Gritstone Trail day 2, with Matt, Peter, Rob and others

This post follows on from Gritstone Trail day 1, and took place the day after...

After a very much appreciated night's rest and then breakfast at the vicarage, we prepared to walk again. Half of us attended the 8.30am church service, while the others raided the village shop for supplies for the day, coming back with rolls and various fillings for sandwiches. We were joined by Andrew, Pete and Ian, making us a party of 9 today. We headed swiftly to the base of:


Tegg's Nose with Matt

And then we started climbing. I think it was a good job
that we were fresh after a good night's rest, because although it didn't take long to get to the top, it was a bit of a steep climb. By the time we reached the summit, Matt was already in need of a blister plaster for his heel, and we were all a bit hot and out of breath. If the exertion hadn't been enough to take our breath away, then the views might have done! You could look down to the reservoirs below in Macclesfield Forest, across to Shutlingsloe and Shining Tor, and also, of course, back to where we had come from, Croker Hill with The Cloud just visible behind. Tegg's nose was a fascinating place to be. The hill has been extensively quarried for the stone in the past and there are a few old and now rusting quarrying tools/machines left behind with info boards telling you all about how things used to be. The thought of climbing up the hill before starting your day's work was quite sobering, apparently whoever arrived first had to light the fire for the blacksmith. I'm not sure who reached the top in our group, but they certainly didn't start any fires. Matt did amazingly well to complete the challenge of the Gritstone Trail, as I think his blisters started to form as soon as we left the train at Kidsgrove station. It is therefore with great pleasure that I can announce that Tegg's Nose is now 'Matt's Hill'!

We left Tegg's Nose, and stopped for a bit of DIY surgery to Matt's blisters (he has the most amazing Swiss Army Knife I have ever seen) at the Tegg's Nose Coutry Park Visitor Centre before heading off down the North side of the hill, eventually to cross the Macclesfield-Buxton Road into a field of cows, their calves, and a large bull. It was at this point that I was glad that: a) I had not brought Monty (the dog) on the walk and b) I was with Ed (brought up as a farmer) and Matt (who for reasons too complicated to explain has experience with bulls...). Fortunately we negotiated the field without miss hap and escaped over a stile to further fields beyond. Again, today, we walked through a number of beautiful meadows, full of buttercups and other wild flowers. I tried a few photo's, but none really did the scenes justice.

We eventually found ourselves in the outskirts of the village of Rainow. Ed reckoned that Rainow claims to be the largest village in England, but I have been unable to confirm that via my google search. It can lay claim to having the first concrete reservoir dam in England, and also the highest constructed dam in England though, at the nearby Lamaload Reservoir! After a short stretch of road leading out of the village we then started to climb again, this time up:

Kerridge Hill with Peter



Kerridge Hill is a Sandstone Hill, which over time has been quarried for the stone, and also for coal. At it's northern end it looks down upon the town of Bollington, but we climbed up half way along, to reach the Saddle of Kerridge. At this point, Peter, Andrew and I made a detour left off the Grtistone trail to take in the trig point and summit of the hill. This gave us another chance to look back on our route, where all of our hills could once again be seen. The other landmark which was clearly visible for our entire route so far was Jodrell Bank. The radio telescope had been haunting us since we first climbed Mow Cop the day before. I have visited there in the past, but not for many years. I remember it as a good day out. Worth a visit if you're in the area. We made our way back down to join the others, and Andrew then realised that it is foolish to leave your ruck sac unsupervised with a group of your so-called-friends. Somehow it seemed a little heavier than when he'd left it there - the chunks of dry-stone wall in the bottom may have accounted for this!

For a while we had been able to see a white landmark on the northern end of Kerridge Hill. We had been debating what it might be, with guesses including a folly or a war memorial. As we reached it, we weren't really any the wiser! We knew that it was White Nancy, but there is nothing there to explain why it was built. This link will tell you all you need to know! For those of you who would rather stay with the blog, i can tell you that it is thought to have been built to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. It is an impressive structure, and I think we look like a happy bunch sat in front of it in our photo at the top of this page. This was a perfect spot for us to sit and eat lunch.




