Sutton

 March 22, 2022.

Sutton, Crocker Hill,A54, Hollins Lane, Ryles Arms, Gritstone Trail, Ridge Hill, Langley Pond, Goneville Estate.

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous start: easy finish.

Weather: Mainly sunny and dry with fluffy white clouds.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Mark Enright, Martin Evans,

Christopher Owen, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Thomas Cunliffe. Michael Barrett, Peter Beal, Julian Ross, Clifford Worthington.

None Walking Drinker Hart.

Apologies: Huey Hardiman, Covid. Jock and Kieren Rooney, unspecified.Simon Williams, Hospital Visit.

Leader: Owen.

Diarist: Ross.

Starting point: Sutton Hall

Starting time: 9.34am. Finishing time: 2.09pm

As the bakers dozen of wanderers gathered in the car park of Sutton Hall Mr. Cunliffe gleefully broke the news that a new diarist was required as neither himself or Mr Beal were prepared to complete the task.

There followed a scene from Monty Python Gumbys as all the 11 wanderers looked at their feet, shuffled uncomfortably and said nothing. This naughty school boy situation continued for what seemed like an eternity with the imposing figure of Mr Cunliffe staring at each walker in turn. ( He is a big man but much out of shape) Realising how uncomfortable this situation was for the more illiterate and shy members of the group I volunteered. The atmosphere lifted immediately with smiles replacing anguish and shouts from my one time friend Mr Barrett such as “ I bet he sais things like, we progressed in an orderly fashion”, Or “ We walked in an easterly direction” All greeted with howls of laughter.

As this discussion was taking place, our leader was seen to be striding off towards the front entrance of Sutton Hall, obviously tired of the tedium of debate.

The happy group followed and turned left on to Bullocks lane, proceeding in a westerly direction for several hundred yards before taking another left over a wooden style and followed the public footpath towards Walker lane where we

turned left passing the Tunnicliffe Tea House and Life Style Store. A short distance later we turned right into the adjoining field towards Symondley Road where we took another right towards Sutton reservoir. With the reservoir on our right we took a sharp left towards Hawkshead Quarry, past Croker House and then a steep climb took us up to the gritstone trail.

At this stage the group was becoming stretched out with the Hayfield Massive ahead and the big yet out of shape Cunliffe at the rear. The group waited for the tailenders to catch up and it was noted that the unfortunate soldiers training on the Brecon Beacons in July 2013 passed away after suffering heat stroke partly due to the advanced party waiting for them only to restart marching once they caught up without allowing them to rest.

This was met with guffaws of laughter and it was suggested that we set off once his head came into sight. This plan was duly executed as is the way of the wanderers.

The steep climb continued up to Croker Hill summit at 1325ft where the group finally waited for the tail enders.

The tower at the summit is part of the British Telecom microwave network. A Network of point-to-point microwave radio links in the United Kingdom, operated at first by the General Post Office, and subsequently by its successor BT plc. From the late 1950s to the 1980s it provided a large part of BT's trunk communications capacity, and carried telephone, television and radar signals and digital data, both civil and military. Its use of line-of-sight microwave transmission was particularly important during the Cold War for its resilience against nuclear attack. It was rendered obsolete, at least for normal civilian purposes, by the installation of a national optical fibre communication network with considerably higher reliability and vastly greater capacity.

BT remains one of the largest owners of transmission and microwave towers in the UK. The most famous of these is the BT Tower in London, which was the tallest building in the UK from its construction in the 1960s until the early 1980s, and a major node in the BT microwave network.

During his previous working life Mr Owen has worked on the tower and has remarked that from the top you can see f****ing Heaton Park tower.

Mr Owen is now on the staff at Winkle Primary School. Part of the schools vision is to develop happy and courageous children who shine in all that they say and do.

Mr Owen is known affectionately by the pupils as the tall man who swears a lot. He does not appear on the school website.

The group descended along the gritstone trail towards the A54 where a grassy knoll was found and Pie Time declared at 11.08hr.

At this stage Mr Beal offered to lend your unexpected but enthusiastic diarist a pen and paper. A bit late perhaps.

