Revidge from Hulme End 1st July 2017

Ecton Hill from the manifold Valley.

Tawny owl in the manifold valley.

Meadow brown butterfly - abundant along the path to Warslow.

Ecton Hill from the manifold -Warslow path.

"Are you sure this is the path?"

"You aint coming this way"

Revidge in sight.

At the trig point on Revidge.

Norther panorama from Revidge.

The Butcher's Arms, but not open for lunch.

A final view of Ecton Hill.

Walk stats: Distance: 7.6 miles. Climb: 1078'.

Time: 4 hours 52 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.1 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.

Group: Martyn and Mike.

We drove along the Warslow road from the Green Man with head lights and fog lights on and arrived at Hulme End with the temperature being 10.5 Celsius. At the end of the walk we arrived back at he car in sunshine a temperature of 21.0 Celsius.

 We set off on the Manifold Trail, heading for Ecton Hill, but as it was still decked in mist/cloud we decide to do the Revidge loop first.

 Almost as soon as we had turned off the Manifold Trail we had the delight of seeing a Tawny owl take to flight from a tree a few feet from us. Although it landed in a tree about 20 metres away, the tree's foliage prevented us from getting a clear view.

 This was a good start to the day, and it wasn't long before the weather improved, the Sun came out and the mist cleared.

 The rest of the walk was in warm sunshine with a gentle breeze and good views in all direction, especially from the top of Revidge.

 Soon after leaving the road at the Butcher's Arms, we couldn't find the path that we wanted and ended up taking another path that led to the road we wanted near Kirkham Yard Farm.

 After crossing Warslow - Longnor Road we were fortunate to find a large tree that had been felled and were able to take advantage of the seating opportunities it gave as a lunch spot.

 This was a day for getting D of E experience, we saw at least three groups walking in the same area as us and several more as we arrived back at Hulme End.

 Bird seen or heard included: House sparrow, barn swallow, Eurasian curlew, Black-billed magpie, Carrion crow, Woodpigeon, Common blackbird, Goldfinch and Tawny Owl.

 We arrived back at Hulme just after three, so we decided that we would give Ecton Hill a miss and head for for the Wilkes Head in Leek for a drop of amber nectar - Whim Ales's Hartington Bitter. It didn't disappoint!