Sunlit journeying under a cloud of condescension
Published on 24th October 2024 
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes"I could wait here all day", he said condescendingly. That is not a response that you need from a bus driver when buying a bus ticket using a debit card. Every other ticket machine that I encountered did not need the card to be placed on the machine like this one did. Not being a regular, I did not think of that. That driver came across as a jobsworth and was not at all helpful. It felt like I met someone who was killing time until retirement, and the experience was such that I got off the bus in Leek when someone else did. It felt better not to share space with that driver.
The payment was made on the day when it was required, so I did my part. The operator dropped the service later in the year; it is difficult to keep going if you have staff that are not customer-friendly, but there may be other reasons. Later on, another driver with the same company, albeit working a different route, came across as more anxious yet was helpful at the same time; he reminded me what to do with a debit card as you would hope. That cannot be faulted. The previous summer, I overheard a conversation involving yet another driver from the same company. The topic was how uncomfortable passengers felt about a different driver. It makes one wonder when you hear things like that.
The real disappointment is that this was a more mainstream company and now the dominant operator in Cheshire East. Their having facilities beyond those of a smaller operator made me fancy walking around Leek more often. The truth is that I have not been there since that day in June 2021, and that a previous operator regained the route under council contract after a messy transition.
Since I now have another place to put them, I normally do not share musings on public transport on here any longer. There was a time when I did so, but that has passed. Such was how I took the response at the time that it cast a shadow over the rest of the day. Hence, it needs mentioning. Thankfully, I had decided on walking all the way home, avoiding a repeat encounter; my nature is conflict averse at the best of times.
Once off the bus, I could begin to put the whole thing behind me; the day was sunny, so distractions could come my way. There was overlap with previous traipsing between Leek and Buxton the previous year, yet the public transport experience and the effort involved in collating route variations for various hikes from Hayfield was enough to put me off including this account in that narrative.
The way from Leek to the Roaches probably was a quiet affair, as it so often is, yet details of the route taken are lost to me now. Even photos are not much help, since pastoral countryside can look similar in all sorts of places. However, I did make for the Roaches without visiting Hen Cloud. There were quite a few up there, which might have deflected me as much as have being there before. Being between vaccination doses continued to keep me cautious.
As I continued north, much was as familiar to me as it was good to see it again, especially with sunshine. Tittesworth Reservoir lay below, Ramshaw Rocks were there to the east and in the west there was Croker Hill and Shutlingsloe. While making tracks in one county, it was possible to glimpse towards two more. The day was feeling much better.
However, it was having its busier moments as well. Seeing a large group going around was a reminder that many were getting more relaxed. Restrictions were easier and the ongoing vaccination programme had gifted political benefits, ones that were not to last. After the Roaches, my wandering took me over Back Forest and near Lud's Church, which is where that large group intruded on my day somewhat; my sense is that they were staying in group accommodation (possibly the former YHA in Gradbach, now an outdoor adventure centre?) and this was part of a circular route that they were following. Nevertheless, there were ample views over Gradbach and the nascent Dane Valley that compensated as much as those towards Shutlingsloe and what was near there.
Things grew quieter around Hangingstone Farm, which was to my taste. By this stage, I was near where I had first gone on the Sunday of a Spring Bank Holiday weekend in 2009. Danebridge was the next landmark on my route and where I would cross the River Dane to re-enter Cheshire. It would have been tempting to think that I was most of the way home, yet that would have been wishful thinking.
Initial impressions that the route from Danebridge had slipped from recollection now look pessimistic, for there remain some reminders. Hammerton Farm and Longgutter are made probable by my remembering that the latter was peopled with a family or families enjoying a country stay. It might have been that I needed to ask the way through there as well. Bonhomie was the general air thereabouts, a contrast to the start of the day. Eventually, I would have alighted on the lane leading me to Higher Sutton, Ridge Hill and beyond to Macclesfield. This is supported by the appearance of Tegg's Nose in my photographic records, and Shutlingsloe looms large here too.
The spirit may have been wounded, yet the day was not spoilt. That is how things feel to me now, having shared my thoughts on how it all began. Maybe that is the point of writing these accounts; the act helps to deal with any wounds and other things that may have gone awry. As I worked through this one, I was reminded of when my elderly Meindl Burma boots failed the preceding Easter. Their successors set the scene for a tale of a trot from Miller's Dale to Castleton over two months later.
Travel Arrangements
Outbound journey on bus service 109 from Macclesfield to Leek.
