Grindley Brook and Tushingham 1st July 2010

Birthday girl leading the rest of the group.

You're not my friends!

St Chad's, a lovely church in the middle of fields, but still used once a month.

Distance:11.5 miles; Climb:797'.

Time:4 hours 59 minutes; On the move walking average:2.6 m.p.h.; Overall walk average:2.3 m.p.h.

Group:Martyn, Gordon, Annie H.,Tim, Celia , Sylvia and Dave J.

The weather forecast was for rain around mid-day, but at least it wouldn't be cold. We thought that the forecast was going to be right as it started to rain, just as we were starting lunch at Jackson's Bridge. Thankfully it didn't last for more than a few minutes and our waterproofs were redundant for the rest of the day.

Much of the terrain was across farmland, but underfoot was invariably good to firm, and the worst that we encountered was a few nettle stings!

On route we passed St Chad's church, situated in the middle of fields and still used once a month. It was well maintained, and had some lovely stained glass windows that you could appreciate by looking through the side windows.

The final mile and a half was along the Llangollen canal from the Willey Moor Lock Tavern(sadly closes at 2-00 p.m. according to the notice at the end of their drive to their car park). This was a very pleasant canal side path on which to return to our cars at Grindley Brook.

Birds seen or heard today included:Chiffchaff, Barn swallow, Carrion crow, Jackdaw, Black-headed gull, House sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Winter wren, Pied wagtail Jay, Blackbird, European robin, Woodpigeon, Buzzard, Kestrel and Hobby (the bird of the day).

After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Horse and Jockey at Grindley Brook, where Celia (birthday girl today) celebrated by buying the first round and and large bowl of chips to be shared by all of us. A bitter from the Three Tuns in Bishop's Castle went down particularly well. Dave J., whose birthday is on the 4th July, got into the act by buying the second round.

Overall a good walk that left are legs feeling as though we had completed a much more demanding walk that what was essentially a walk across the Cheshire plain.