Simply stunning

After the snow we've had over the past few weeks, and the subsequent thaws, Monday night proved to be the best for dumping lovely stuff all over - I woke up to the loveliest winter wonderland I've seen in years. The downside? I was due to be in Ashton for an appointment and then in to work where I was training staff before getting some management training for myself.

Getting dressed I shoved on my walking boots again - they've been worn for weeks on end now - and wrapped up warm, plodded downstairs, opened the door to find lovely deep powdery snow. Stepping out of my door I sunk to my knees in it and knew it'd be a great day regardless of what happens. As there's a severe lack of grit in my borough (Tameside) only the really important main roads were gritted - I live on one such road and there was not an ounce of salt, grit or any other substance on the roads except for the snow. Cars were stupidly trying to drive through it, lorries were just abouts coping with the depth but not with the braking capabilities required. I knew no buses would be running as First always suspend services early, an Arriva driver who was walking home told me his fleet had been suspended, so I knew it was only a matter of time before Stagecoach did the same. I checked the travel info on my phone and it was saying expect severe delays and disruption - blatantly obvious given the conditions. By the time I walked across the road to the bus stop, this had changed to all bus services calling in any fleet that had managed to get out of the depot.

Mere moments later a colleague rang to say don't bother coming into work as the boss was snowed in (she lives halfway up a steep hill in Oldham) and other staff couldn't get in. One down, one to go. Phoned regarding my appointment and, again, was told to not bother.

Play day for me then!

After getting changed I set off on a mission. Armed with my camera and prepared for deep, deep snow I retraced my footsteps from New years Eve knowing that it'd be hard going due to the snow frequently covering my knees (I'm over 6ft tall, with long legs, so it gives you an idea of how deep it was).

I made my down to Berry Brow (a valley with one very steep side and one slightly less steep side) and found car, after abandoned car on the road side. Further down the hill and men in flouro jackets with tractors and vans were towing cars, vans and even people up the hill in the direction I came from. A couple of buses were stuck in the valley bottom awaiting their own tow trucks with a line of haphazardly dumped vehicles smeared all over the hillside ahead of them.

I plodded on relishing the effort I was putting in to get where I wanted to be, knowing it to be an amazing workout. Arriving at the fishing pond where I'd been on NYE, I was grinning from ear to ear to see it totally snow covered and every tree looking like it should be on a Christmas card. Simply stunning!

The little green sign in the photo is usually standing proud about 2 maybe 3ft above the water line, as you can see it's almost covered.

Wading through the magical scenery, drinking in the breathtaking views I arrived at the field by Medlock Vale farm. The proud trees in the centre of the field looked awesome and the lane to the side was just so inviting. Walking down it I crossed the river and saw that my island had disappeared under the snow and the river was frozen over in many places - it's not a particularly slow flowing river either, so proof that it was very cold and we'd have an extreme amount of snow.

The valleys were amazing to walk through, with me working ever harder to get through the snow, steps were invisible so it's lucky I know the area and where they are. Upon reaching the Oldham Way at the top of the valley I was finally seeing other people - although only a few of them. They'd made their way to the golf course to sledge the hills and slide on the frozen river, with some stupidly deciding to sledge down the sheer drop to my side.

I made my way to Daisy Nook to find the cafe only just opening up after the owner had taken forever to get there - he'd been told a road was closed when it wasn't. I carried on past the cafe and scrambled up past the old lock flights to reach Sammy's Basin which I knew would be frozen over and then further over to Crime Lake (which doesn't always freeze over). Past the Basin and I heard ducks having a bit of a strop. Not really surprising considering their habitat had totally frozen over leaving only a patch of water 12ft across for them all to swim in and feed. All too soon I saw some huge webbed footprints in the snow on the ice-covered water, followed them and found a very handsome huge swan having the biggest paddy I've ever seen a creature have and dishing out dirty looks to everyone he saw. He was really slamming his feet down hard and giving the odd honk. Poor thing.

Over at Crime Lake the scene was just something we rarely get here with deep snow smothering everything, leaving trees looking like they've cotton wool draped all over them and the snow on the water easily reaching 3 or 4 foot deep.

The only colour in this white and brown world was that of Crime Farm on the far bank perched on the hillside, surveying it's surroundings.

Heading back from the lake I noticed the swan had changed direction, followed his footprints and found him bullying a mallard to get out of the 'bird bath' so he could get in. The mallard didn't give much resistance - can't blame him really - and he plodded off to his harem of females.

