White Nancy, Rainow and The Gritstone Trail

3.1.13
Walking with; Nobody

There are some days when it dawns on you about half way round your chosen walk that you'd be better off nestled in front of a log fire in a cosy pub (such as The Vale in Bollington) with a pint and a good book, rather than slogging through shin deep mud in a blanket of mizzle with views approximating to not much more than a foot in front of you. This was one of those days.......None the less I have set myself some quite demanding goals for the New Year and in order to achieve them sometimes it is just going to be necessary to get some miles under the belt and besides there were the 8lbs of Christmas excess to start shifting, so away I went.
White Nancy is an endearing folly and I have written a bit about it's history on a previous walk up here (http://howellseycomewalkwithme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/white-nancy-not-shining-tor.html) and is one of those excellent hills, like Mam Tor or Win Hill where a relatively short slog gives great 360 degree views, in this case over the Cheshire plains. I continued staright ahead through the gloop onto the Saddle of Kerridge, the cloud had already dropped very low and the gnarled hawthorns peering through the gloom created the kind of eerie atmosphere where I could very well imagine Dick Turpin or somesuch nefarious bandit looming out of the murk. The path drops into Rainow, a Cheshire village full of picturesque houses with expensive cars parked in the driveways but seemingly blighted by the decline in rural facilities so commonplace nowadays. I was back home in East Sussex at Christmas in the village of Crowhurst where I grew up. When I was a child there were two pubs, a tearooms, a village shop and Post Office, two market gardens, a school and a church. On my recent return, the one remaining pub was on the verge of closure leaving the school and the poorly attended church as the remaining communal features of the area. Two of the three pubs I passed on my route today were closed and the buildings seemingly left to fall into disrepair.....a sorry state of affairs.
I continued across the fields to Four Lane Ends Farm and then on through ever deeper mud and fields of frisky bullocks past Withinlow Farm, which had passed the stage of picturesque dilapidation and reached the kind of state of decrepitude that if you were watching a horror movie and a bunch of attractive teenagers decided to camp in a bearby field for the night would have you screaming "Noooooooo, don't do it....." at the screen. The path continued over Black Brook and past Further Harrop Farm before linking back to The Gritstone Trail which gradually led me back towards White Nancy and the warmth of my car heater! As, so often with my wanders in Cheshire, the state of the paths was pretty abysmal and a stout pair of wellies would be called for if I were going to try and repeat this route

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On top of Cheshire

18.12.12
Walking with; Nobody

The forecast for this week showed Tuesday as being the only rain free day, so bearing that in mind I decided to have a crack at Shining Tor which had long been on my list of "I'll get round to doing that one day........"hills. At 559m it is the highest point in Cheshire and affords great views of Shutlingsloe and the Cheshire plains. I set off from Tegg's Nose on The Gritstone Trail, bypassing the noisy dogs of the Windyway Kennels and Animal Sanctuary and was soon into that familiar Cheshire countryside problem of mud and barbed wire. The farmers of Cheshire seem pathologically fond of both barbed wire and churning up footpaths as much as possible, but my new Berghaus boots are made of stern stuff and I plodded onwards through the mud eventually making my way to the Berristal Road where I watched a nuthatch, a suitably festive Robin and a flock of Long Tailed Tits making the most of a well stocked bird feeder. Given that I've been unable to attract as much as a Sparrow to mine so far this winter I was rather envious and as I followed the road up to the isolated farm at Snipe House.
I carried on to Lamaload Reservoir and followed the track around it initially through Pine forest before climbing a little and following the shoreline round to the carpark and lonely looking abandoned building from where I watched a few Tufted Ducks on the water. Carrying on to Andrew's Edge the gradient increased and the ground underfoot became increasingly sodden, but with the fortitude of Bunyan's pilgrim I slogged onwards and reached the ridge to be rewarded with a flagged path that led me to the Shining Tor Trig point and a great spot for a gammon roll with a view to Shutlingsloe looking more Alpine than ever today! Regretting I didn't have time to pop into "The Cat and Fiddle" for a fireside pint I followed the permissive path down to Torgate Farm and through fields of inquisitive sheep before following Charity Lane back to bottom of Buxton Old Road and meandering my way back to Tegg's Nose.

