At Pale Heights - a superb viewpoint on a crystal clear day. Good but not perfect today.
On the path from King's Gate - the start of the described walk.
An solo Celandine flower - I wasn't expecting to see any more!
Wrong again, the verge on Hall Lane, Utkinton was a mass of yellow for a few hundred yards
The War Memorial in Utkington, unusual to see a well maintained cross with a figure of Christ. Perhaps there are some Catholic connections in the village, although a Primitive Method Chapel was nearby.
Tirley Garth- you can just bout see that it is the Irish flag flying as it is St. Patrick's Day.
Walk stats: Distance: 11.4 miles. Climb: 907'.
Time: 5 hours 41 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.0 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Roger, David S., Annie, Phil, Sue and Dave P.
This was a good day for walking, dry all day, rather cool at the start but positively barmy towards the end of the walk, so much so that even Phil finished the walk in his shirt with his sleeves rolled up and Annie ever so slightly hitched up her long sleeves!
We started the walk at Gresty's Waste and headed North to Pale Heights one of our high points on the walk. By the time we arrived at The Yeld some of us discarded some of our Winter jackets and the two front runners in the group thought that the rest of had mysteriously disappeared as we used the facilities ( picnic tables) in the Yeld Car Park, so we were temporarily out of sight.
Sue and Dave P joined us again, this time as far as Summertree, hoping that the cafe might be open, but sadly it looks as though it has permanently closed.
Most of the outward journey involved sections of the Sandstone Trail and on a section just North of Wood Lane we took advantage of a few stones and a section of a fallen tree or was it post to sit on for lunch. The views from this point were good, but somewhat hazy, but we did have the delights of hearing a Skylark singing nearby and a couple of Common buzzards circling overhead.
Although we saw many flowering daffodils on the roadside, the highlight of the day was to see an abundance of Celandine in flower - Spring is here at last!
Some of the views as we climbed out of Utkinton were superb, especially to the West.
Birds seen or heard today included: Woodpigeon, Carrion crow, Rook, Common chaffinch, Common blackbird, Blue tit, Great tit, Wood nuthatch, Common buzzard, Skylark, House sparrow, Mandarin duck and Common starling.
Some of arrived back at the car with tired legs, grateful that unexpectedly are boots weren't muddy and we could look forward to a refreshing drink soon.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Stamford Bridge Inn, Chester, now a Hydes' venue, and consequently it was their original bitter that went down well.
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