My journey home was done by road as by now the trails I'd come along were swarming with kids and big kids alike all wanting to take advantage of the freak snow and play.

Arriving home to the seriously deep stuff I decided I wasn't yet tired enough, so set about building a snowman (instead of a penguin like I did before Christmas). After building him, I made him an igloo/snow dome type thing.

Before I knew it I'd clocked up a stonking 8 hrs of playing in the snow. I hadn't really thought I'd been out in the snow that long. Looking at my camera it's a different story though as I have over 200 photos to mull over. All depicting the best snowy day I've had in years!

Stats:

Miles - approximately 20

New Years Eve

A little late, but here it is ->

Seeing as I had absolutely no intentions of going out and getting ratted in the evening (or any part of the day really) I went for a nice crisp walk on New Years Eve day.

I set off from mine wading through a slushy gloopy mess to get from my door to the road before sploshing my way down to the lovely Bay Horse and the beginnings of the climb up to where the true walk would start.

Once at the start of the off road route I slid my way along the access road (Vale Lane) to the entrance for the fish pond, looking gorgeous in the hazy sunshine and frosty ice on parts of it, before heading properly off road to the muddy pathways where I did my coppicing in November, along those and through a field to bring me out by Medlock Vale Farm and it's gloriously muddy tracks churned up by the frequent manoeuvres of the funky tractor.

These tracks led to a bridge over the Medlock Valley with steep slopes down to the river side, which I slid my way down, and made my way to one of the little islands in the river (the water is only ankle deep to get here).

After a scramble back up the slope my route took me across the undulations in the area, crossing the river again on a rather precarious little bridge (no rails, just the ice for company and the babbling river below) before hauling ass up a steep hillside to get to the Oldham Way at the top of one side of the valley with Brookdale Golf Course on the opposite side, sheer drops to the left of me and a barbed wire fence for the farm close to my right.

Splodging my way along here I was often met with very deep and thick mud patches, too big to jump across and no way around. The only answer was to walk through it. Admittedly it was quite good fun, so I didn't really mind. Over and across a few stiles, then it got even muddier as I had to squelch my way across a field then another stile, then along the Jericho Trail to Stannybrook where I tried not to slide down the hill towards Medlock Hall Farm and scrambled my way back up another hillside along the trail to the start of Riversvale Drive, turned off to head to Sammy's Basin then off again to splodge through the wildflower meadow (it is allowed), past more areas where I hacked down trees, down the hill, through the river to clean my boots a little (it didn't really work for the boots, but it did on the gaiters) and hauled ass up the other side of the valley to the cafe.

After chowing down on a bacon butty and steaming tea I hauled ass home to a very welcome hot bath and to flop on the sofa with a big grin on my face!

Stats -

Miles: approx 8

Lots of fun had.

Windy walk

Seeing as I'm going out of my tree with not riding this week I opted for a walk today regardless of the gales and the threat of torrential rain.

I chose a portion of a walk I've done frequently that I knew wouldn't be too hilly or too muddy in the current crap climatic conditions.

I set off from mine with a beanie on as despite it being mild out the gales were supposed to make it much colder. What the weather forecasters failed to note was that the wind was actually rather warm, so before long the beanie was off and replaced with my baseball cap to shelter my eyes from airborne crud. By the time I'd passed Millstream Animal Shelter my waterproof jacket was getting unzipped as I was already beginning to get a sweat on.

Before long I'd reached the steepest point of my walk with a brief 14-20% section to enter Woodhouses. Directly opposite some gorgeous cottages is a road that for several years I thought just led to some expensive looking houses off the main road. It wasn't until a year or so ago that I actually paid attention whilst walking past and saw the weathered finger post sign letting the world know that it led to Medlock Vale and was part of the Oldham Way.

I headed down this road which led past some stunning houses before reaching an old cobbled section (maybe a century old?) that led steeply down to a gorgeous farm in the valley with a stunning vista of woodland all around it. Once past the farm and along a muddy track (with some deep tractor ruts in it) and I was at my desired location of the bridge over the Medlock itself. My aim of coming here was to see exactly how much the river had risen with the influx of rain we've had recently. Further downstream I'd seen the river so deep that there wasn't much of the archway left to be seen in the road bridge - pretty sure the river had risen at least 4 or 5ft. Up here the river was lapping over the banks and had breached them at one point. Luckily the banks of the river here are actually 10ft or so below the pathways - kind of a valley in a valley. However there didn't seem any imminent danger of it breaching fully.