From our vantage point over lunch we could look down to Bollington, which was built on quarrying, and then the cotton industry. We could also look North East to our next hill. After descending from White Nancy, we picked our way through various fields and over stiles, gradually climbing up towards:

Sponds Hill with Rob

I think it's fair to say that Rob also found the weekend a challenge (didn't we all!). His feet survived in a better state that Matt's did, but he was very glad to reach the summit of Sponds Hill as this was going to be the last hill of the weekend. Once again, the trig point was a short way off the path, so we didn't all go. peter and Ed stayed behind guarding ruck sacs. What I didn't realise at the time was that the trig point is sat upon an ancient Barrow. This Bronze Age structure went unnoticed by us all at the time! We did, however appreciate the great views in all directions taking in Kinder to the East with the Pennines running down from North to South, up to Manchester in the North and just being able to see across to the Cheshire Plains West. Once again, top views!

After rejoining everyone else, we started our final descent. It wasn't long before the landscape changed into clearly managed countryside, and then through a gate in a wall to definite 'country estate' land. The most bizarre experience of the entire weekend was right at the end. After spending the majority of the weekend without seeing anyone else (ok, a few people around and about on the summits, but otherwise very quiet), we walked through a gate to be confronted with a busy car park and hundreds of people playing, picnicking and buying ice-cream!

The ice-cream queue was what we then joined! Lyme Park is a great country house, now owned by the National Trust. It's probably best recognised from the BBC Pride and Prejudice series, notably for where Mr Darcy swims in the lake...

So, we made it! A total of 35 miles, and a few hills! It felt like a good achievement for us all, and i got to know a few folks I'd not really met before. All in all a great weekend. Thanks to Matt, Peter and Rob for my 28th, 29th and 30th hills!

Gritstone Trail Day 1 with Rob, Richard, Simon and others!

This weekend I joined a group of men from our church to walk the Gritstone Trail. We did this as a challenge to raise money for the church restoration fund. 6 of us walked the whole trail over 2 days (35 miles) and we were joined by 2 extra on Saturday, and 3 extra on Sunday. We couldn't have hoped for better weather, and we had a great time. We walked the trail from South (Kidsgrove) to North (Disley - although we ended at Lyme Park). We all met at the train station at 8.15am to catch the train to Kidsgrove, and studied the maps on the journey. As soon as we left the station and walked onto the canal tow path at the start of the route, we immediately had a debate about which way to walk along the canal. We chose wisely.

The start of the trail follows the Macclesfield canal north, until you head East to tackle the first of a number of hills:

Mow Cop with Rob

Mow Cop is a small village on the Cheshire/Staffordshire border, and is best known locally for Mow Cop Castle. This was built as a summer house in 1754 by Wilbrham I of Rode Hall. It was designed to look like a ruined castle, and would have enhanced the view of the hill from the hall. The castle can be seen for miles around, and certainly does look like a ruin, even more so now after 250yrs of weathering! You can walk (or in fact, drive) right up to the base of the 'castle', and views from here are fantastic. We could see right across the Cheshire plain, and pick out Bickerton (my 2nd hill) as well as a number of hills in the distance, possibly the Berwyns and the Clywds. We could also now see our route as it stretched north for us towards The Cloud and beyond.

Rob was the leader and organiser of this walk, so it seemed fitting that he should have Mow Cop as 'his' hill with it being our first climb of the day. He appears in the photo standing in front of The Old Man of Mow. This rock structure has been left behind after quarrying, and does indeed look like an old man sat down! We didn't find the climb up to Mow Cop as bad as we had been expecting. We had been watching it get closer for a while, but as you walk up the steep sections were separated by some flatter bits. Reaching the village felt like an achievement though! You arrive at the top next to the church, and an old watering hole with the label 'The Parson's Well'. We agreed that he was!

You leave Mow Cop and head pretty much due north along a great ridge. We could see The Cloud ahead of us, although some way off. The views just continued across the Cheshire Plain all day over to our left. We eventually left the ridge and followed the Gritstone Trail markers to the bottom of:

The Cloud with Ed

The Cloud is a great hill to climb. The views form the top are fantastic. We all hunkered down behind some rocks for shelter to eat our packed lunches.

