Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

The fact that Manchester’s main railway station, Piccadilly, has only got two through platforms (13 and 14) and the fact that they seem to bolted onto the side of the station like an afternoon does surprise me. The disappointingly underused Manchester Victoria is far better in that respect and, given a more usable tram service, would be a great asset. I know that some may disagree with me regarding the Metrolink but I always feel that there is a certain detachment about the thing and now resort to walking instead; I have my own ideas about how it might be routed. As things are, I may press taxis into service for those occasions when time is not in plentiful supply.

As it is, funnelling people onto two train platforms at an otherwise busy station can only cause overcrowding, particularly if they are the only ones served by northbound and westbound services. And I saw plenty of evidence of that last Sunday morning while headed for the South Pennines.

In fact, a Virgin service to Glasgow that I had used when coming from Macclesfield was delayed by people not being able to board it. Admittedly, it was a Voyager but there were two four car sets forming the train. Nevertheless, passengers didn’t realise this and all crowded onto the first four coaches. Amazingly, the train manager didn’t put them right for five minutes and the train got delayed more than the thirteen minutes of lateness that it had when it reached the station. it didn’t look good and I was glad that I didn’t get an idea of heading to the Lake District on the day that I witnessed this.

The following service was delayed by the Virgin one ahead of it and it too was afflicted by slow boarding. In contrast to the service preceding it, a robust vocal intervention from the train conductor attempted to speed things up. And that was on a Transpennine Express to Blackpool North so Virgin could learn a thing or two.

The whole exhibition brings another thing to mind: going north from Manchester. This will soon be entirely in the hands of Transpennine Express if one is to travel without any changes of train during the journey. Quite how they will cope with passenger and luggage volumes will be interesting to see. Modern trains aren’t particularly brilliant when it comes to luggage storage anyway. Thankfully, the Virgin option will remain north of Crewe since there might be a lot of lessons to be learnt by the powers that be before they realise how it should be done. Let’s hope that such learning doesn’t take as long as the Piccadilly through platform saga to result in improvements.

Yorkshire Water seem to very keen on encouraging people to enjoy the land around their reservoirs. After all, they do have a website containing useful ideas for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and so on. Unsurprisingly, I took a look from the walker’s perspective and there are route ideas with full descriptions and the same seems to be on offer to cyclists.

It’s all a far cry from the way that things were once upon a time. Before the advent of water treatment plants and their like, reservoirs and the land round about them were out of bounds for the general public lest the supplies got contaminated. That mindset certain applied in Longdendale and also was behind the building of the Mourne Wall among the mountains of the same name in Northern Ireland. Aren’t we lucky that we live in more enlightened times? And yes, I know that they are far from perfect…

In public transport terms, the day didn’t start too well but I did get to do some hillwalking last Sunday. The first bus service from Macclesfield to Manchester didn’t happen for me, either through its not running or my missing the thing by a mere minute. It doesn’t matter what actually happened because the result was the same anyway. The alternative plot of catching the 10:29 train to Manchester Piccadilly was set into action. Once in Piccadilly, the next step was to make my way to Manchester Victoria so as to catch the 11:08 departure to Hebden Bridge as I had originally planned. Things were looking hopeful until Stockport but it went downhill after that. The result was that I ended up on the 12:09 to Hebden Bridge. The final leg of the journey was a ride on Transdev Keighley and District service 500 to Oxenhope.

Those obstacles overcome, I began my walk a good hour later than I had intended but the day continued to be as sunny as it had started. If it had done otherwise, I would have had grounds for irritation. After finding my bearings, I started to make my way out of Oxenhope and took advantage of roadside footways all of the way until I made it onto a minor road that I was soon to leave for the moorland public footpath network. I climbed steadily but not too steeply with views of Leeshaw reservoir to my left. Looking down gained me views of pleasant farmland with the moors overhead. I made my way around Haworth Moor and Harbour Hill to pick up the Brontë Way before it joined the Pennine Way and headed for Top Withins. I was to join the Pennine Way myself but I had another footpath in mind. However, there was no sign of it in the heather so I made my own crossing with a navigationally useful wall to my left.

The idea that I had in my mind was to knock off another section of the Pennine Way but reality was that I took a mere nibble of the portion between Haworth and Gargrave that I have yet to do. I did get as far as Ponden Reservoir and pondered going further but the time that I had was limited. Launching further into remote country means that you have to return afterwards and all of that was likely cost a lot of a commodity of which I didn’t have a lot: time. Getting back to Macclesfield was actually a bigger consideration than when sun was due to go down. So I decided to head onto Stanbury via Ponden Mill and then onto Haworth for the last bus to Hebden Bridge so that I could retrace my way home. Otherwise, I would have had to get a bus to Keighley and then take a longer journey from there. As it turned out, I was home by a very timely 19:30; getting to the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is easily an hour shorter than going round by Keighley.

What had started out as an opportunity to bag another part of the Pennine Way turned into an enjoyable reconnaissance ramble in rustic moorland on a sunny October day. Naturally, my thoughts turned to how I might advance the PW cause in this area so here goes. Getting into the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is a practical public transport option and a quicker one that the obvious alternative. Trying on a Saturday would get me there earlier in the day and would also have the added advantage of there being a bus service to the pleasant village of Stanbury, assuming that the times worked out. A good supply of off-road walking would get me to Ponden Reservoir and the PW again. It’s a plan but who knows if or when I’ll put into action?

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.

While on my Sunday morning stroll, I got to pondering plans for breaking in the Scarpa boots that I have had since August. At the time that these thoughts came into my mind, I was wetting my Salomon Extend Lows in the grass and got to thinking that the terrain over which I was travelling would be good for breaking in boots. I haven’t taken the new boots out of the house since I got them so it is time that they started to get some wear.

I am not so worried about the footbed and so forth but it is the stiff ankle support that could give me trouble if I don’t give it a chance to develop a little flexibility. I wasn’t so judicious with the Salomons that were their predecessors and I learnt the hard way. I particularly remember one excursion near Dolgellau where a steep downhill descent seared itself into my memory; I was thankful that I had trail shoes in my pack. I won’t be making that mistake again.

So my plot is take the Scarpas out and about around Macclesfield. I’ll start with the level; the Macclesfield Canal sounds a convenient option before starting to traverse field paths, upping the ante as I go. I haven’t anything more definite than that in mind for now but it sounds like a good start.