Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

Somewhat infuriatingly for me, I am nursing yet another cold as I write these words. Was it the milder winter that made them more prevalent or are those long working hours finally catching up with me? It might be a bit of both in reality and, since it is overcast where I am this weekend, I am not feeling overly denied by my ailment.

In contrast, last weekend saw me summon enough resolved to get out and about. Friday evening saw me spend some time around Knutsford after work with Tatton Park and more looking gorgeous in the evening sunshine. Saturday finally saw me undertake a trot from Waterhouses to Hulme End along the length of the Manifold Trail after a few false starts. Much to my surprise, I completed the 8.5 miles in around three hours so I decided to continue to Hartington by way of Wolfscote Dale and Biggin Dale. The former of these looked so wonderful that walking from Thorpe to Hartington by the course of the River Dove is an alluring prospect that I’d like to turn into reality. Though my legs were tired, Sunday had its trot to too with a local itinerary taking in Tegg’s Nose,part of the Gritstone Trail and Hurdsfield. What seems very odd to my mind was that there was none of that weariness there on Saturday evening after I got home from Hartington.

Only for the cold, I’d be letting my mind ponder options for the coming weekend since we are promised warmer temperatures. Maybe the lack of those might explain why I am coughing and spluttering this evening as well. If some delightful weather does arrive, I’d like to be able to go exploring countryside after what last weekend brought. Well, I haven’t been to Scotland, Wales or the Isle Man since last summer and they can call again. Then, the Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend starts June for us and it’d be a pity to leave that underused too. Hopefully, colds and flu will be a distant memory by then.

A trip to Ireland in March may have taken the form of an elongated weekend that involved no hill wandering (there was some urban trotting around Limerick that took in its People’s Park and Arthur’s Quay though) but the warm sunny day on which I needed to leave the place to return to the U.K. left a more lasting impression. There has been perusal of issues of Walking World Ireland too so it might be no surprise to hear that my mind (if not my heart) began to ponder a hill wandering excursion to follow my ascent of the Great Sugarloaf in Wicklow a few years ago and a trot around Howth Head last year.

Though sunshine was hazy and skies milky, thoughts of staying on my bus from Limerick to Shannon Airport all the way to final destination of Galway were very tempting. The ambience was very much of the feeling of summer days when we get the sort of weather of which so many of us dream. On looking down while flying across Ireland en route to Manchester, the extent of the haze was unmissable yet various hilltops protruded from low cloud. In fact, I reckoned that I could see the tops of the Galtee Mountains along the Limerick-Tipperary county boundary and I wouldn’t be surprised if we passed over Slieve Bloom too. On the eastern side of Ireland, the sprawl of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains was there to be survey and I fancy that I picked out Poulaphuca reservoir near Blessington in Co. Wicklow too.

After the summery feel of March, April has plunged us into atypically chilly temperatures and typically showery weather; maybe that’s why I am weathering a cold as I write these words. That made for a less than glorious Easter weekend that I spent doing some spring cleaning and tidying. If we had got the sort of weather that we enjoyed around Easter 2011 and the following Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, then I might have been tempted to follow up those thoughts of Irish explorations. After all, curiosity had me survey photos of Wicklow’s hill country and antiquities on a few royalty-free stock photography websites and much of what I saw left me thinking that I might do better myself; it would make a good excuse to go across the Irish sea to survey the delights of picturesque Glendalough for the first time. For now though, that’s on a waiting list.

Weather and workload has meant that I otherwise haven’t been doing much wandering around hill country than a short trot up Nab End near Bollington. The hoped for extensive views over Pott Shrigley failed to materialise. That’s not to say that I didn’t content myself with what I found because I also managed to have the place to myself, something that would be said for the Kerridge ridge on the same day. A cycle that took in both Bollington and Pott Shrigley was what allowed me to sample Nab End’s delights so there definitely were no complaints from me even if cloud rolled in to blot out the sun during the afternoon. Rediscovering a little more in the way of motivation not only would get me to that Irish waiting list but would send me out among Macclesfield’s hill country more often too.

January’s walk from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton caused me recall other walks that started or ended at the Cat and Fiddle Inn. When I set to pondering the trip report for that hike, the idea of collecting them together as a preamble to the trip report was stymied by there being so many of them over the years and there could (and should) have been more than these.

