BLEAKLOW
Distance: 11.5 miles
Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous
Weather: Overcast but dry
Walkers: Alan Hart, George Dearsley, George
Whaites, Peter Beal, Jock Rooney and Tip,
Tom Cunliffe,
Apologies: Colin Davison (Euro motorbike
tour), Lawrie Fairman (with the B Walkers), Julian Ross (unavailable)
Leader: Beal Diarist: Dearsley
Starting Point: The main car park opposite
the Wheatsheaf in Old Glossop
Starting Time: 9.44am. Finishing Time: 2.48pm
This was probably the longest walk your diarist
has been on with the Wednesday Wanderers.
Although there were no really strenuous
climbs or descents the sheer distance proved something of a challenge. But the
sextet completed the walk without incident or injury.
We left the familiar car park in Old
Glossop and turned right and right again into Wesley Street, parallel with a
picturesque stream.
At the end of the road we turned left, past
the factory of Firth Rixon, which, as every schoolboy knows, is a world-leading
provider of Seamless Rolled Rings, Closed Die Forgings, Open Die Forgings,
Extruded Forgings and Specialty Metals. Where would civilisation be without
Extruded Forgings, eh?
Firth Rixson has been established through
the amalgamation of prestigious steel-based companies (i.e. Firth Brown and
Woodhouse and Rixson) dating back to the early 1800’s and officially became
Firth Rixson in 1996. There is an account of its history here.
and here
A river was to our right and we strode on
over a stone bridge then immediately left onto what we were told was an old
Roman road.
The path became a slight incline and we
veered off to the right at a sign which said to “Doctor’s Gate and the Snake
Inn”. (It gained its name from a Doctor Talbot who used it in the 17th century).
Early view
Into the (relatively) unknown
We crossed a rickety wooden bridge which
looked like something out of an Indiana Jones film, Mr Cunliffe bravely
choosing not to do a risk assessment or ascertain its safe working load.
Indiana Tom
We went through a gate and saw a sign which
appeared to have been erected by the owners of Mossy Lea Farm.
We went up an incline (10.37am) and at
10.58am Pie Time was declared. The Wanderers enjoyed a magnificent view
especially behind us and lungfuls of fresh air until Mr Cunliffe expelled a
good few litres of eggy air upwind of Mr Hart, much to his chagrin.
Pie Time…and tales of the Caribbean
You may be interested to know that the
typical bottom burp is composed of about 59 percent nitrogen, 21 percent
hydrogen, 9 percent carbon dioxide, 7 percent methane and 4 percent oxygen.
Only about one percent of a fart contains
hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans, which contain sulfur, and the sulfur is
what makes the trump stink.
The average fart travels at 10 feet per
second.
You may not know but it was your diarist
who put Britain’s only professional passer-of-wind Mickey Methane on the road
to stardom after a feature article in the Manchester Evening News.
You can catch his act here.
To take our minds off the whiff Mr Rooney
regaled us with tales of his holiday in the Caribbean.
Mr Hart meanwhile dispensed the port and I
must say it has been very remiss of your diarist not to have acknowledged his
fine, much appreciated and regular largesse in previous diaries.
It was hard to have to call time on Mr
Rooney’s Whickeresque portrayal of the West Indies and resume our walk… but we
reluctantly did so at 11.10am.
At 11.21 am we reached part of the Pennine
Way and turned left.
The path now was a bed of large flagstones,
presumably laid by helicopter.
Mr Beal’s Garmin told us we were at 1860
feet above sea level.
Here we diverted from the approved route to
seek out the wreckage of a Flying Fortress .41 miles to our left.
We crossed a mixture of boggy peat and
heather and came to the wreck site of the ill-fated B-29 which crashed on
3.11.48 killing all 13 crewmen aboard.
What a view
Plane wreckage
An old wreck…with the Flying Fortress in the
background
Memorial
It was a very emotional scene and I thought
I detected a tear in Mr Hart’s eye. But if I did, it wasn’t caused by the post wartime tragedy but by Tips nutting him again in the nether regions, just as we
were about to set off at 12.08pm.
Mr Beal gave us the choice of a circuitous
route or going “off piste” in a more or less straight line across country to
the highest point on the horizon.