Mr Beal was sporting a Tilley Hat. These retail at about £46 and are renowned as being able to be passed through the digestive system of an elephant and be wearable again after a rinse under the tap. When questioned about what he considered to be the unique selling point Mr Beal stated that if the owner wrote their name and address in the hat, then lost it. The manufacturer would sell the owner a new one at half price. An inspection revealed that no name or address were recorded in this hat. Mr Beal however stated that his wife had most probably definitely recorded the required details in her hat. Mr Beal declined Mr Cunliffs suggestion that he report his hat lost but state his head had grown somewhat and provide a larger half price hat to Mr Cunliffe.

The group continued towards Hollin Lane turning right and arriving a short time later at The Ryles Arms where the beer was said to be in good form and enjoyed on a sunny patio next to the car park.

A short time later we were joined by Mr Hart who seemed in good spirits despite having suffered a horrendous blister due to wearing wellington boots that were too small for him. This injury had prohibited him from walking on the day in question.We wish him well in his recovery and assure him that photographs of the injury posted on watsapp were not necessary as the majority believed him.

On leaving the hostillery we turned left through the carpark up a short hill and once again joined the gritstone trail looping left back towards Hollin Lane.

Turning right we followed the lane to a footpath on our right that took us to

Ridge Hall Farm. Crossing Meg Lane we continued to Cock Hall Lane and turned left towards Langley and onto the Goneville estate to the rear entrance of Sutton Hall.

A final drink was partaken in the sun drenched yard.Judging by the red glowing heads of some walkers a Tilly Hat may be a good investment though other cheaper versions are available.

Next weeks walk will be in Eyam on Hawk Hill Road. The three words address is mass.ordeals.quality. Any questions can be directed to Mr Cunliffe via watsapp.

Happy wandering

Manchester

Manchester – Dog Poo Walk

MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE, CASTLEFIELD, MEDIA CITY, NORTHERN QUARTER

Distance: 8 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Weather: Light rain

Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Alastair Cairns, Andy Blease, Dean Taylor, Chris Owens, Cliff Worthington, Keith Welsh, Simon Williams, Mark Enright, Dave Willetts, Martin Evans.

Apologies: Alan Hart (in transit from Whitby), Mike Barrett (in transit from Costa Rica), Julian Ross (covid) George Dearsley (Turkey), Jock Rooney (plumbing problems), Kieran Rooney.

Leader: Cunliffe  Diarist: Cairns

Starting point: Manchester Piccadilly Station

Starting time: 10am. Finishing time: 4.40pm

Plans for the long awaited murder mystery walk were scuppered when Julian Ross reported he had succumbed to the dreaded corona virus. It is in such times people’s qualities come to the fore and so it was with Tom Cunliffe who stepped forward to lead our band of wanderers on a tour using the less trodden paths of Manchester taking in its canals, open spaces, and university buildings, not to mention 5 public houses and the world famous Kabana curry shop.

After assembling by the “Victory over Blindness” memorial at Piccadilly station we made our way down the station approach turning right into Lena Street, left into Dale Street and down some steps leading us to the canal and lock 85. It was at this point on a previous murder mystery walk Julian pointed out a security camera and described how this was once linked to a loudspeaker system which would warn homosexuals who had ventured down to the canal for sex to bugger off (no pun intended). It was noticed both camera and loudspeaker had been removed which we must put down to the more liberal attitudes displayed by Greater Manchester Police in these times.

Emerging from the canal side we walked into Canal Street, which is part of the Gay Village, from here we turned left into Sackville Gardens behind what was Central Grammar School for Boys (Tom’s alma mater). The gardens are home to a statue dedicated to Alan Turing a mathematician and computer scientist who after his work for the British Intelligence Service was based at the University of Manchester. Turing’s time at Bletchley Park during the second world war where his contribution led to the breaking of the German enigma cipher machine but despite his remarkable achievements, as a gay man Turing was prosecuted for gross indecency in1952, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK. An inquest concluded his death from cyanide poisoning two years later was suicide. After a long fought campaign, Turing was posthumously pardoned by HM The Queen in 2013.

