The start of the walk at Barthomley.
An usual puff ball, one of many in this field South of Barthomley.
Crossing one of the many fileds of long lush grass.
"I think I'm glad to be out of ear shot!"
Bluebells in Mill Dale.
"There must be an easier way than this!"
Hugh Bourne's memorial at Englsea-brook.
Lunch in Englesea-brook cemetery.
A Common kestrel seen on the way to Weston.
Marsh marigolds in flower.
Celandine in flower.
Sneaking in to a pub again!
The White Lion at Barthomley, with thatch intact once more after the fire of 2012.
Walk stats: Distance: 9.9 miles. Climb: 627'.
Time: 5 hours 58 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.2 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Roger, Celia and Mike.
This was another excellent day for walking, plenty of sunshine, occasionally accompanied by a cool breeze.
This walk isn't a walk where you would describe the views as being memorable, but it is still a walk to enjoy strolling through this East Cheshire/Staffordshire border farm land, especially as the ground underfoot was dry and hadn't been trample on recently by cattle.
Lunch was take sitting in the cemetery at Englesea-brook cemetery where a lady from the nearby Englesea-brook Chapel and Museum invited us to sit in the cafe.
After enjoying lunch sitting in the Sun, we went into the Chapel, part of the Primitive Methodist Movement. This delightful chapel is well worth a visit and the museum has some interesting artefacts. The chapel and museum are part of the Method Heritage centres. The chapel is still has an active congregation and has an interesting 2016 events programme.
Another bonus for today was the number of Spring flowers including our first showing of Bluebells. Other flowers included: Marsh marigold, Celandine and Wood anenome.
We arrived back at the car with legs knowing that they had climbed about 50 stiles, and looking forward to a rest when we sat down!
Birds seen or heard today included: House sparrow, Common chaffinch, Barn swallow, Common blackbird, Grey heron, Common kestrel, Blue tit, Great tit, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Rook, Carrion crow, Dunnock, Winter wren and Lapwing.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the White Lion at Barthomley, where Bank's Sunbeam went down well as did the Jennings' Cock O Hoop. This was a very busy historic hostelry, so much so that Roger took off his hearing aids to enjoy the ambiance! The historical decor was such that it would be able to challenge the Wilkes Head in Leek. In fact the room that we sat in had very basic seats and tables. I'm sure the seat I sat on had been made out of an old plank!
No comments:
Post a Comment