Once I'd had a rest I set off back through the muddy tracks to the waymarked entrance of a field and tramped my way through until I reached Vale Lane again which brought me alongside fishing ponds and back out onto the main road, where I pootled back down the hill to get onto Edge Lane again.

From here I climbed back up the hill in another direction to the level crossing and the start of the Clayton Vale circular route (a portion of the Vale I'd not walked along for many many years) alongside the train tracks until the Culcheth Lane entrance and the trail led down into the valley here where again the river was so swollen and fast flowing that even the ducks had huge problems. Crossing the old bridge and climbing back out of the valley I startled a bunny - my startle saved it's little fuzzy life though as soon a Sparrowhawk came swooping about looking for lunch and he'd have been the meal if he hadn't have hopped away into the undergrowth.

Now I'm at my mom's place and my knee is swollen internally (horrid squishy feeling) and kinda dead, so I'm glad it was only a short walk and it's something more I can tell Doc when I see him.

Stats - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=26362

Temp: 11C with a real feel of 11C. Winds 29mph S.

Miles: 4.2

Climbed: 296ft

Phew!

It's been a busy old week for me what with working and then trying to fit in some riding and walking. But I managed it and here it is in glorious technicolour for you: (apologies for the long post too):

Wednesday 26th
I decided to go for a walk over at Dovestone reservoir and head off by bus to get to Chew Valley Rd before starting the walk at the end of a new housing estate and going along a dirt track until I reached Bank Lane. Walking along Chew Rd i made the decision to head up the valley to Chew and maybe over to Laddow Rocks, so I set off along the dirt track that takes you pretty much vertically up the side of Indian's Head until you reach the old tram line path which I continued on until I got to the bridge which then takes you over Chew Brook to Chew Rd itself.
After getting onto the main works access road I plodded on up the hill until i reached a little inlet and pond pretty much 95% up the steep valley. At this point the clouds rolled in and threatened rain, so rather than getting soaked with no shelter, I headed back down to the 3 reservoirs in the base of the valley.

Once back at the sailing club I made the decision to walk around all 3 reservoirs. Off I set round the Isle of Skye end of Dovestone, past Yeoman Hey dam wall and along it's side with an access brook on my left, fir trees on either side of me and onto Greenfield dam wall, across it and thus began the fun.

The opposite side of Yeoman Hey isn't a solid path, it's a narrow dirt path that first climbs then falls again, is very squelchy and unstable underfoot and has some big steps down to do from boulders. Bear in mind I'm scared of heights and this had a sheer drop to my right just yards from the path and you can see why I was holding onto the grass each time the path dropped a little. Not that grass can help me if I did fall!
After a while I was back onto terra firma and the gravel path on the far side of Dovestone again, passing Ashway Gap and coming into the car park.

After a brew and a rest I plodded on along Bradley Lane past the back-to-back cottages (very sweet) and began the descent back to the bus stop.

Stats - view route
Cool, windy, cloudy.
Miles: 9.8
Climbed: 968 ft


Sunday 30th
The Middleton CC club ride ride involved me riding over to Heaton Park to meet up with the other riders: Joe, Steve C and Mike. After leaving the flat late I sprinted my way over the 6 miles to the park and found I was early by about 10 minutes! All too soon the others arrived and we set off to meet John W at the Sheepfoot/Bury Rd junction and again were early. Once John arrived we set off (myself with expectations of hilliness that I'd not be able to ride).

We set off and had the fun of going through Agecroft and the valley it sits in (steep sided at that!) before heading over to the A6 for the straight run pretty much to the destination. The route out was pretty boring really as the A6 is a busy(ish) but pretty non-descript road with roundabouts to keep you awake and not much else going for it until you get to the Bolton end of it. Myself and Mike were busy gabbing away a lot of the time anyway and quite often left the others behind, so kept stopping to let them catch up.
Once on Chorley Rd and heading towards Blackrod the roads got a little bit crap. Very rumbly and huge vibrations were making my pelvis (injured bit) and hands (eczema ravaged and nerve damaged)hurt. At this point I asked Joe what he'd done with all the hills as I felt like I'd not even gone uphill at any point of the ride bar Agecroft. He forewarned me that they'd be coming up soon. As I'd ridden near Adlington with Amy and Vikki I'd sussed out that it's be hilly there, but I thought it'd be more hilly on the way there.

