Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

On a bus journey from Macclesfield to New Mills some time back, I made a mental note of the pleasant hill country through which the B5470 threads its way from Rainow to Kettleshulme. Even though the memory remained with me, for some reason unbeknownst to me I never managed to take a walk among the glorious surroundings until last Thursday afternoon. And that amazes me all the more when I look at the map and consider my ventures: there are many places in the vicinity where I have wandered but this gap in my explorations still remained.

The morning was taken up with the main reason for my day off from work, an unsuccessful venture that left me feeling annoyed with myself, so a walk on a fine October day seemed as good a distraction as any. It may have not been the complete cure for my annoyance that I was hoping it would have been but my head was clearer than before I popped out.

The sun was unsure of itself while I was readying myself for the outing and I was wondering whether I would be seeing the landscape in the best light. I carried onto to Bollington anyway and I’m glad that I did because the sun returned and, apart from some stutters, stayed away from clouds for the whole afternoon. I pottered up a minor road and picked up the Gritstone Trail for a while before I left it for a vehicle track taking me along the slopes above Harrop Brook. Looking back now at the route that I took, it could be said that I followed the same brook to its source on the slopes of Cook Hill and Broad Moss. A closer look at the map revealed a number of names accompanying Harrop Brook: Black Brook and Moss Brook are but two. My journey following these took me past the end of the vehicle track and onto muddier underfoot conditions as I passed through woodland and over fields, crossing the B5470 along the way.

Once across the aforementioned road, the views really opened up. I ascended the minor heights of Broad Moss and views north towards the moors of the High Peak were mine to enjoy. That wasn’t all since Taxal Edge, Pym Chair and Cat’s Tor all blocked any view of the Goyt Valley and its reservoirs. Those hills and the valley in question have been frequented by my boots on other walks so I made my way towards Charles Head and Kettleshulme. Getting to the latter proved tricky because the B5470 is a busy if narrow road devoid of footways so careful progress is a must if you are not to get knocked down. This is not an escape route to civilisation for the hill wanderer until you reach Rainow and it certainly is no road to be walking in the dark.

Kettleshulme was to be the end of my walk on a wonderful day in equally wonderful surroundings. The public footpaths followed shared a property that pervades much of the public footpath network in England and Wales: haphazard waymarking. This makes it essential to be on the ball with your map and your compass; GPS would help too. Where things got tricky, I kept it simple and, since my plan was fluid, any diversions taken were no disappointment. In fact, they added to the experience.

The weather in Britain and Ireland is an ever changing affair and doesn’t take long to change when it sets its mind to it; thirty minutes often is all that’s needed. The weather this weekend is what’s put that thought into my head. Yesterday morning started as a cloudy affair before the cloud shifted to leave cloudless blue sky and very quickly too. That wasn’t to last long, however, and my enthusiasm for an afternoon stroll among the hills beyond Bollington waned. Yes, I have to admit that cloudy skies do bring out the lazy git in me as does my indecision regarding where to go for a walk when my time is limited; it’s all too easy to stay where you are. Many of my walks are also photographic expeditions of a sort and cloudy skies more often than not do not make for pleasing landscape photos; saying that, they are good for subjects where diffuse light is what you need and woodland comes to mind as an example.

This morning was a similar affair and it is now well cloudy as I write this, though the sun is still trying to find a way through. However, I made no mistake when the sky cleared this time and pottered out for what was a gentle stroll starting on my own doorstep. The thoughts of seeing wondrous autumn colour in equally wonderful October sunshine was enough to set me on my way to Prestbury along the Bollin Valley Way. And I wasn’t to be disappointed on my excursion. My return journey was an unplanned affair made up of a mish-mash of public footpath and road walking; at one point I ended up on an overgrown path and encountered a lot of nettles in a wilder patch of a normally manicured Cheshire. The sun had delighted but clouds were appearing from the south and, within minutes of returning home, the sky had filled with cloud.

My recent posting on the Gritstone Trail took out on the web looking for walking websites relevant to Cheshire and discovered that Cheshire County Council has been really active in this area. For instance, the Discover Cheshire website has a section on walking and there definitely is some useful stuff on there. Not only that but the council’s own website is another useful port of call. Strangely, there are walking sections in two different parts of the website but the one in the Culture, Leisure and Tourism area is as good a place to start as well; there is another walking section under Transport and Roads, which is probably the council department in charge of path maintenance.