Crossing Sackville Street we made a brief visit to the UMIST building and, while we were able to enter the facility we were, on this occasion unable to access the examination hall to view the magnificent stained glass windows. Not to be discouraged by this setback Chris decided to see if access to the hall could be gained from another direction. it turned out his efforts were in vain as he got lost and was eventually escorted from the building by a couple of cleaners who found him poking around their janitorial supplies!

Chris caught up with us at the Vimto monument which was constructed in memory of Noel Nichols a herbalist who brewed the first barrel of this Manchester classic in a small terrace house on Granby Row where the monument is sited. From here we headed back to Princess Street and the canal. As we passed lock 98 Tom recalled how Julian described how a man who had jumped into the canal and tried to swim to the other side died of hypothermia. There were insinuations that he had been engaged in lewd acts with another man and as recorded in Harty’s original walk diary “It was unclear if the man was stiff when he entered the water, but he certainly was when they dragged him out”.

We passed lock 91 where the Bridgewater Canal becomes the Rochdale Canal and entered Catalan Square. Passing Barca, the restaurant once owned by that famous red nose and singer Mick Hucknall we crossed a footbridge and walked down to the canal through Castlefield. Castlefield is named after the Roman fort that once stood here. The railway viaducts chopped up the Roman site, but the Victorian engineers and architects acknowledged the existence of the Roman heritage by embellishing their viaducts with castles.

At this point we should have left the canal to follow the river Irwell back towards Spinningfields but for a reason (that soon became clear) Chris decided we should push on as there would be an exit off the tow path before we reached Media City, actually this turned out not to be the case. Unbeknown to your diarist it turns out Chris is a devotee of the popular television programme “Celebrity Strictly Come Dancing” who by coincidence are putting on a performance at the Lowry Theatre, imagine the excitement Chris could not believe his luck, an ideal opportunity for him to purchase tickets for his good lady and himself. For some reason the Wanderers chose not to join Chris on his ballroom dancing activities and by catching the tram back to Deansgate were first through the doors of The Britons Protection for their lunchtime service where, your diarist and birthday boy bought each of our number a pint of their favoured tipple, the Brightside Mancunian Hoppy Blonde was deemed to be in excellent form albeit a little on the pricey side at £4.80 a pint.

From the BP we set off towards Piccadilly and on to the Northern Quarter for lunch at the Kabana. On arrival we were surprised to find Chris had beaten us to the curry shop, had finished his lunch and had installed himself at the Millstone on Thomas Street. Avoiding the temptation of joining Chris for a pint of John Willy Lees the wanderers queued at the Kabana and were rewarded with a good selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, all of which were reported as excellent.

After lunch we joined Chris at the Millstone before moving on to the Hare and Hounds (least expensive beer of the day at £2.90 for a pint of Holts) followed by visits to the Marble Arch and the Castle Hotel where pints of Marble Brewery Bitter and Dizzy Blonde were consumed before returning to Piccadilly Station for our trains home

Next week’s walk will start from will start from Sutton Hall at 0930 where Chris will lead us over Croker Hill stopping for refreshments at the Ryles Arms in Sutton.

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                                A selection of pictures by Alastair Cairns and Simon Williams.

Pictures by A.Cairns

Winnats Pass

 March 9, 2022.

WINNATS PASS, SPEEDWELL CAVERN, TREAK CLIFF CAVERN, BLUE JOHN CAVERN, MAM TOR, HOLLINS CROSS, BACK TOR, LOSE HILL, THE CHESHIRE CHEESE AT HOPE, HOPE PINFOLD, PEAKSHOLE WATER, THE GEORGE AT CASTLETON, PEAK CAVERN

Distance: Eight miles.

Difficulty: Strenuous start: easy finish.

Weather: Mainly sunny and dry with fluffy white clouds.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns with Daisy, Mark Enright, Martin Evans, Alan Hart, Chris Owen, Jock Rooney, Kieran Rooney, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Simon Williams.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Costa Rica hols), Peter Beal (entertaining family), Tom Cunliffe (domestic duties), Julian Ross (unspecified)

Leader: Cairns. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Remains of A625 road into Castleton at foot of Winnats Pass.

Starting time: 9.50am. Finishing time: 2.45pm.