Turning up Railway Rd in Adlington and I was soon rewarded with climbs up Babylon Lane and Horrobin Lane to the Great Barn where we all got tortured by wasps!

The return leg was good through the forest and out onto Chorley New Rd for a stint to the Reebok Stadium. At this point I left everybody behind without even realising or trying (maybe my riding has gotten better?) but they caught up at the junction for De Havilland Way and it's joyous roundabouts to get us back onto the A6 again where Joe and John were forever telling us we'd be back at Pendlebury Hospital and our turning. Myself and Mike were convinced we'd missed the turning but were proven wrong as it loomed ahead of us.
Joe had terrible timing along this road as he waited until Mike had passed and I was passing our next turning; so u-turns were in order.

Coming back through Agecroft and we all realised that we had the worst bit to come as the climb back out to Scholes Lane was long and steep (much longer and steeper than the other end). To make matters worse my chain slipped twice while climbing this hill and I very nearly came off at a mini-roundabout plonked halfway up it, but I got to the top and continued on our merry way.

Nearing Heaton Park I mentioned to Mike that my bike sounded a bit like a steam train, to which he agreed, and we both thought it was my rear brake catching the tyre each revolution. When I got to the Park and Joe, John, Steve and Mike had all gone their routes home, i looked closer at Everest and found (to my horror) that my rear wheel had slipped a little and was actually rubbing on the frame. To think I'd ridden all that way and climbed the hills with my wheel like that; I certainly didn't feel like it was causing any problems and it didn't feel that the climbing was harder than I'd normally find it.

After correcting and tightening things up I plodded off to a welcome pint of milk and huge tea at moms before putting more miles in by heading out through Daisy Nook and Ashton, Audenshaw and Openshaw before collapsing on the sofa at home.

Stats - view route
Warm heading out and cold heading home!
Miles: 62.59
Average speed: 12.8
Climbed: 1161ft

Monday 31st
I'd planned to ride with Joby and do one of his routes that he tweaked after I sent him a copy of one of mine. After chatting with Mike yesterday he asked if he could come along too.
So, after meeting him at Ryecroft Hall (after we'd gone to differing places to meet! Whoops!) we set off to meet Joby at the Morrisons in Hyde/Mottram. We thought we'd be 30 minutes so Joby had a pootle around while we rode there. As it was we got there early and had to wait for Joby (sorry for messing you about).

When he arrived, quick introductions were made and we set off with the fun of Mottram Rd ahead of us. I'd forewarned Joby that both Mike and I had ridden many miles the day before with over 1000ft of climbing so we were pretty shattered already; I also forewarned Joby that I'm absolutely crap on hills so to expect to drop me and have to wait at the top of them for me. My predictions were correct as they left me behind and seemed to shoot off up the hill, but were happily (?) waiting for me at the roundabout. Once round there and we shot off down the hill to Mottram Moor and hurtled past cars at warp speed, sadly not breaking the 35mph zone on our pcs.

Once onto the A57 and around a mini-roundabout we had to turn right at the next mini one and I was forewarned that the hills would be coming thick and fast. Primrose Lane is a bit of a climb in itself with 1 mile of 4% but nothing would prepare any of us (except Joby cos he'd ridden all of it before) for the hell that was to be Chunal!
An average of 10% for 2 miles is not an easy thing to deal with, least of all for crappy non-hill climbing me. It's suffice to say that I suffered. I suffered big time. It'd be tough riding it on fresh legs, never mind knackered ones with a pinging pelvis. We all decreed that we'd be walking some of it.

I rode 98% of the bugger and walked the most evil bit. Whether they did or not, i dunno. Maybe they were saying that to ease my mind? Either way, I did my best and tamed the beast. But only with several rest (or is that dying) stops along the way.

After all that up must come a down and boy did it. An amazing descent into Hayfield more than made up for the pain of getting to the top of Chunal. Once at Hayfield we pootled along the slightly lumpy Hayfield Rd into New Mills, where we made the decision to make it a little easier on the legs and head along the A6 through Disley and into Hazel Grove.

At this point myself and Joby decided we'd try to out sprint each other coming along here and were frequently triggering the 'slow down, 30' signs and passing each other at warp speed: Joby maxed out at 37mph and I at 38.4mph. Boy, we were flying!