Looking across to the north we could make out Croker Hill with it's radio mast, which was our objective for later in the day. We had made great progress up until this point, averaging about 3 miles per hour, but the climb up to the top was a bit more of a challenge. Although the hill is not that high, you start the ascent with some brutal steps, which I had remembered from January as being very difficult for Bethan with her shorter legs! Some of us started to have trouble with our knees and feet at this point, and we still had 10 miles to go... We ate our lunch on the top, sheltering behind some of the rocks. Legend has it that a giant once stood with one foot here, and one foot on Tegg's nose (see Grtistone trail day 2). When he lifted his foot to walk off, he left behind some grit from his shoe, thus forming The Cloud. It was behind some of this left-behind-grit that we escaped from the cold wind! A cracking team photo got Ed up on top of the trig-point, then we headed down.

The trail then heads East for at least a couple of miles, before swinging back North and West. The countryside was beautiful, and we found ourselves walking through a number of colourful meadows. the walking was fairly up and down, but with no challenging climbs, until we eventually started our final climb of the day, which took a zig-zag route to eventually get us to the top of:

Croker Hill and Sutton Common with Richard and Simon

Now, this hill has been shared, because Richard and Simon were only joining us for the day. They both, I'm sure, wished they could have joined us for the 15 miles we had to do the next day, although they didn't seem too disappointed when their lift arrived to take them back home to their own beds...! I must point out at this point that Richard's wife, Andrea, had packed Richard and Simon off in the morning with a 'survival pack' each. This contained such essentials as a toy whistle to call for help, a lollipop 'whistle' to play a happy tune on, and a small shot of something designed to give you extra energy to 'run away from any chasing cows,' My favourite though, were the two glow-sticks, added in case of being stuck out overnight, so that we could 'signal the helicopter'!

Croker Hill has a big radio mast on the top, but that doesn't really detract from the view. We could see back to The Cloud and to Mow Cop behind in the distance, and could also see ahead North to Tegg's Nose and our overnight destination below us. From here on in, it was almost like being in a car full of children asking 'are we nearly there yet!' The final couple of miles down from the top and then along the road to the village did seem like a long way, but at least it was downhill, and a pub was waiting for us at the bottom!

We had arranged to be put up in the vicarage of the village, and remain eternally grateful to the vicar who provided mattresses and breakfast!

All in all, a great day. Fantastic company and unbelievable views. Thanks to Rob, Richard and Simon, for hills 26 and 27!

Mount Famine with Achla

Achla is one of my work colleagues, and we both get the same day off during the week. This Tuesday we decided to go out together to climb Mount Famine (473m). Unfortunately, we picked a rather wet day. We had planned a slightly longer walk than we actually managed, as we decided to head back to the pub after the first summit. By then we were more than a little damp!

I've been unable to find out why Mount Famine is so called. Doing a google search for it, just produces several links related to the fell races starting from Hayfield, which is where our walk also started. Despite the rotten weather, we did, in fact, see a fell runner on the top. He looked significantly wetter than we were!

We parked and started our walk from the visitor centre, and walked through the village of Hayfield to find a path leading alongside the river. We picked up signs for the Penine Bridle Way, which we followed for a while before turning right up a short hill and over a stile (always fun with Monty) to gain a ridge. On a fine day this would have afforded great views across the valley, but we had to be satisfied with a misty view across to the hills beyond. We descended from the ridge to cross the bridleway, and then ascended Mount Famine itself. There was a path on the ground, although nothing on the OS map. We walked amongst the sheep (keeping Monty on a short lead), and had a final steep climb up to the summit.

The walk books and websites say that the view from Mount Famine is one of the best you get of Kinder Low, which is the highest point on Kinder Scout. You can, apparently, also sometimes see the spray from Kinder Downfall, which is a large waterfall coming down from the plateau. I've only ever seen it from the top, never from the valley below. This whole area was the centre of a significant event in 1932. On Sunday 24th April that year, about 400 ramblers set off from Bowden Bridge Quarry to climb up onto Kinder Scout. They were trying to assert their 'right to roam', and this mass trespass had wide reaching repercussions, leading ultimately to changes in the law, and the widespread freedom we now have to ramble and roam around the countryside. Those of us who like to walk and ramble have a lot to thank these 400 trespassers!

Once we had taken our photos at the top, we decided that we would be better placed in a pub, rather than out on the wet hills. We retraced our steps to the bridleway, and then walked back along it to the village. A pleasant lunch was had in one of the hotels, washed down with a 1/2 pint of Cumberland Ale.