On the summit of Mam Tor

After the disappointment of last week's weather we enjoyed a glorious day as winter petered out. Consequently our exertions in climbing three peaks on Great Ridge were rewarded with spectacular views across The Hope Valley.

There was still a chilly nip in the air as we set off and by the time we reached the top of Mam Tor we were being buffeted by stiff winds. But the breathtaking scenery made the effort well worthwhile.

Alastair reluctantly accepted the poisoned chalice of leadership and with a gentle hand on the tiller he managed to steer us to all our objectives on time – even if some arrived there by differing routes. His unflappable style appears to be suited to the anarchic dispositions of the Wednesday Wanderers.

He did, however, blot his copybook with a piece of fourth form humour which succeeded in blocking out Dave's face from the team photo. Back in my day that would have resulted in his being bent over a desk in the headmaster's study. But I digress...

From the remnants of the A625 we walked away from Castleton passing Dunscar Farm on our right (5mins) and Speedwell Cavern on our left. When we reached Treak Cliff Cavern on our left (11mins) two of our group chose to take this alternative route towards Mam Tor while the remainder continued until we literally ran out of road (17mins)

The A625 from Chapel to Sheffield was first created in the early 1800s and has been rebuilt many times since. Underneath it lies weak shale and sandstone which cause regular landslips. The battle to maintain the road was finally surrendered in 1979 and Mother Nature declared the winner.

To the right of this cul de sac were fragments of the shattered road which we navigated until we passed a National Trust sign for Mam Tor. We went through a wooden gate (30mins) and passed Blue John Cavern on our left (33mins). Beyond it we turned right at a wooden gate (39mins) and then right again at another one (47mins) where we began climbing a steep flight of stone steps. This brought us to the Trig Point at the 1,696 feet summit of Mam Tor (55mins).

View towards Edale from Mam Tor

Mam Tor means Mother Hill in old English. It was also known as Shivering Mountain because of its reputation for regular landslips in harsh conditions. The hill was once crowned by a late Bronze Age fort and two barrows (burial chambers) were discovered. It is part of Great Ridge which separates Hope Valley to the south from Edale to the north.

From the summit we continued down to Hollins Cross at Mam Nick, where we paused for Pietime (75mins)

Sheltering from the wind just below Hollins Cross

Suitably refreshed we continued eastward along Great Ridge before heading left up to the summit of Back Tor (92mins). Here, over many years, visiting hikers had created a series of cairns.

Suitably refreshed we continued eastwards along the ridge before heading left to the summit of Back Tor (92mins). Here over many years visiting hikers had created rows of cairns.

Alastair and Daisy Cairns with cairns

Descending we crossed a wooden stile (103mins) to enter Losehill Pike and Ward's Piece. At a junction (106mins) we turned right downhill and crossed a wooden stile (121mins). After crossing another wooden stile (131mins) we turned left and reached a lane (132mins) where we turned right. This in turn brought us to a road where we turned right again (135mins) to reach The Cheshire Cheese on our right (140mins). Here we enjoyed pints of Farmers Blonde at £3-95.

Resuming we turned right out of the pub and walked down to the main A625 road (150mins) where we turned right towards Castleton for a few yards before crossing and turning left up a road to the left of the Woodroffe Arms. This brought us on our right to Hope Pinfold (152mins) where lost sheep and cattle were once held in a pen to be collected by their owners.

We paused here for lunch then continued uphill before turning right at a green public footpath sign indicating the path to Castleton (153mins). This proved to be a series of footpaths which eventually reached the left bank of a stream called Peakshole Water and crossed a commercial railway line to Hope Cement Works.

Return to Castleton

The series of paths finally reached a road (173mins) where we turned left to enter Castleton town centre, passing Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and Ye Olde Nags Head on our left before we turned left before The Castle to reach The George on our right (186mins).

Our numbers were now diminished for a final pint before we returned to the main road, turned left and passed Peak Cavern on our left (189mins) to reach our cars (192mins)

Next week's walk will provide a change of scenery as we take an historical journey from the centre of Manchester. We meet at 10am at the new war memorial statue right outside the entrance to Piccadilly Railway Station. The route will take us along canals beneath the city streets, calling at various colourful pubs and a curry house. Bring your drinking boots but leave your packed lunch at home.