Up the lumpy Torkington and Otterspool Rds (I'm usually coming the other way down them) and soon we saying our goodbyes as Joby headed off to meet Gaz for a ride and Mike and I set off home.

At Bredbury we turned off along Ashton Rd (again I usually come the other way along it) and flew down the descent before facing the climb back out again into Denton. Shooting through Crown Point we turned off to head back to the Fairfield/Droylsden border where every little hump in the road made us feel we were climbing Mt Everest. Dunno about Mike, but my legs were so devoid of energy that they felt like they were falling off, so I didn't really want to go up Ashton Hill Rd - it's only a little humped bridge but it can feel like hell when you're whacked!
We got up and over that ok and pootled on through Droylsden centre and along until we reached the Haddon hall on Lewis Rd where we said our goodbyes: Mike had the fun of climbing up Berry Brow to get home and I set off again to my parents before heading home to my place.

Once home I looked at the speedo to check my maximum speed coming from Bredbury and down the descent by Castle Hill Rd: I'd managed to hit 48.2mph! Jeeeeeeez!!!!!!!

It was an awesome ride, with leg-busting climbs and great company. Thanks again guys for waiting for me at the top of every climb!

Stats - view route
Warm and humid but with a bastard of a headwind all the way round.
Miles: 36.99
Average speed: 12.5
Climbed: 1273ft

Wessenden Moor Wander

Tuesday morning began with the threat of rain and seemed to get even worse when I read the forecast for the day - heavy rain, potential thunderstorms and flooding. Not ideal conditions for moorland walk where there'd be river crossings and peat to cross.


Still I went ahead and met with Joe armed with a map and several potential routes to walk. After perusing them for a while and advising him of a few road problems. meaning a couple of the route may be hard to get to, we chose to head up the Isle of Skye road onto the moors between Manchester and Holmfirth. After pulling into the dinky car park on the Wessenden Head Rd and consulting the map we set off.

After reading the sign about the Kirklees Way by the gate and noting that there were endangered birds about we set off alongside Wessenden Head and Pudding Real Moss along the shared Kirklees and Pennine Way path, down a lovely limestone slab/cobble path and across a few bouncy bridges to come alongside Wessenden Reservoir by the Cradles and Great Dike Springs.

After reading another sign about the area - over 5000 acres belong to the Marsden Moor Estate and tended to by only a few farms - we chose to follow the Kirklees Way across the dam wall and up Long Grain. As the path climb higher and higher, the path got narrower and narrower and squelchy underfoot. Then we saw a sign saying there'd been a bit of subsidence and could clearly see a little of the path had disappeared down into the valley, although the rest of it was fine.

We carried on this path and came to a lovely waterfall and the first of our river crossing points. Luckily the brook wasn't too wide and the water wasn't too deep and there were plenty of big rocks to clamber over before getting to the other side. Once over the other side we had to scramble over rocks almost hip height before we could get back on the path, which became more squelchy underfoot. At this point we were trying to find little grassy hillocks to stand on as the path seemed to be made of peat too and any attempt to stand on it resulted in a boot sucking experience. Joe went first and found some areas were OK to bear weight. I followed on and found that said areas wouldn't bear my weight, so opted for the hillock stepping places. After getting onto one big lump of grass and working out where to step next I managed to find a nice big hole to stick my other foot in - a hole that wasn't seen by anyone! Thankfully it wasn't full of peaty water and was only squelchy to the ankle of my boot.


After lots of chuckling from me and more squelching we made our way to another meeting point of the two trails, by a solar panel for the Lodge. Just past the solar panel we saw the back of a sign, so went round to read it - "Warning, path dangerous. Please use the Pennine Way" Mmm, seems Joe and I had just traversed a highly dangerous path that had no danger signs at the end we came from! We plodded on, thankful that the path hadn't given way on us; around Grouse Butts and to the second river crossing, this time involving a bit more scrambling down a steep valley to get to the bank and across the other side to a set of limestone steps bordered by lots of bracken. Those steps seemed to go on forever. Once at the top, we plodded on for a little while alongside Blakely Clough between Black Moss and Great Butterly Hill before stopping for some lunch.


After teacakes and coffee we continued on our merry way and followed the limestone slab path that'd replaced the well worn path through the moss, heather, cotton grass and bracken to reach Black Moss and Swellands reservoirs, where the rain decided it was going to put in an appearance.


