OLD GLOSSOP, SWINESHAW RESERVOIR, CLOUGH HEAD, PEAKNAZE MOOR, CLOUGH EDGE, PENNINE WAY, TRANS PENNINE TRAIL, LONGDENDALE TRAIL, HADFIELD, PADFIELD, PADFIELD CEMETRY, UPPER RESERVOIR, CAT WOOD, OLD GLOSSOP
Distance: 7.4 miles.
Difficulty: Moderate then easy peasy
Weather: dry overcast, ferocious sleet at our backs, bright and sunny, ferocious sleet/snow/hale in our faces, overcast
Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, George Whaites and Chris Owen (well…..almost).
Apologies: Mickey Barrett (in Australia), Peter Beal (domestic duties), Alastair Cairns (helping builder), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (cruise lecturing), Steve Kemp (domestic duties), Julian Ross (expanding business empire), Alan Hart (W*rking in Lanzarote), George Whaites.
Leader: Davison. Diarist: Cunliffe
Starting point: car park in Old Glossop opposite the Wheatsheaf pub.
Starting time: 9.45am. Finishing time: 2.45pm.
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As we gathered at the rendezvous point on the car park Chris approached me with his head hung low, hands clasped behind his back and proceeded to shock me with a typical long convoluted schoolboy excuse about leaving his boots at home!!
Being the generous soul that I am, I offered to lend him my crocs but before you could say “you can stick them right up your a*r^e” he politely declined.
I waved Chris goodbye as he drove off in to the High Peak mist and wondered if his days of being made of sterner stuff were over. Right on cue Colin and George arrived.
It was good to see these two chaps after their absence, unfortunately Colin was still suffering from his dodgy ticker and was still recovering from a tumble from his new electric bike when he came off headlong over the handle bars on to hard ground whereupon his teeth pierced his upper lip… ouch!! His lip was swollen and as I looked at him he reminded me of yesteryear of one of my favourite Bash Street characters – Plug. Dear reader, see what you think
George showed off his brand new made-to-measure Altberg boots (very smart).
Having consulted with Colin about a suitable walking speed, we 3 Amigos eventually set off at a sedate funereal pace on the usual route.
Participants of this route will remember that this walk is a steepish plod until reaching the shelter of a dilapidated shooting hut. We arrived just in time for Pies, but no port.
Our arrival at the hut coincided with sight of horizontal hale speeding across the moors passing us then proceeding up the valley. We managed to huddle in a sheltered corner of the run-down hut until it had passed.
Pie Time over, we 3 Amigos proceeded on our way until we reached Clough Edge with the steep valley below and the reservoirs stretched out in front of us, it was indeed a beautiful site. In spite of these tricky weather and underfoot conditions we were able to negotiate this perilous section until we began to descend from our lofty position eventually crossing the road below joining the Trans Pennine Trail (or, if you prefer the Longdendale Trail) in a westerly direction.
The three mile slog along this trail to its conclusion at Padfield Station was made a bit more uncomfortable by the extreme weather conditions with high-speed horizontal hale and snow battering our faces doing little for Colin’s disfigured face.
Eventually reaching Padfield Station we decided to miss out the Anchor pub and instead search for the Peels Arms as we made our way back to the car park. Unfortunately, we couldn’t remember where the pub was so we proceeded along the road, crossing muddy fields, a cemetery and more muddy fields until we reached Swineshawe Reservoir.
As we spied more glutinous mud ahead of us, a gate in the dry stone-wall surrounding the reservoir was noticed with an inviting path running the full length, we decided to take advantage of said path emerging at a small footbridge then series of steps taking us down to the track leading back to the car park, much better than the muddy field option.
We de-booted and retreated to the Queens Arms (recently voted CAMRA pub of the year for 2017) where we enjoyed pints of foaming Wainwright in excellent condition (you wouldn’t expect anything less) at £3.30 per pint.
Pictures by Colin
Next weeks walk will begin in Bollington commencing from outside the Church House Inn on Church Street opposite St John’s Church. We should meet at 9.30am with the Robin Hood in Rainow the favoured half way watering hole around 12.15 arriving back at the vehicles at 2.15 for further light refreshments at the Church House Inn.
Happy Wandering!
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