Rainow, Cheshire, England

My first encounter with Rainow was on an August bank holiday Monday bike ride that exposed me to the steepness of the gradients around here, a consequence of its nestling in a sheltering steep sided valley. Along with the memory of an August foray to Buxton, it may have made me susceptible to the charms of hill walking as a means of exploring hill country.

These days, the village is a pleasant backwater, but it has an industrial past: coal mining and quarrying. These continued for centuries until the building of the Macclesfield Canal and the arrival of cheap coal from Staffordshire. The coal mining has been consigned to history though there still is some quarrying on nearby Kerridge Hill.

On the day of making the photo, I had started from Bollington to make my way along the Saddle of Kerridge after passing the White Nancy. Eventually, I got as far as Tegg's Nose Country Park before starting my return home in fading light. There was a deviation around by The Hollins before I made my way along the Macclesfield Canal and then along the town's streets under lamplight.