Guide Bridge to Manchester City Centre

 Terry, a non hiking friend of mine likes to go for the odd walk and especially around his birthday. So i suggested a canal walk from Guide Bridge to Manchester along the Ashton Canal. He does like canals being a narrow boat man at heart and i also asked fellow blogger JJ if he wanted to come as well.

 We caught the bus into Manchester at 8.00am and met up with JJ who had also brought along Viv and Rick at Piccadilly rail station at 9.30am. Tickets bought, coffee drank, we found our train and dead on the dot of 9.48am it pulled out. It’s only a short train journey to Guide Bridge being around 6.5 miles.

 Leaving the train station i/we looked for a path down onto the canal towpath which i found the last time i did this walk. It was a bit overgrown and slippery and the reason for that became apparent about 2 minutes later when we came across a dedicated access to the towpath from the main road. This was locked and wired up the last time i came. Oh well.

 The steep and slippery slope to the towpath

Guide Bridge over the Ashton Canal which opened in 1796.

 The Ashton Packet Boat Company’s Guide Bridge boatyard

 Some rather expensive property

Very low and tatty bridge at Lumb Lane

 Lots of work and money is being used at Fairfield Marina and adjoining land. 

These ugly buildings are now finished.

 Maybe a couple of them are short of insulation.

The fantastic double lock at fairfield. (lock 18) The LH lock is now not used.

They knew how to build in those days.

 The day was warming up although it was cooler than recent days. There was some cloud cover and it made for pleasant walking and chatting.

We stopped to watch a small narrow boat at lock 15 and JJ noticed the lady having a struggle with the winding mechanism and so lent a hand. JJ was having no luck either and so i got a 2nd key and released the paddle on the opposite side. This one worked.

 What seems to be the trouble Madam?

 Give it here! Mmm its not working!

 A watching Heron

 We finally got them on there way after about a 10 minute struggle. The others had wandered on a bit but waited at the next lock when they realised we were missing. Somehow they resisted calling in the Strawberry Duck for a quick beer.

Strawberry Duck at Crabtree Lane. 

There used to be a swing bridge here that linked the two halves of Crabtree Lane.

 Modern Housing. Looks like an old water tank.

 4 photo’s above. Some of our Industrial heritage now derelict and looking very sorry.

Some modern housing looking like old warehouses.

Some old warehouses looking like modern homes. Very sympathetic use of fantastic architecture.

Even keeping the chimney.

Manchester city centre was fast approaching and the work being done in New Islington looks excellent. Lots of development work is being done around the Etihad stadium. Big money is being spent here and it’s great to see.

 Development at New Islington

 Strange Sign. Why would anyone want to steal a canal. Ha

 Strange vehicle. Surely this isn’t road worthy. Unique all the same. I wish we could have had a closer look but this was the best i could get with a zoom shot.

 We left the canal just before Dale St. as we were now heading to Manchester’s northern quarter. The smell of a curry was like a magnet pulling us to This and That, our favourite curry house near Shudehill bus station. For some reason, probably hunger, i didn’t take a photo of our meals. From there we went part way to where JJ, Viv and Rick were to get the tram back home, we bought a beer in The City Arms.

A most enjoyable short excursion. Thanks to each for your company. And happy 58th birthday Terry.

A Duddon Wander

 We sold a tent to a friend in Broughton in Furness and i also had a Platypus bottle and tube that i had sterilised for another friend in Seathwaite and both needed delivering. It was only right to make a weekend of it and so on Thursday night we headed off.

 The tent was going to Jane at the Square Cafe in Broughton and she had kindly offered to make us an evening meal and we take the wine. We had a good night chatting, the food was excellent and the wine went down well and midnight came all to soon. Thanks Jane for the meal and the company.

  So after a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast we headed off to Seathwaite. Turner hall campsite to be precise. It was a stunning day. Summer had arrived. Jackdaws were noisily going about there business and the Buzzards were being buzzed by all the other birds, and especially the Peregrine.

The Duddon Valley

 We got the tent up and chilled out in the sun for an hour or so until hunger had us raiding the supplies.
After lunch i had always wanted to climb one of the local Ghyll’s. I cannot post the name of it because it provides drinking water for quite a few residents and they wouldn’t be too pleased if hoards of Ghyll scramblers started using it for recreation.

 By the time we had ascended to the ghyll we had quite a sweat on and was glad of the cool water in the shade of a Rowan tree. The views down the Duddon were quite resplendent on such a stunning day.

 The Ghyll was a real surprise with a number of waterfalls and lots of copper ore in amongst the hematite and quartz.

 Reaching the top of the ghyll the water disappears underground so we sat there for about 20 minutes just enjoying the scenery. On the way back we managed a quick beer in the Newfield before heading back to the tent.

 Recently i purchased a tent from Dawn and un-beknown to me she sent me a couple or 3 stoves to have a play around with as well as the tent. I brought 2 of them with me to give them a try.
One is a Bushbuddy wood gas burner and the other is a Trangia triangle.

