Cat and Fiddle inn to Shutlingsloe

This walk was done on 13 September 2011
Distance: 7.7 Miles
Time 3.01 hours
Weather: Sunny but very windy on top


View Cat and Fiddle inn to Shutlingsloe in a larger map As you can see It lost a small part of the track.

It was good to get out again after another long break.
The Walk started from the Cat & Fiddle Inn  This is becoming a regular location (I wonder why?)
The route was started by a 300metre walk along the path to the head of the Scuars clough, it was very very windy on the top of the moor so I decided to cut that bit off and head straight for the side of the Scuars. This little clough got steep very quickly, if I had been on Skis it would be a Black run.
I stumbled and slipped down the edge until I got to the bottom. This was a surprise because it is only a few hundred metres from the main road and it was a beautiful little quite spot.

Once out of the wind I removed my coat and spent the rest of the day in my base layer.
I should really name this walk the Waterfalls because I kept coming across them, as I carried on following the stream down I came to the first of many.

This water feature was only a yard wide or so and could be easily  missed except for the fact the over all drop was about 4 metres into some very tranquil pools.

I carried on passing this rock out crop which just shows it is never far below the surface

The clough opened out and I followed the stream meandering down until it met up with Clough brook (great name) which took me past broughplace.
I wondered as I walked through their very nice yard that when they brought this idle and tranquil out of the way spot did they realise that a public footpath ran a few metres from the house?
I proceeded down there very long drive until I Joined the Local metal road.
I decided to walk up to the moors again via Dingers hollow, with a name like that it just had to be taken. As I was making my way along the road I came across a field of Horses one of which made me do a double take, I carried on walking a few yards then decided that it deserved a picture.
Now I'm not a horsey person but is this normal?

It's either very cleaver and taking some of the weight off it's feet or..... I don't want to think about it.

I got to the bottom of Dingers and realise it was not on a public footpath, so a quick jump over the wall and a scoot into the woods before I'm seen by some wild shotgun toting farmer. It was tough walk up but worth it.

Back onto the moor tops this time Buxtors Hill and then across to Shutlingsloe.
The views were very very good today.

possibly my favourite photo of the summer.

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  Crag Hall was looking particularly grand. I made my way down and across Wildboreclough past Clough house and then up following the cumberland stream up to the track junction which joins the 3 shires head path. Here I came across another wet site with an impressive drop.

I carried on up towards the Cat & Fiddle when I found another.

The colours here were just perfect the greens of grass and moss,the peat water brown and the heather bloom added up to to a glorious few minutes. 
Once on top again it was a short walk along the path back to the Inn

The Final photo I took is possible one of the grandest views the moors.

Due to my calender been filled over the next few month with lots of good stuff this is more than likely my last walk this year. If it is it's an excellent one to finish on and I'm happy with that. I would recommend it to anyone, the tricky bit is at the start but worth it and once your past it it is a very enjoyable walk.

I would like to thank everyone who said they enjoyed my summer rambling and are looking forward to my winter season raving. It's due to start on December the 5th.

Redirect from ncski.co.uk

I'm just toying with the idea of hosting my blog myself, could be a lot of hassle for little gain - I like the current layout (please comment on your thought about it) and with it been on blogger I get a lot of spam type protection.

The main thing I dont like is the address however my ncski.co.uk domain is not used much since I'm not at home during the winter to pick any ski tuning work up. So I thought I would redirect that to here. 

This will make it easier to post a link up as ncski.co.uk instead of http://nick-dontfollowmeimlosttoo.blogspot.com far to much typing there. 

As to what's happening with the walks. Well two fold really, 1 I've started working nights and it's taken a week or two to get into the routine so that I'm only just beginning to feel less tired during the days off now. 2 I smashed my Achilles heal last week and been resting it until it heals. I must remember that as I get older I do not  heal so fast, and yes that lesson was learnt as I went for a 5 mile run the next day which probably did more damage than the initial incident. 

 

I had a short jog yesterday which woke it up a bit but it feels ok today so off out in a bit for another short one, if it's OK I my go for a short walk tomorrow. 

Do you want a picture?

Here have one

 

There is no reasoning with the scum, all we can do is stand back and watch.