Although the weather was grim, it was, as ever, great to be out. We managed to avoid talking continually about work, and both felt better for our exertions. Thanks, Achla, for joining me for hill number 25! Only 15 to go!!

The Long Mynd with Jen and Nick

The Long Mynd has been on the list to do with Jen ever since I started the 40 hills challenge. Jen is one of our oldest and best friends, and she got married to Nick last December. Nick, on the other hand, is one of our newest friends, having only met Jen a couple of years ago! We met on Saturday to climb the Long Mynd with both of them, planning 2 hills along the way.


It was a glorious day, warm and sunny, so we packed our picnic lunch and plenty of water, and set off from Carding Mill Valley by the National Trust tea room and shop and headed on up the valley towards the hills. We took the path up towards the waterfall, which was not as impressive as when we were last here in the snow in January. Most of the climbing was done here, and once we reached the Shropshire Way we headed for our first and highest peak:


Pole Bank with Jen


The higher we climbed, the greater our views, particularly looking back East over Church Stretton to Caer Caradoc, Lawley, Hope Bowdler and other (to us) nameless hills. As we approached the summit, Jen got into her stride and powered up the final slopes, beating us all to the trig point and toposcope. Once there, we had views West towards the Stiperstones and beyond. It was a little hazy, but nevertheless, better than being in the cloud! Jen has (wisely) got Nick to carry their lunch up the hill in their picnic rucksac, so they were able to enjoy drinks out of a wine glass (I never checked to see if they were glass or plastic...)


We all enjoyed lunch, and managed to take our photos of ourselves at the top before a crowd of other walkers arrived to spoil the view! We also saw a few mountain bikers around, cycling over the top. I also noticed that this part of the Shropshire Way is also part of the Ride UK network for horse riders. There were no riders around today though. Plenty of sheep, skylarks and crows, but no horses...


After lunch we headed off the top via a small path East down to the road, which we followed North for a short way, before picking up a path on the right signed to Townsbrook. This route headed up and down a bit (mainly down) until we could see our next destination:


Yearlet with Nick


Now, a word about Nick. As mentioned earlier, we are still getting to know him, and so, what to say about him? He is a writer, and has his own website. He is fond of horror stories and mysteries/legends, and has particularly liked those bits of my blog that have referenced local stories - check out The Roaches and The Wrekin for examples. So, what to say about the Long Mynd? There don't seem to be that many legends or stories about the Long Mynd, but I have discovered that some local legends have it that both Wild Eric and the White Lady haunt the Long Mynd. Wild Eric was a Saxon warrior, and while I'm not sure who the White Lady was meant to be, she apparently likes joining in with local dances. We didn't do any dancing, which is perhaps why we didn't see her on our walk. Further research (well, a quick google search) makes me wonder whether my original information was correct, and whether Wild Eric is, in fact, Wild EDRIC.

The tale of Wild Edric is both beautiful and sad, as all good storied tend to be. Edric was a great Saxon Lord in Shropshire, and loved to hunt in the Shropshire hills. Legend has it that one day he came across a beautiful maiden, whom he took back to his manor. He discovered she was non other than Godda, a Fairy Queen, and we married her. She agreed to marry him and remain in human form so long as he never reproached her for being Fairy. All went well for many years, until one day he lost his temper and broke his vow. She returned to the land of the fairy, and he never saw her again. He became a wild man, hunting for her across the hills. He died shortly after, but the legend tells that he can still be seen hunting for Godda across the hills...

He was not out hunting while we were there...

Yearlet looks like a small detour on the map, but when you get to the bottom of it, just as the path would otherwise descend back down towards Townsbrook, it seems like quite a climb. The direct route up (which we took) was steep, but not too long, and we managed it without too much difficulty. Jen, once again, managed to find some extra energy to storm up, allegedly running part of it! We found her sat on the cairn. The views from here seemed even better, and we could see Caer Caradoc better than before. We enjoyed a short rest before heading down, steeply, to the small pond which I assume is Townsbrook.

By now Monty was thirsty, and very hot. He managed to reach down for a drink from the pool, but I thought he could do with a cooling dip, so 'encouraged' him to jump in (OK, so I pushed him...). He was fine, although Bethan did accuse me of being 'very mean' to him. It certainly cooled him down!