The Bushbuddy and Trangia triangle stoves. White Pike behind.

 Post weekend i can now say, The Bushbuddy doesn’t do it for me and that goes for all small wood burning stoves. I just don’t think they are efficient enough for our UK weather and need constant attention and charging. I wouldn’t take it backpacking but it would make an ideal smoke provider to get rid of the midges.

 On the other hand the Trangia triangle is a super little stove and it worked very well. I think a secondary windshield will be needed for bad weather but all in all i would backpack with this.
The windshield that is available on the Clickstand stove would be ideal but a little mod to the triangle would be needed.

 Saturday dawned exceptionally hot and by 6.30am the tent was sweltering. Even though i wasn’t in a sleeping bag the temperature ensured we got up and out quite early. I wanted to do Hard knott today and picked a route that i thought would provide us with some great views, especially over the Scafell range.

 I parked up just adjacent to Cockley Beck bridge and set off along the route of the old Roman Rd heading for Black Hall Farm. BHF was once a Youth Hostel many moons ago but now it’s just a hill farm. The tops of the surrounding fells were all covered in a veil of white cloud but sun lotion was a must.

Black Hall farm and Wrynose Pass

 The dogs barked at the farm as we approached but the path diverts away from the buildings and we never saw the noisy Collies. Underfoot was lush grass and we thought just how green is it here. We were headed for Castle How, an impressive upthrust of rock.

Approach to Castle How, just beyond Sheila and to the left.

 Our track bears right just before the How and skirts the North side of the forestry heading up to the shoulder of Harter Fell. The trees here had been recently felled and so the mess left was not pretty and the path up was very boggy in parts.
 We were supposed to have been on the old Roman Road over Hard knott pass which led to the Fort on the other side. There is no sign of it as far as we could see.

 Achieving the watershed the views were good to Harter Fell, down into Eskdale and in the opposite direction through Wrynose. The Fort built between AD120 and AD138 could be seen but our goal was hidden by imposing Border End.

Eskdale and remains of Hardknot Fort

Border End

 Following the boundary line on the map which isn’t to distinctive on the ground we made our way around Border End through numerous boggy bits before finding the cairned summit. There are lots of similar “Tops” in the vicinity and i would say the actual top would be awkward to locate in poor weather.

Sheila top of Hard Knott

 The top is a great place to sit and admire the spectacular views. We had picked a lucky summit today as we were cloud free whereas all around us the summits were still covered in mist. With little breeze we stayed quite a while admiring what today looked really alpine before heading north to Lingcove Beck. Here we stopped for lunch and in the distance we could see our first walkers of the day.

Stunning views of the Scafell range in mist

 The walk back down Mosedale was decidedly boggy as i knew it would be but it’s an interesting glacial valley and we didn’t mind the boggy bits. I kept looking back half expecting the Scafells and the Crinkles to be clear but it wasn’t until we got back to the car did a peak become free of cloud.

 Scafell peaking out of the mist

 Little Stand now clear and Wrynose Pass

Wrynose Bottom

 The day had been glorious. One of those days that you don’t want to end.

Walton circular

 A message from fellow blogger JJ came through inviting me on a walk with Rick. I didn’t know that it was an LDWA walk, so i said i would go. You may remember the last outing with the LDWA which i posted about here and i was not very happy. However because Rick was leading this walk i decided to chance it. At least if JJ or Rick lead then you know its not going to be a stupid pace with no time for photographs and there would be regular breaks.

 The walk was recorded on the recee as 14 miles and it was a circular walk starting from Higher Walton  near Warrington. I suppose i better mention that it’s in Cheshire or else i might get points deducted.

 Up at 5.45am to get the bus into Manchester, then a quick breakfast and then on the tram to Timperley where JJ picked me up at the station prior to picking up others and making our way to Higher Walton.

 It was quite a shock to find the turnout was 19 souls. I think 8 - 10 was expected. We even had one chap from Devon with us.

 The day started a bit chilly as we waited for the 10.00am kickoff and just as we were assembling for the group piccy another soul turned up. Good job we were a minute or two late setting off.

The motley crew raring to be off.

  So off we went and quickly came to the towpath on the Bridgewater Canal, part of the Cheshire ring circuit. We followed this with nice views across open country with only the Fiddlers Ferry power station water cooling towers blighting the view. Further along through Moore we passed the Daresbury Science Park with its plush facilities for dinning on view.

 Leaving the towpath and waiting for the back marker, Rick told us that we were going uphill. There was a sigh,”a hill?” on a Wednesday walk. It wasn’t a big hill, just a pimple really. But a hill in Cheshire. It was Daresbury Fir a massive 70 odd metres high.

Top of the Hill

 Over the other side there we met the minor road in Daresbury. It’s lovely church was a good place to stop as did Charles Dodgson better known perhaps as Lewis Carroll’s father. He was vicar here for 11 years. There is a Lewis Carroll centre and the church has some beautiful stained glass and a very important loo. The old court house is interesting which is just across the road as is the pub of course.