We opted for the “as the crow flies”
approach and at 12.20pm stopped for lunch at a cluster of rocks called Wain
Stones about half a mile from the aforementioned point.
Here Mr Rooney surprised us all by
producing wine glasses and a bottle of red vino and opening his own private
“pub”…the Bleaklow Bar.
The Bleaklow Bar
As we supped the cheeky Rioja….(or was it
Merlot?) we insisted that Jock told us more of his holiday in the Caribbean.
We set off again at 12.38pm spotting a
mountain hare nearby.
We were back on the Pennine Way here, as
were a charabanc load of ramblers including a woman who moaned at Tips being off
the lead.
“Can you call your dog off?” she bleated.
Mr Hart was not quick enough with what
would have been the perfect riposte …”it’s a bitch, you should know”.
We went over a stream and made a quite
short but stiff climb up onto a path.
Because of the nature of the terrain and
the lack of identifiable landmarks it was difficult to describe our route
accurately. Mr Beal was navigating by Garmin.
We went over a fence at 1.38pm and the next
memorable location that hove into view at 2.04pm was the shooting box where we
famously sheltered on one very rainy walk a good few weeks ago.
We headed for Cock Hill, the quickest way
down and eventually came out on the edge of Old Glossop into Charles Lane by a
cottage called Hill View on the left.
We were back at the cars at 2.48pm and
drove the few yards to the Queens, where Old Speckled Hen and Wainwright were
both £2.95 and Unicorn was £2.90.
More pictures of the walk, kindly provided by Mr Cunliffe follow at the end of the blog.
B Walkers' Diary
Walkers..John Laverick, Mike Ridgway,Ken Sparrow, Terry Jowett, Laurie Fairman.
Non Walking Drinkers.. Geoff Spurrell, Tony Job
Apologies.. Mike Walton who did turn up in his sandals and claimed that he could not walk because he was w*#king.
Walk Leader and Diarist ..John Laverick
This was a record making B Team walk of 8 miles yes your eyes do not deceive you 8 miles and all the walkers returned safely.
The walk started as always from the cricket nets at Poynton Sports Club at 10am with the regular B Teamers welcoming Laurie Fairman who due to a poorly knee has dropped a division ,and of course did not include any bus journeys until the Walk Leader gets his bus pass.
It started as a gentle wander towards the Bulls Head turning left and following the public footpath/track across the fields past Birch Hall Farm. Pie time was was gobbled at 11:00 hours and taken with a couple of friendly exotic turkeys that must have remained undetected last Xmas.
Onward the team wandered through a housing estate past the Happy Valley School, turning right down towards the Happy Valley turning left at the bottom of the valley towards Bramhall Hall. The pace set by the leader must have too fast because it was too early for the first comfort break. At this point a well known manouvre called a Spurrell loop was thrown onto the equation and the walk was extended to see the duck eating snapper turtles of Bramhall Hall.
None were seen but it was noticed that all the ducks were drakes no hens to be seen. This according to my learned friend Laurie was due to stuff been washed into the environment and hence the water which caused a genetic problem making hens lay duck eggs that hatched as drakes.
From the male domination of the duck pond the walk continued to the first stop at the Ladybrook Hotel for a welcomed pint or two. The beer, Tim Taylors and Doombar, was on excellent form and came close to Tom's beer prices but not quite at £3:30 a pint.
After the refreshments it dawned on the team it was 3.5 miles back so retraced our steps back to the Happy Valley and continued along the brook, following the path, until the Woodford Road, turned right over the bridge, turned left up Mill Hill Hollow. Followed path to London Road.
Over London road turn right walking along the path along the Poynton Pool back to the Sports Club where Laurie and Ken picked up their cars. The remainder of the team headed to Weatherspoons where we met with our non walking drinkers, where our good friend Mr Job insisted on buying us beer as he had just enjoyed a birthday and may he enjoy many more.
Next B walk to be advised but might be Macc Forest......watch this space.
Next week’s A Walk will start from the
square in Hartington at 9.55am.
Sadly your diarist is w*rk^ng. Mr Beal also
misses the next five Wednesday, two walking in Menorca and the next three in
the Greek Islands. I wish I had his pension.
Happy Wandering!
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