Thus, that planned preamble has been moved here. Most of those walks that featured the Cat and Fiddle Inn at some point in their route started from there and I only recall one that finished there. Another this that strikes me is that many of their number took place before this blog existed so I reckon that it’s no harm recalling them here. As it happens, time has made the memories of some more vague so it’s best to recall them somewhere before recollections fade further. It seems that writing those trip reports helps to reinforce memories and it helps to be able to return to them later too.

Buxton to the Cat and Fiddle Inn

The first on this list is what I believe to be the only walk from Buxton that landed me at the Cat and Fiddle Inn. It was a snowy affair and Buxton was snow-covered when I got there. Coming from the southwest of Ireland as I do meant that the sight remained a novelty even under slate grey skies as I lingered next to the cenotaph on The Slopes in the heart of the town. My next port of call was Poole Cavern Country Park where I passed through woodland with a white coating of its floor. That there was a snow shower as I went on my added to the magic of the experience.

From there, it was a matter of stitching a few public footpaths together to get me to where I wanted to be to await my bus home. As I continued west, the snow cover grew more tenuous. It was patchy as I passed the HSE Laboratory but I seem to recall seeing a snowman by the side of the A54 as I passed that way. The A537 was encountered after that and quiet lanes got me to my stopping point for the day. Looking at the map again, it seems that I may have passed Dane Head as I plied my way though I seem to remain no images of its appearance that day though sunshine was not plentiful. The year is one I cannot name either but why does that matter when the experiences live on regardless?

Following the River Dane to Rushton Spencer

There are some years that don’t get forgotten and 2004 was one of them for a few reasons. The summer was a washout though I did manage to pick off the best of the weather for a visit to the Western Highlands in Scotland during August before a wet autumn descended on us. Though I did manage a sunlit visit to Snowdonia in the previous month, my main memory still remains that 2004 wasn’t a great year for walking.

The weather-induced autumnal hiatus caused me to leave walking aside until early November and I was more than ready for a walk at that stage. Thanks to the weather, sodden terrain and soft going was my lot as I hiked from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Rushton Spencer. Though it left me with very muddy boots, the conditions did nothing to dispel the sense of satisfaction gained from getting out of doors again. The dirty footwear weren’t an impediment to catching a bus home that day either though the current state of the public finances has meant that it no longer runs these days. Hopefully, we may see a bus connection between Macclesfield and Leek again, most likely in better times.

After a sound track taking me by Danebower Hollow, the Dane Valley Way was to convey me for the rest of the way. This was where I met all of the mud under overcast skies with foolish footstep leaving me with a leg sunk in mud up to the shin in a gateway, always problematic places due to animal traffic and congregation. Three Shire Heads was behind me at this stage with a return needed for photographic purposes; that had to wait until January 2012 so there’ll be more about that in time. Maybe I’ll repeat the walk in similarly sunny conditions to refresh my memory and make the most of what’s there.

Via Shutlingsloe to Macclesfield

While out on that November 2004 stroll, I spotted another footpath that caught my attention but a few years were to follow before a hillwalking year was begun with a hike that made use of that route option. Then, I walked from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to my home in Macclesfield and took in a windswept Shutlingsloe before dropping down from there through Macclesfield Forest to start a more level route for the rest of the way. Then, ground conditions largely were favourable, apart from a section in Macclesfield Forest, and the day stayed dry though the sun wasn’t as free of the cloud cover as might have been hoped. It did nothing to take from the fact that 2009 got its debut as a walking year at the end of that January.

To Buxton via the Goyt Valley

March often sees a whitening of countryside at its start and one such episode of this caused me to abandon a planned trot around the Derbyshire Dales in 2006 (shortly before I started what you find here) to embark on one that skirted Shining Tor and crossed the Goyt Valley to reach Buxton by following the Midshires Way. It was the white coating that caused the change of plan since not many scenes like that which you see above were my lot until more recent years. The result was that I wasn’t going to leave this chance go and plenty of snow was trodden though there remained patches of ground that lay uncovered too. Long-time followers of these musings should be aware that I have met with more snowy conditions since then.