 A grinning Cheshire Cat

 Tea break at Daresbury Church

The main Stained glass window in the church

 We didn’t waver and missed out the pub.

Through Daresbury we joined the Mersey valley way, walking past some very posh property and eventually reached Appleton reservoir via Row’s Wood. Just as we crossed Warrington road i checked the GPS only to inadvertently switch it off. So i had to wait then for the satellites to be located again. I wish there was a warning on the Satmap 10 that asks "Are you sure you want to switch off.” I do this regularly and its a real pain in the bum.
 Anyway onward. Through Bellfield Farm and Hill Cliffe passing one of the most well kept cemetery’s i have seen. If you can call a cemetery stunning well this was it.

 Good views across to Winter Hill and a nice grassy bank alongside the older cemetery was where we stopped for lunch. A very pleasant 20 mins was had and JJ handed out Tea loaf. He made it all himself too. Thanks JJ it was very nice.

 Appleton Reservoir

Lunch

 Nobody was in any rush to get going again but slowly we packed up. The day was almost summery now. A short section of road walking amongst more very posh houses took us to a dell and some shade.
For a second time i switched the GPS off by mistake and cursed the software designers as well as myself.

 We followed the Dingle for a while passing Witherwin Farm and onto the Mersey Valley trail again.
We stopped again in Grappenhall for a brew. Overlooking the church with its Cheshire cat perched high on the west side of the tower. The pub next door was being renevated as it seemed was most of the village. Its a very nice place to live thats for sure.

The Cat on the tower

 Another short section of road brought us alongside the canal again and followed it through Stockton Heath until we passed Walton Hall. One of the party, name slips my mind but it seems he used to play here as a lad and he wanted to have a look at how it had progressed in all these years. And so we did.

 Its a very nice place with a heritage centre and a cafe. The flower beds were blooming and colourful. The gardens well manicured. There was an old Crystal Palace style greenhouse that looked like it was being renovated or knocked down. Not sure which.
 Its well worth a visit and i’m glad we did.

 Lovely flower beds in Walton Hall

More Gardens

 A short walk again along the towpath and we were back at the start. A quick pint in the pub and then home.

 The route was 14.5 miles long and extremely pleasant, in good company. The weather stayed kind to us all day. Thanks Rick for one of the best LDWA walks i have been on.

 Oh i nearly forgot. JJ has some new shoes La Sportiva Raptor’s. A bit bright but most of us had sun glasses. Good job he stayed at the back.

 Some photo’s of the days walk can be found by clicking here.

Hi Tec Zuuk lightweight shoe.

 For some reason I missed these Zuuk’s when they first came out a couple of months ago. Or I didn't take enough notice of the press release. So i was taken back a bit when i saw them hanging in Field and Trek in Fort William a couple of weeks ago. I was impressed and bought a pair, as did Sheila.

The "best" lightweight shoes I have put on the blog were the Saucony Hittari. At 125gr. Per shoe, a good option for backpacking, bothying etc if you like to have a change of shoe and don’t mind paying top prices. I know some don't.
 The Hittari are still available, many places have stock but they range between £50 - £85.

 The Zuuk are not as light as the Hattari. They weigh 147 grams. (Size 7). But they are pretty cheap at £27.99.  For those on a tight budget these are a good option.

 They have a mesh upper giving perfect breathability and water expulsion with a soft inner and foot bed that is anti odour and anti microbial. The sole is white EVA on all the different colours available and both mens and ladies. For some reason there is not a black sole option which I would have preferred. But its not a big deal.

 Lacing is easy using the pull toggle tightening system and there is a small pocket on the tongue to store the excess lace.

 I found these shoes very comfy indeed and although I wouldn't use them for running, i don’t think the grip is good enough, I would use them generally around camp, in shower blocks, for fording rivers, going to the pub, around the home and garden and ideal for holidays or travel and other sports where water is involved.
 You can fold them over, toe to heel for packing but I think its best to put both shoes together and sandwich the mesh uppers. They compress down to around 40mm.

 I will probably buy a second pair before they stop making them, i think they are that good.

 Hi Tec’s Zuuk shoe

Rare Swift killed by wind turbine in Scotland

 I noticed in Herald Scotland that a rare White throated needletail swift has been killed by a wind turbine on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.
Many twitchers had flown to the island to catch a rare glimpse of this bird only to watch it die due to a wind turbine.

I found that sad enough but i was even more saddened by the last paragraph of the attached article where a spokeswoman for the RSPB defended the wind turbine.

"Wind energy makes a vital contribution towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, which is the biggest threat to our native birds and wildlife.”

So all the raptor deaths and other less rare birds is ok then because it doesn’t happen very often..

The said article can be found below. Just paste it into your browser.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/birdwatchers-see-rare-swift-killed-by-turbine.21464885