As if to prove that long distance trails can be found anywhere, there is one in east Cheshire that passes not far from where I live. This is the 35 mile (56 km) Gritstone Trail and it starts at Disley before following the western fringes of the Peak District all of the way to Kidsgrove in North Staffordshire.

While it is possible to complete it in two days, spreading it over three days seems a sounder proposition. Suggested sections are shown by the overview maps listed below. They live on the website of Cheshire County Council who maintain the route; smart new waymarking signs have been erected recently so they are looking after it. There is a cloud hanging over the future if HM Government has its way: CCC and all borough councils are to be replaced by two unitary authorities for East Cheshire and West Cheshire. We’ll see how things go…

North: Disley to Tegg’s Nose

Central: Tegg’s Nose to Timbersbrook

South: Timbersbrook to Kidsgrove

The trouble with things local to you is that you don’t pay them the sort of attention that they would get if they were further away. As if to prove the point, my progress along the GT was far from concerted until very recently. That said, there have been longer walks along the route and ones that come to mind include: Bollington to Disley, Rainow to Sutton Common, Tegg’s Nose to Kerridge, Sutton Common to The Cloud (not far from Bosley or Congleton) and The Cloud to Kidsgrove. As it happens, there have been many other shorter ones where I followed it, particularly on the stretch between Kerridge and Sutton Common. In fact, it was a short stroll between Bollington and Kerridge that completed the trail for me. Yes, there are times when I do allow things to become that bitty…

Here are some details of the longer ambles:

Bollington to Disley

This was one of those first of the year strolls on January day with some snow on the ground. In fact, the thoughts of sunny skies with snow about could have been what tempted me out in the first place. In the event, the sun never did make it through the clag that abounded on that day. Field trekking was the order of the day between Bollington and Brink Farm and that seemed to take the longest, possibly because progress along a good track took me to Lyme Park felt a bit quicker. It was getting dark as I made my way from Lyme Park into Disley but I do seem to remember that skies had cleared by then. What I more keenly remember is my lazy testing of boots on a patch of ice: the result momentarily involved having my legs positioned above my hips. I need say no more…

Tegg’s Nose to Kerridge

From a start of year stroll to an end of year one, a sunny December afternoon tempted me to walk from my house to Tegg’s Nose and I drank in the views from there: Shutlingsloe was clearly visible in the winter sunshine. A spot of down and up progress took me by Rainow from where it was uphill as I made my way towards the White Nancy, a folly usually painted white that is one of Cheshire’s most famous landmarks. It used to be possible to enter it but vandalised put paid to that opportunity. Speaking of vandalism, someone must have thought it funny to paint the thing pink one time; it got a mention in the Macclesfield Express but the good people of Kerridge and Bollington were anything but amused.

Rainow to Sutton Common

A hot sultry August day saw me have grand designs on a walk from Rainow to Rushton Spencer. Everything was going fine as I plied my way from Rainow, navigational challenges being overcome as I went, until I started making my way up Foxes Bank and Sutton Common. Feeling less than 100% on Sutton Common itself, I decided to return home at that point and a little lie down was enough to restore order: Walking on hot sunny days is never the best plan but the prospect of pleasant weather still seems to draw me out. Another valuable lesson learnt…

Sutton Common to The Cloud

The walk actually started out from my house with variety of connecting footpaths being used to reach my starting point on the GT. The day was to be a hot and dry affair with the sun making its way from behind the clouds at times. This journey me round by Langley until I reached Foxbank Farm. However, my rendezvous with the GT was to be delayed as a result of subsidence on the way up to Sutton Common. So, more footpath and road tramping followed before I was reach the A54 and the trail in question, busily resolving any navigation uncertainties that raised their heads along the way. It was to some time before I left tarmac behind, though, as I enjoyed the views from the quiet Minn End Line before I headed back onto more foot friendly surfaces at Hawkslee. The off road hiking was set to continue, apart from crossing the A523 near Rushton Spencer, until I found myself on the private road leading to Raven’s Clough. Feeling the effects of my exertions on what was by now a hot and sunny August afternoon, I elected not to surmount The Cloud on my way to Congleton but to stick with the tarmac option. A short wait in Congleton preceded a non-too-long way home for a well deserved after walk rest.