We decided that it'd be best to head back as we were quite far from the car on a peat moor with nowhere to shelter from the rain, with the prospect of the place becoming extremely dangerous. So, after a rest stop, we set off back to the solar panel and the warning sign.


Deciding to play it safe we took the Pennine Way to the left of the panel....down a very steep sided valley (probably talking about 45% gradient to get down and back up on the other side). As I was descending, my knee decided to play up with searing pain through it. Not the best of places to get severe knee pain really. I put it down to the way I was descending, as I seemed to hover on that leg for quite some time before putting my left foot down anywhere, so I presumed I was putting undue stress on it. I managed to get down OK without too much pain, crossing the brook and back up the other side. By the finger post at the top of the climb, we had another rest which gave me time to assess my knee to make sure I hadn't really buggered it up.


This was where we made friends with an adorable ram. He walked past us initially following his missus, then decided to turn round and come have a look and a sniff. Perfect picture moment as he looked at us with a little bit of disdain.

Then Joe put some biscuit on the floor and the ram quite happily came, ate it and stayed put, so Joe put more bits out. The ram got so close that I ended up holding onto the signpost with one hand, kinda slightly hanging over the edge, just so I could fit the whole ram in the frame for another shot!

After the ram had decided he's posed long enough he ran off to find his ewe, leaving us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and head back to the car.


Stats - view route
Miles: 7.31
Climbed: 814ft

Friday Fun

I had planned on cycling on Friday, but decided to go for a wee wander instead. But I'm glad I did.

I set off towards Berry brow and past the Millstream Animal Shelter heading up towards Woodhouses via the narrow, twisty lanes that climb up Medlock Road and past centuries old cottages with very sweet names: Rose Cottage, Pear Cottage, Christmas Cottage, Clayton View.

Once at the top of the hill and into Woodhouses proper I came across a little building that looked like it was a little church or sunday school (although I'm not convinced of this seeing as there is a church at the other end of the road and the village doesn't seem big enough to warrant 2 churches).

A stint in Daisy Nook followed this on road section. Lots of Mama Ducks were around with their broods, including a Coot leading out a brood of Moorhens!

Sadly the old Pinch Farm has been left to fall apart and is now a dangerous derelict building. Only the old iron bridge over the canal is still in good shape. Take a look here to see the farm in all its glory.

Further along the canal is the ford and wooden bridge by Sammy's Basin and the old locks descending down to the Dark Tunnel and the Yellow Bridge area. I turned off just by the side of Sammy's Basin to enter the woods and follow the valley down to the stone slab bridge over the Medlock and then climb back up the valley side to bring me out by the Yellow Bridge (where it used to be anyway).

Once I'd had a brew at the visitor centre I crossed over Stannybrook Rd and set off along the Jericho Trail to pass Cinderland Hall Farm and follow the route of the now defunct Hollinwood Canal. The main portion of the canal that is 'open' water is that in Daisy Nook; once on the Jericho Trail there is some water but it's very full with reeds so there's no water fowl about, but there is still plenty of wildlife.

Sadly as I was walking along here, my memory card became full so I ran out of space for pictures.

This portion of the canal brought me out in Littlemoss by the Railway Pub and gave a pleasant walk through Greenside to the fiveways roundabout and through Sunnybank Park and later Seymour Rd Park to my moms.

Stats - view route

Sunny, clear, hot, gentle breeze

Miles: 7.5

Climbed: 180ft

Destination Stoodley

I arranged a walk with Joe to head up to Stoodley Pike up on the moors above Todmorden - I'd got approximately a third of the way to it on a previous outing, but the icy wind, snow and pea-soup of a mist kinda hampered things, so this time I was determined to get all the way there.

After leaving the car at the small car park off Halifax Rd on Blackstone Edge - most people attempt this walk from Hebden Bridge on the far side of the moor, unlike Joe and I - we set off up the road to the edge of Blackstone Edge reservoir and the start of the Pennine Way. After the fun of a squeeze gate with a stuffed rucksac (involved a fair amount of ducking down for me, seeing as I'm so tall and it was easier than faffing about taking the rucksac off and putting it back on again) we began the walk on a pathway set slightly lower than the level of the reservoir.
This path initially takes you along Cow Head Drain and Cow Head itself with good views over to the Windmill farms above Bury, the sun glinting on the blades as they whoomp their way round.

