Seeing these, meant we were on the right path.
Bluebells in wood above Black Brook.
The way ahead.
The view looking north west towards Poynton.
The path leading towards Further Harrop Farm.
More Bluebells on the way to the Macclesfield Road.
Our escape route to the Macclesfield Road.
A nice memorial to a local shepherd.
Hazy distant views towards the Clwydian Hills from the toposcope on Sponds Hill.
The toposcope on Sponds Hill.
A Ewe with two lambs near the trig point on Sponds Hill.
At the trig point on Sponds Hill.
At the trig point on Sponds Hill.
The Bow Stones near our lunch spot.
"Mum where are you?"
"I'm coming, mum."
Distant views of the Cage in Lyme Park.
Seen as we crossed crossed Bakestonedale Moor, but what is it?
Sensible sheep resting in the shade of the tree.
Looking back towards Bakestonedale Moor.
How many lambs?
Distant views of White Nancy.
Enjoying a pint of Brightside.
The Poacher's Inn - the location of our pre-end of walk drinks!
A good day for watching cricket on the Bollington Recreation Ground.
Distance: 9.7 miles. Climb: 1522’.Time: 6 hours 6 minutes.
On the move walking average: 2.4 m.p.h.
Overall walk average: 1.6 m.p.h.
Temperature: 11.5 Celsius at the start. 14.2 Celsius as we crossed Sponds Hill. 24.2 Celsius at Lunch near the Bow Stones. Max reading 27.2 Celsius mid-afternoon when we were walking in bright sunshine.
Beaufort Wind Force: 0 – 3. Mainly a Light breeze, although it did reach a 9.2 m.p.h. Gentle breeze as we crossed Sounds Hill.
Group: Martyn and Mike.
Weatherwise this was a good day for walking, with temperatures feeling like about 17 Celsius due to the cooing north easterly wind.
The walk description wasn’t easy to follow, so we were reliant on our GPSs and reading the OS maps. Around one farm, there was lots of work going on and we ended up missing the path we wanted. Consequently, e ended up on the Macclesfield Road about 0.3 miles east of where we wanted to be.
We joined the Gritstone Trail over Sponds Hill. We stopped at the toposcope and to our delight it showed us which way to look for the Clwydian Hills and of course Moel Famau. Distant views were very hazy, so it was very debateable whether we could actually see Moel Famau or not.
Lunch was taken near the Bow Stones, where we took advantage of the remains of an old wall as suitable perching spots. Not much of a view, but we were sheltered from the wind and were able to bask in the warm sunshine.
After lunch, we decided shorten the walk slightly, and miss out the section that went into Lyme Park.
The moorland here seemed to be alive with small lambs and singing Skylarks.
Birds seen or heard today included: Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Common blackbird, Carrion crow, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Song thrush, Mallard Woodpigeon, Winter wren, Skylark, Barn swallow, European robin, House sparrow, Meadow pipit, Common buzzard, Eurasian curlew, Common chaffinch, Raven, Woodpigeon and Blackcap.
As we descended towards Bollington, my needs were such that I persuaded Mike to go into the Poacher’s Inn so that I could use their facilities. Naturally we had to stop for drinks! Mike enjoyed a pint of Brightside and my pint of Coca Cola went down well after I could relax!
This pre-end of walk drinks meant that we didn’t have any after walk drinks and headed straight home.
After leaving the Poacher’s Inn, we were stopped by a Tesco’s Home Delivery van driver, who quizzed us on GPSs that we used as he was thinking of investing in one. H had even heard of GPS Training where I got my GPS.
I arrived at home to find that my Lekki was missing, that Brightside must have good, Mike took all three walking poles, instead of just his two!
I was even home early enough to see the end of Crystal Palace’s historic FA Cup victory over Man City.
No comments:
Post a Comment