Ridgegate Reservoir-Higher Sutton-Sutton Common-Fox Bank-Ridgegate Reservoir

25.7.12
Walking with; Nobody

The bucolic pastoral landscape of Cheshire farming country seemed like it might be the place to stretch the legs on a lazy Wednesday with the sun shining and not much else going on and so I headed off to beautiful Ridgegate Reservoir sitting in the shadow of Tegg's Nose. There were a lot of wildfowl on the water, Tufted Ducks, Great Crested Grebe, Canada Geese and just before I arrived a deer crossed the road at some speed in front of me! I decided to strike out along a section of The Gritstone Trail and it got me thinking. A couple of years ago I walked the Wainwright's Coast to Coast, it took two weeks with tent and all kit on my back and it was one of the most satisfying challenges I've undertaken. It was much more satisfying though for being completed in one go and made me identify much more strongly with Munro baggers and their ilk whom I'd previously not really understood. Now I have walked most sections of The Gritstone but I would never consider myself to have completed it unless I did it in one go.......Still, I digress........
Walking through the countryside I found myself thinking that, as on previous occasions, in this part of the world there seems to be a very real difficulty in accommodating the needs of walkers and those of farmers. The track was already quite overgrown, but in a number of places the path had been chewed to pieces by dairy herds and in damper conditions would probably have been impassable. It's a tricky issue and not one I have a ready answer for but it seems particularly prevalent in this part of the world (http://howellseycomewalkwithme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/mud-mud-not-so-glorious-mud-round.html.) Passing through a couple of hamlets I diverted from The Gritstone onto the bridleway along Rossen Clough which was beautifuly lit in sunshine and flanked by wild flowers. Looming in the distance I could see the huge radio tower at Lingerds Farm, which whilst not exactly a beauty spot certainly ensured it was hard to get lost. As I climbed up towards the mast the views back to Tegg's Nose, Shutlingsloe and Macclesfield Forest were more than compensation for the sweat! Regaining The Gritstone I followed it along the ridge through more fields of cattle before dropping down Fox Bank. I passed over the road and headed up through hay fields where the mowing sent up clouds of insects and where I bumped into a family of Partridge fleeing ahead of the tractor, not to mention a couple of redstarts and a goldfinch! The last half mile or so took me past the magnificent (not to mention eccentric) pile at Meg Lane End and then a huge Canada Geese nursery (or goslingery) behind Mosslee Farm.
I may not have completed The Gritstone Track (as of yet) but it does provide good and varied walking and helps to showcase the diversity of the Cheshire countryside!

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A Lyme Park Loop

12.4.12

Walking with; Nobody

When I first moved to the North West one of the first places I visited was Lyme Park and it's remained a firm favourite ever since whenever I get the itch for a few miles. The house itself is the largest in Cheshire and is Grade one listed. It was built in the latter part of the 16th Century and modified in the 1720s by Giacomo Leoni and then by Lewis Wyatt in the 19th Century. The Legh family gave the house to the National Trust in 1946 and more recently it found fame as the "Pemberley", Mr Darcy's house in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.

I started out in Disley and made my way towards the Park before beginning the slow ascent towards The Cage, originally built as a hunting lodge and commanding 360 degree views including a herd of Fallow Deer. Bypassing the house I started out on The Gritstone Trail and climbed steadily through Knightslow Woods and out onto Park Moor. The path leads up to the Bowstones, remnants of an Anglo-Saxon cross before following a ridge with beautiful views across the Peak District. It was clear and I could see snow on the slopes of Kinder as well as views all the way to the distinctive profile of Shutlingsloe in the South. It was muddy underfoot but the walking was easy and there were plenty of new lambs and a couple of buzzards to keep me entertained. I dropped down towards Pott Shrigley and then started another climb up Bakestonedale Moor which had great views across to last weeks walk on White Nancy and the Kerridge Saddle. Dropping down past Moorside Quarry I continued down to re-enter Lyme Park at the West Gate and climbed the track through Pursegate Woods which had a few late bluebells and a plentiful supply of Wild Garlic coming through and making the lower half of the track smell like an Italian restaurant.

It started to rain as I reached the carpark and I was regretting my decision not to park on site, but as I pottered on towards Disley I was rewarded with some fantastic views of the stormclouds hovering over Kinder which made the last half mile in a torrential downpour almost worth while!

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White Nancy not Shining Tor

4.4.12

Walking with; Al

Well, the plan was to ascend up to the highest point in Cheshire, Shining Tor, from the Errwood Reservoir in the Goyt Valley. After the week of glorious sunshine we felt sure the views from the top would be stunning as the beautiful Cheshire countryside stretched out before us. However, Mother Nature had slightly different plans and send us an unseasonal Easter blizzard. We were well equipped and still eager but as each narrow road we tried was blocked by snowdrifts or was already too slippery to make safe progress plans changed and, unwilling to head back for a brew just yet, we decided on the classic Bollington walk, a quick jaunt up to White Nancy!

White Nancy is a folly built in 1817 for John Gaskell jr, allegedly to celebrate the victory at the Battle of Waterloo. It is believed that the structure was originally built as a Summer House and although it isn't possible to enter it now, there are a stone seat and table inside the folly. Over the years Nancy has endured a number of disguises including been painted pink and also as a Christmas Pudding, however today she was brilliantly white and a beacon for us as we climbed out of Bollington.

As we ascended the steps we could see the snow lying on the hills and as soon as we broke cover the wind hit us blowing horizontal sleet and snow which was blasted against any surface in the way (including us). We continued on along the Saddle of Kerridge trying to make use of stone walling for some shelter but were grateful once we started to drop off the ridge and down towards Rainow out of the teeth of the wind! The weather however was pretty unrelenting and we decided to double back to Bollington over the Saddle and down past the impressive Endon Hall built in 1840 and with a Grade 2 listed stable block. Bollington as well as boasting an excellent brew pub, The Vale Inn, also boasts a couple of very good bakeries and a sausage roll and bakewell tart later, the aborted expedition of the day had been long forgotten!

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