After about a mile the first of the huge reservoirs up here comes into view - Light Hazzles reservoir with White Holme attached by a narrow inlet-type section. Warland reservoir begins close to 2 miles into the walk. When we reached the little bridge over the overflow drain, we decided now would be a good time to shelter from the tailwind and have a snack and a brew while admiring the view over the valley to Walsden on Rochdale Rd (leads to Todmorden). After a 15 minute breather, we set off again. this time the route became a little harder as the path (which then became a track by the side of Warland reservoir) becomes narrower, curves round the end of the reservoir and becomes rather boggy as it entered the heather and peat bog moorland top and followed the side of the drain as it began to snake its way over to Withins Clough reservoir.

Usually this part of the walk is a boot-sucking squelch of a section; this time it wasn't too bad - maybe it had something to do with us wearing gaitors and a little bit of sod's law? Once the squelching is over (about 3.5 miles) we can see Stoodley Pike in the distance.

Now the walk becomes a little drier as the path has been protected with huge slabs of limestone having been laid to prevent any more erosion on the protected moors and the route takes us north towards Mytholm. After crossing the Calderdale Way (another long distance walking route) the route gets a little harder again, only this time it becomes undulating and scree covered (when the route isn't sandy). After scrambling down the first of the undulations the first of the cairns is seen. Once up the other side the remaining cairns are seen lining the pathway like markers. Maybe they are there to prevent people from straying of the path and falling over the edge? Not much is known about them.


Soon we were on the bluff leading out to the Pike with the wind buffeting us all over. Once at the Pike the inscription on the stone above the doorway is barely legible -

STOODLEY PIKE. A BEACON MONUMENT ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION. COMMENCED IN 1814 TO COMMEMORATE THE SURRENDER OF PARIS TO THE ALLIES AND FINISHED AFTER THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO WHEN PEACE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1815. BY A STRANGE COINCIDENCE THE PIKE FELL ON THE DAY THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR LEFT LONDON BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF WAR WITH RUSSIA IN 1854. WAS REBUILT WHEN PEACE WAS RESTORED IN 1856 RESTORED AND LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR FIXED 1889.

Knowing it was possible to climb up the tower and knowing how dark it is inside (39 steps and no light entering through windows as there aren't any), headtorches were donned and the precarius spiral staircase was climbed. Boy was I glad we did - the views all around were simply amazing: the wilds of the heather covered moors!



Another breather was called for after descending the stairs again. The breather was certainly needed as the wind on the way back became much stronger and a headwind - always fun when you're feeling a little tired! The return journey was made more fun by trying to avoid the sheep that had wandered over to this part of the moor, and who were rather curious of these strange 2-legged creatures wandering along but not eating any heather. We even joked that we'd kidnap the next one that walked close to us and call him Mint Sauce!

Eventually we were back on the main path along Warland reservoir and Light Hazzles before the long walk back alongside Cow Head Drain. This part of the walk always feels horrendously long, most likely due to the view not really changing much and there's not really anything to aim for that gives the impression of travelling anywhere.


Alongside Light Hazzles the wind dropped enough to get a few shots in of the reservoir and the moors behind it which lead over to where we'd been hours before.


All in all it was a walk of 10.55 miles.
The route can be seen on mapmyfitness.
See Live Search view of the locale.

Dunham Massey

Ah bliss! Lovely and hot with bright clear blue skies and I'm in the best place to savour it - Dunham Massey.

With it's 250 acre deer park home to Fallow Deer (think Bambi) and the stunning Georgian Mansion, Watermill with giant working water wheel, tea rooms in the converted barn and multitude of blissful areas, Dunham is simply breathtaking in this glorious sunshine!

Wandering around between the trees (not all the forested area is accessible) in one section there are wood sculptures created from the fallen trees - this fellow being one of them. The guy who does these is amazing as he uses a chainsaw to create them - one false move and the sculpture is ruined!

Over by the lake where this beautiful, elegant swan was happily munching on the bread being lobbed at it by a little tot, I was asked by a guy if I knew of any fish being in the lake. When I responded that I'd not really been up close to the lake before he pointed out what initially looked like a deflated orange football. It turned out to be a rather large bright orange Koi Carp (he was approx 2-3ft long)!

After a huge sarnie had been snaffled in the new plantation I spotted 4 bucks lazing around by a huge fallen tree and decided to creep over for a closer look. They were so chilled out that I was able to get so close that the only thing between me and the deer was the fallen tree. I got some beautiful shots of one of them as he played with a little branch that was tickling his head.