The Cloud to Kidsgrove

A short bus ride dropped me off sooner than I expected and I was about to continue along the road to get my bearings when a friendly gentleman put my mind to rest. My walk was starting in Eaton and I was using the Dane Valley Way to reach where I left the GT on my previous journey along its length. The DVW is yet another of Cheshire’s longer distance paths and actually begins in Derbyshire, Buxton to be more precise, before it reaches the source of the said river and follows it to Middlewich in the centre of the county. Once I overcame my navigational doubts - there was another a little further on from my starting point that was soon answered without any inconvenience to anyone else, it was uneventful hiking all of the way to the slopes of The Cloud. It is not a very high hill and it slopes were soon ascended and the top was ablaze with flowering heather and panoramic views were in ample supply. I even took some lunch atop it with the sounds of silage making percolating up from below.

Having got away from the delights of The Cloud, I dropped down to Timbersbrook, where a former industrial site is now a delightful woodland park. a spot of field crossing took me on to the bed of the former Biddulph-Congleton railway. After a short stroll along its level length, I was to leave it for a climb up Congleton Edge on my way to Mow Cop. Again, views over the Cheshire Plain were offered in abundance. Having an older edition of OS Explorer 268 with me, I had to keep my concentration up since it showed the GT terminating in Mow Cop. Though I still broadly knew where I should have been going, I kept my eye out for any helpful waymarkers; there was no problem as the authorities have been dutiful. I reached Scholar Green and picked the first of the canal paths that were to take me all of the way to Kidsgrove train station; Kidsgrove is where the Macclesfield Canal meets the Trent & Mersey one.

It was a successful end to a day that began with somewhat doubtful looking skies that produced a dusting of rain as I neared The Cloud. Though cloud abounded, the day remained dry from then on and the sun was able to make its appearance at times. even so, the temperatures never truly exceeded those suitable for walking.

The last few weeks have seen me quiet on the blogging front. Having to restore a PC to working condition after its having gone belly up on me was certainly a contributor to this state of affairs. A trip up to Scotland also took me away from the world of computing and refreshing it was too. While a full report for the trip will remain for a further post, the fact that I finally finished the West Highland Way during the visit up north brings me nicely to the subject of this one. In the same spirit, I have also walked nearly all of the Gritstone Trail with only a tiny section about Bollington to do of an evening.

My progress along both trails typifies my previous approach to walking: decide a location for a walk and use part of a long distance trail for all or part of its length. That is probably more true of the Gritstone Trail than the WHW. The latest installments along the former, for which trip reports are planned, had me heading south over the sections between Sutton Common and The Cloud and then from the latter all the way to Kidsgrove, the southern terminus of the GT. Its northern end, Disley saw my boots very early on in the story of my attentions when I hiked from Bollington in murk with the remains of January snows on the ground. Walks between Rainow and Sutton Common and from Tegg’s Nose to Kerridge have taken me over the rest of the length while I have followed its course on many other rambles too. Its being local to me has meant that I have been on it a lot but, rather perversely, it has also dissuaded me from completing the thing thanks to the walking attractions (or distractions?) offered by other locations.

My progress along the WHW has been a little more deliberate than the GT though the direction of travel has been something of a movable feast: having to go a good way away does concentrate the mind a bit more. My final section took me between Inverarnan and Crianlarich while the previous day saw me head south from Bridge of Orchy and overnight in Crianlarich. A through-hike at the end of May took me along the shores of Loch Lomond on my way from Inverarnan to Drymen. A February outing took me from Milngavie to Drymen after a three year hiatus which followed a pleasant hike between Glen Coe and Bridge Orchy. The previous summer saw me head over the Lairig Mor between Kinlochleven and Fort William twice: my holiday plans were blighted by the weather the first time and a return set the world to rights. On neither occasion along this part of the WHW was the weather truly nasty but glorious late August weather was a wonderful accompaniment to the second outing and a world away from the cloudy but dry July day of my previous encounter. Largely cloudy skies were in attendance on the trek between Kinlochleven and Glen Coe the previous summer and sun was not particularly successful in its attempts to come and show off the landscape at its best.

While on the subject of long distance trails, my progress along the Pennine Way has stalled but this year’s multi-day treks along the West Highland Way are good practice for its northern reaches. It won’t get completed this year but opportunities may well proffer themselves before 2007 comes to an end; I still have to walk between Gargrave and Haworth. Other long distance trails await as well: the tamer Great Glen Way, the wilder Southern Upland Way… The list goes on.