It was only a short walk form there back to Carding Mill Valley, and the cars. We enjoyed a cup of tea and a scone and Bethan had a huge ice-cream.

It was a great day. Thanks Jen and Nick for these hills, and especially to Nick for the inspiration to research about Wild Edric...!

Hen Cloud and The Roaches with Lynn and Dave

Last Tuesday we finally fixed a date to go out with my parents in law, Lynn and Dave. The day before, I was worried we were going to have to cancel, as the weather forecast was rotten. This was particularly naff as we'd just had 2 sunny days over the bank holiday. We decided we would go anyway, but did move our start time back slightly as the forecast improved in the afternoon. We met at the Roaches Tea Rooms to fuel up before the walk, and can thoroughly recomend it as a place for a cup of tea, a peice of cake, or even for a full meal!

After the tea and scones we moved the car up the road and parked in between Hen Cloud and The Roaches. Our first objective was:

Hen Cloud with Lynn

Hen Cloud is a lump of gritstone sat at the southern end of the Roaches ridge. It stands out clearly weith great rock formations, and is usually a haunt of climbers. Currently, however, there are nesting peregrine falcons, so climbers are being asked to stay away. The Roaches can be found in the Staffordshire Moorlands, and are a popular spot. On a clear day the views are tremendous, although unfortunately today it was a bit misty. We had better views than on some of my hills (see The Cloud with Rach), but not perfect! The Staffodshire Moorlands can be an erie place in the mist. There are a number of legends and supposed hauntings, including the legend of the ghost of the headless horseman. This phantom was supposedly decapitated in Yorkshire during a battle between the English and the Scots, and his horse brought him home to the Moorlands, and then promptly died himself. The horse and his headless rider have supposedl been seen riding the moors ever since.

Thankfully, there was no sign of him while we were there...

Hen Cloud is a steep climb, but only short, so just as you start to think your out of breath, you're at the top. The very top seems to be a slab of rock which sits at an angle, with a not insigficant drop beyond. Lynn and myself stood upon in slightly nervously, thankfull that the wind was trying to blow us back onto solid ground, not out into the void! We had a short wander around the top looking at the rock formations, then retraced our steps back to the cars for our lunch before heading back to tackle:

The Roaches with Dave

The Roaches are named after a slight change to the French work for rock (roche), and is an apt description. It's a rocky gritstone ridge that sticks up out of the surrounding countryside. A great place for climbing, and indeed there were climbers there while we were out walking. I remember as a boy in the cubs and scouts talking about The Roaches being a good spot for abseiling, and you can see why when you're there. We climbed up with Hen Cloud behind us, finding the path wind it's way up between the rocks to the ridge. Form there it was a fairly easy walk along to the top, some 1-2 miles along. The views were great, even with the mist, and we could see 3 of my previous hills, which was good as when I climbed each of them , I'd had no view at all! We could see The Cloud, Shutlingsloe and Shining Tor.

As you walk along the ridge, you will come to a pool. This is known as Doxey Pool, and legend reports that not only is it thought to be bottomless in the middle, but that it is haunted. Tales tell of a mermaid called Jenny Greenteeth being seen in the pool, luring the unsuspecting to a watery grave. We were fortunate enough not to see her, and Monty was particularly fortunate to escape after running into the mud at the edge of her pool!

One of the creatures it was a shame we did not see during our walk were the wallabies. They had been released onto the moorlands during the war, but the feeling now is that they have not survived, which is a shame - it would have been nice to see one!

After we reached the top, and took our customary photos, we decided to cut a corner of our proposed route, and took a beeline down the side of the hill to reach a small road by heading pretty much due East. Following the road South, then picking up a footpath, we were able to make our way back round to the bottom of Hen Cloud again. A handy bench had been placed, and we enjoyed sitting for a few moments reflecting on our walk.

Although we had not seen a great deal of wildlife, we had heard plenty of birdsong, including skylarks and I'm sure a Curlew, although I'll have to check that! It was another great day to be out, and we all enjoyed ourselves. Just being outside (and missing the rain) was enough to lighten our spirits! Thanks to Lynn and Dave for my 21st and 22nd hills!