Before I knew it, 5 hours had passed and it was time to head home.

See LiveSearch Aerial View of this location.

I took advantage

I woke up to the sun streaming in through my bedroom window casting a lovely warm red glow through the room and thought I just have to get outside. So I did!

As I'd had a good amble around Daisy Nook on Monday, I thought I'd head back out that way again and have more of an explore.

I began again at Bardsley but stuck to the river side instead of the canal sections of the country park. After almost sliding down a steep muddy path to get to the valley bottom, it was almost like stepping into a dream - the silence was deafening, with not a hint of the road above and carried on the occasional breeze was only the faint bubbling of the river as it trickled across pebbles. Perfect.

I made my way to Riversvale Drive - a beautiful sweeping compacted earth driveway that led to the (now, sadly demolished) glorious Gothic pile that was Riversvale Hall. The Earl of Stamford certainly picked a stunning spot to build his house in 1846. While soaking in the atmosphere a fab photo opportunity arose in the shape of a lovely hound lying proudly in between the gates of the Lodge; almost as thought it was his house and he was guarding it!

After pootling about in the wood I opted for a stroll through the river - it's rather shallow in parts and reach the top of my boots. Then I made my way back up onto the paths I walked on Monday before making my way to a funky stone slab bridge over the river to a cute little arched stone bridge over a brook that trickles into the Medlock here. After another wander in the river and along its pebbly banks to yet another little bridge, I made my way to the John Haworth centre for the obligatory bacon butty and mug of tea.

It seemed that no matter where I went today I was being pounced on by hounds - I made lots of new waggy tailed friends today - Alsatians, Retrievers, Labradors, Cairn Terriers, Great Dane....all having so much fun their tails were a blur of happiness!

After much chatting with the dog owners and after the butty and tea had gone, I looked at my watch to check the time and found I'd been out for almost 2hrs. Blimey, I didn't think I was out for that long!

Walk on the wild side

The view along most of the walk!

Yesterday members of Middleton CC decided we'd have a wintry walk on Blackstone Edge to make up for the lack of club ride at the end of November.

So, at 9:30am on a cold, frosty morning myself and Paul set out to collect Joe and begin the drive to the White House pub on the moors by the side of Blackstone Reservoir. Once there, boots, beanies and gloves went on as we set off into the dense mist with crisp cold air and patches of snow lying about looking like natural 'white horse' engravings on the hillsides below us.

The route follows the Pennine Way as it winds it's way across the moors to Stoodley Pike and beyond. Our aim was to get the majority of the way to Stoodley Pike, although this all depended on the state of the trails and how we felt as we walked.

The frozen Little Hazzles reservoir

The walk began alongside the very still Blackstone Edge reservoir before following the path round a grassy knoll known as Cow Head and heading past the very frozen Little Hazzles reservoir and the defrosted Warland reservoir. The tracks along here were in excellent condition with only small ice filled potholes and snow to contend with. We decided that Warland reservoir, and the drain that leads to it, was a perfect place to stop for coffee and lunch to defrost us slightly.

All along this far the mist was very dense with only the odd bit of clear sky as the sun tried its best to burn through.

Myself and Joe having our lunch break
Once lunch and vast amounts of coffee was consumed we set off again alongside Warland Drain and onto Higher Moor where we encountered what had become a rather large boggy section with no way through except for the stone edge of the drain - we walked along this for a further 15 minutes before deciding that the weather and surroundings had beaten us - even more so when the bog tried to eat my footwear and not give it back!

A fight ensued between myself and the moor before I gained the upper hand, stole my boots back and clambered onto the stonework to head back to the car.

As it was so misty and cold there were very few people out; those that were out were, like us, covered in mud up to the knees. All except for one chap, and a very odd chap he was too! In the conditions on that day everybody had several layers on, gloves, beanies, scarves, waterproofs etc; this chap had on white trainers, beige trousers, yellow t-shirt and nowt else! He didn't even have any mud splatters on him anywhere. How he managed that is beyond me.

We were even more surprised when he passed us on the way back to the car - he'd obviously gone as far as the boggy bit and turned back - he was running and still didn't have any mud splats!!

All in all, it was an excellent walk - stunning even in the dense mist.

Boring bits -

Temperature: approx 0 degrees

Distance: 6.88 miles

Climbed: 141ft

Altitude: 1293ft at highest point