Happy wandering ! 

Longnor

 March 2, 2022.

LONGNOR MARKET SQUARE, GAULEDGE FARM, MOSS CARR FARM, HOLLINSCLOUGH, HOLLINS HILL, SWALLOW BROOK, DOWEL DALE, GLUTTON BRIDGE, YE OLDE CHESHIRE CHEESE AT LONGNOR

Distance: Seven miles.

Difficulty: Easy to moderate.

Weather: Persistent light rain and mist.

Walkers: Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns with Daisy, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Enright, Alan Hart, Jock Rooney, Kieran Rooney, Julian Ross, Dean Taylor, Keith Welsh, Dave Willetts, Cliff Worthington.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (Costa Rica), Peter Beal (entertaining visiting family), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Chris Owen (golfing)

Leader: Rooney. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: The market square in Longnor, Staffs.

Starting time: 10.07am. Finishing time: 12.45pm.

The weather gods have been consistently kind over the years to the Wednesday Wanderers, but we must have done something to earn their displeasure in recent weeks. Perhaps it is time for a human sacrifice: any suggestions ?

Having chosen a route with spectacular views across the county borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire we were thwarted by a heavy mist which shrouded the hillsides and valleys.

Allied to the light but persistent rain this caused our leader Jock to amend and abridge his planned route to avoid muddy fields (as far as possible) and resist expending energy upon climbing hills with limited visibility. This is in keeping with the WW motto: firm of purpose but flexible in design.

Consequently, we endured a mercifully brief walk with an unexpected highlight at the end when Julian treated us to a round of drinks to celebrate his 61^st birthday. We wish many happy returns to a man who has now left our junior ranks to join the wise, experienced seniors. We hope this will henceforth bring him the respect such maturity deserves. His generosity also enables us to forgive him for delaying our start by seven minutes because of erratic navigational skills.

May I also apologise for the brevity of this diary and its lack of photographs. The rain soaked my notebook and I did not wish my camera to suffer a similar fate.

From the cobbled market square we turned right, passing on our right The Horseshoe Inn, which was used to represent the local pub in the ITV series Peak Practice. The show, starring Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton, ran for a decade from 1992.

We took the right fork between cottages (2mins), passing Gauledge Farm on our left, then turned left before a farm (6mins) through two wooden gates in quick succession. Where the paths forked we took the higher option (10mins) and crossed a stone step stile over a drystone wall on the right of the field.

On the far side was a lane where we turned left downhill before following a sign on our right for Hollinsclough (14mins). We passed Moss Carr Farm on our right (31mins) and through the mist on our right we could see three hills known as The Dragon's Back. They were Park House, Chrome Hill and Hollins Hill. On our way we passed wild snowdrops on the roadside verges.

Opposite Hollinsworth Methodist Church we stopped at benches for Pietime (41mins). Suitably refreshed we continued uphill for 50 yards before turning right at a wooden public footpath sign marked with a yellow arrow. We crossed a footbridge over Swallow Brook and turned left up the shoulder of Hollins Hill.

This well-trodden path brought us over a cattle-grid to a lane (73mins). After 50 yards we turned right over a wooden stile marked with a white arrow. The path through a field led us through a gate to a lane next to a cattle-grid which we turned left to cross.

On our right was the path to the summit of Chrome Hill which Kieran alone followed.

When we reached another lane (86mins) we turned right downhill. This took us through Glutton Bridge all the way back to our cars in Longnor (149mins). Turning left we came in less than 100 yards to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on our left for pints of Wizard cask bitter and a choice of two roaring wood fires.

Next week's walk will start at 9.45am from Castleton. Approaching through Winnats Pass from the west of the town you will reach a junction with Castleton on your right. There is free parking to the left and right. Find a space here, park and look out for your comrades. We aim to head up to and over Mam Tor, Mam Nick and Win Hill before descending into Hope for drinks at The Cheshire Cheese at about 12.30pm.

We will return by a path near the quarry for a final pint in another Cheshire Cheese at Castleton around 2.15pm before returning to our cars.

Happy wandering !