though there remained patches of ground that lay uncovered too. Long-time followers of these musings should be aware that I have met with more snowy conditions since then.
To Whaley Bridge via Shining Tor and Kettleshulme
As if to pause the pre-Christmas rush in 2007, I took a day off from work and a local hike ensued. It took me from the Cat and Fiddle Inn over Shining Tor and onto Whaley Bridge via Pym Chair and Windgather Rocks. A route was found that avoided much of the B5470 to drop from Kettleshulme into my final destination for the day. The trot had taken me along frozen hillsides in glorious winter sunshine, so I didn't decry the declining light on the final stages of the walk.
To Macclesfield via Shining Tor, Lamaload Reservoir and Rainow
This was a variation of the above route that actually preceded; it might have been the overcast skies on the first time around that resulted in a partial repeat. On that Sunday, I walked from the second-highest inn in England as far as Pym Chair. Though I am making do with disjointed stored mental images, I believe that I made way from there to Thursbitch before turning in a switchback manner for the way to Redmoor and then Lamaload and Rainow. It looks like an indirect yet intriguing course of travel, and the switchback section in embedded in my mind, though I wouldn't have associated walking by Lamaload with this day out. With that surprise in mind, I reckon that re-walking this part would be no bad idea. After all, it feels that a memory bank needs refilling and there are plenty of other options in these parts. They may keep me busy for a while yet.
Reminders of past outings
20th February 2012 My first two major walking outings of this year have been in parts of England and they share one thing in common: they are reminders of past excursions. The second of these happened over the weekend and took me to Northumberland where I walked along the coast from Alnmouth to Embleton and took in Dunstanburgh Castle along the way. That recalled a trot of a cloudy day over six years ago that also started from Alnmouth but went as far as Craster before I turned towards Alnmouth train station again. Last Saturday had me hiking in far sunnier if more blustery conditions so I could make more of my surroundings in the photographic sense. Having been delighted by what I have revisited, thoughts of continuing north from Embleton as far as Bamburgh are coming to mind along with those proposing a visit to Alnwick Castle.
January's stroll from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton reminded me of an earlier outing in November 2004 (not a great year from the weather point of view so the ground was very unsound in places) that took me from the same starting point but finished at Rushton Spencer in the dark. Again, more cloud abounded on that day it was a release to have gotten out of doors even if a careless step landed me up to my shin in brown Staffordshire clay. It was with very muddy feet that I caught the bus home from Rushton Spencer that evening though there was no comment from driver or passengers.
Those two returns of a kind have me wondering if there might be more of that this year. However, I have unspent ideas from exploring other parts of Staffordshire and Derbyshire that may come in handy yet. After all, lurking on Twitter is revealing more of the delights that lie not so far away from me and that has me asking if this could be a year of Peak District walking trips. Only time will answer that question.
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.