To Whaley Bridge via Shining Tor and Kettleshulme

As if to pause the pre-Christmas rush in 2007, I took a day off from work and a local hike ensued. It took me from the Cat and Fiddle Inn over Shining Tor and onto Whaley Bridge via Pym Chair and Windgather Rocks. A route was found that avoided much of the B5470 for drop from Kettleshulme into my final destination for the day. The trot had taken me along frozen hillsides in glorious winter sunshine so I didn’t decry the declining light on the final stages of the walk.

To Macclesfield via Shining Tor, Lamaload Reservoir and Rainow

This was a variation of the above route that actually preceded; it might have been the overcast skies on the first time around that resulted in a partial repeat. On that Sunday, I walked from the second highest inn in England as far as Pym Chair. Though I am making do with disjointed stored mental images, I believe that I made way from there to Thursbitch before turning in a switchback manner for Redmoor and then Lamaload and Rainow. It looks an indirect yet intriguing course of travel and the switchback section in embedded in my mind though I wouldn’t have associated walking by Lamaload with this day out. With that surprise in mind, I reckon that re-walking this part would be no bad idea. After all, it feels that a memory bank needs refilling and there are plenty of other options in these parts. They may keep me busy for a while yet.

My first two major walking outings of this year have been in parts of England and they share one thing in common: they are reminders of past excursions. The second of these happened over the weekend and took me to Northumberland where I walked along the coast from Alnmouth to Embleton and took in  Dunstanburgh Castle along the way. That recalled a trot of a cloudy day over six years ago that also started from Alnmouth but went as far as Craster before I turned towards Alnmouth train station again. Last Saturday had me hiking in far sunnier if more blustery conditions so I could make more of my surroundings in the photographic sense. Having been delighted by what I have revisited, thoughts of continuing north from Embleton as far as Bamburgh are coming to mind along with those proposing a visit to Alnwick Castle.

January’s stroll from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton reminded me of an earlier outing in November 2004 (not a great year weatherwise so the ground was very unsound in places) that took me from the same starting point but finished at Rushton Spencer in the dark. Again, more cloud abounded on that day it was a release to have gotten out of doors even if a careless step landed me up to my shin in brown Staffordshire clay. It was with very muddy feet that I caught the bus home from Rushton Spencer that evening though there was no comment from driver or passengers.

Those two returns of a kind have me wondering if there might be more of that this year. However, I have unspent ideas from exploring other parts of Staffordshire and Derbyshire that may come in handy yet. After all, lurking on Twitter is revealing more of the delights that lie not so far away from me and that has me asking if this could be a year of Peak District walking trips. Only time will answer that question.

Before the snow arrived at the start of the month, I took the opportunity to pop out for a lunchtime from work to take in The Carrs in Wilmslow. Though I’d skirted the public park a fair few times, it was the first time that I’d deliberately walked through the place only to realise that there was one part of it that I had glimpsed before without realising where I was gazing. That the River Bollin passes through makes the oversight that bit more remarkable to my eyes. It’s amazing how not looking at a map can cause you to miss things and prospects of an evening stroll to Macclesfield after work when daylight hours are longer come to mind. That sort of plan has surfaced before only for nothing to come of it so we’ll have to see about it happening in reality.

The Carrs aren’t the only spot available for anyone to do a spot of strolling in Wilmslow and I am more familiar with the delights of Lindow Common, particularly that part of it which surrounds Black Lake. Sometimes, it freezes too though only foolhardy souls would ventured on the surface then. It is fenced off too so that puts paid to any such temptations. A recent sorry tale about a little dog meeting an untimely end on an icy pond in Macclesfield (a local fire brigade team couldn’t help because they had no boat and needed to wait for a team from Knutsford who were too late when they came; it’s happenings like this that explain why folk come a cropper on icy rivers while rescuing daring foolish pets but it was just as well that it wasn’t a child that was involved)  might explain the fencing but for the fact that this also is a haven for water voles, a far more cheery development since they are in peril elsewhere. Wildfowl congregate here too and were concentrate on the one part of the lake’s surface that was unfrozen on the day when I captured the image you see below.

With both of these spots not far from my workplace, I should be better at making time for little lunchtime escapades than I am. Recent outings kept telling me that my legs needed more acclimatisation and these are two options that should do the trick; they just need the making of time during a busy workday. Maybe those longer evenings could help yet.