There is no reasoning with the scum, all we can do is stand back and watch.
They do not care about your opinions or your ideals.
They will not  feel bad for what they have done.
The fact that people have lost their livelihood and businesses they have worked hard over the years to build up have been wreaked in a night wont matter as they consider you the fool for wanting to build something for yourself.

Modern society has lost it's ability to control the masses, there is no fear of the state any more. We just speak softly now having lost the big stick.
People who say bring back national service should think for a second. Would you want to be in a life or death situation with these selfish morons backing you up?
If they get caught and go to court will justice be done? Remember the saying at court you get the law not justice. Do we want Sharia law, There are comments been made that amount to this by people who are very much against that.

I do not have the answer, all I can hope is that my family and friends do not get caught up in it and manage to ride the storm out.


Be safe.

Macc Forest & Shutlingsloe = About time

It was one of those days. This is not the walk I planned, I was going to do a much longer one (next week now) but I woke up in total disarray, You know the feeling when it's starts off bad and after a while you just to come to accept that the day is knackered. 

So a totally disorganised morning meant I left the house later than I wanted to, what with it been school  holidays I wanted to get out early and to a less popular spot to avoid the crowds. Once I realised that was not going to happen I looked for a shorter walk closer to home to make a bit of time up. Settled on this and set off, The day then gave me another hit with the wet fish and my route selection to the start was poor but I got to Trentabank Reservoir and Macclesfield forest centre eventually.

You may have noticed that this post is not laid out in my usual anal style because once I had parked up and turned my phone's gps tracker on my trial licence had ran out and I could not get a signal to download a new one.  However this is a rough google earth trace of the route.

Walked in a anti clockwise direction taking 3 hours and of a distance of very approximately 6.5 miles
The weather was hot but cloudy - nice to walk in.

On a plus side and there were a good few today, as you know I never one to mope and moan :P the car parking was only £2.50 for four hours. There was plenty of road side parking as well but I don't mind paying a reasonable amount to help to keep the areas financed.
I set out alongside the Ridgegate reservoir When the next embuggerance came to light. I thought ohhh piccy time got my camera out and the batteries were flat, not a problem I always carry spares in my camera case which is at home next to my computer... big sigh
I then remember I am now in procession of a superduper smart phone. It saved the day although the quality is a little lower than normal. So here are the photos of Risgegate Reservoir looking across to the Leather's Smithy Inn

After breaking from the water I crossed the overflow stream which was a bit dry.

I turned left onto the Gritstone Trail for a short while. This area reminded me a lot of the Derbyshire dales only a bit more open and gentle. I walked past hanging gate inn and up onto the moor finally almost.
Once I got up there and after a kind farmer told me where to go which was straight ahead (I had a flash back) I had my first real look at shutingloe and was just about to head across the moor when I noticed a sign that basically stated that piggford moor was an area of Natural and Scientific Interest   bla bla bla I do realise these places are special so I followed the route around the moor down Oakenclough across the lower fields (not to happy to come back off the moor)  On my way down I took this pic

Now Shutlingsloe is know as the Matterhorn of Cheshire I have seen the Matterhorn up close and personal and to be honest this is the one view (I saw) likely to emulate it's consubstantial twin. If you squint real hard you can just make it out to be a hill where as the Matterhorn is a great big bugger off mountain.

My photo - Yes I can see it now... maybe not

I leave the men of Cheshire to live in their fantasy

I then entered Wildboar clough, Great name, never saw one though ;)  next to the crag inn Just up the road a few metres was a bridge over clough brook which was a nice spot so I stopped for an eat.

This is where the phone struggled with the lower light, I took a few and this was the best photo.

I then headed off finally up Shutlingloe

The approach

I must be out of practice and it was rather warm but the last few metres really had me blowing out of my arse Breathing very hard. But once I got to the top it was worth it.

The final climb

Back to Macc Woods

 Once I had enjoyed the view and got my breath back It was then a simple walk back into the forest and to the car. I did try to that a photo of Trentabank Reservoir but I did find it to have restricted access so this is all I got

For a day that started in the hands of Loki it turned out to be a good day, the views were great and it was good to get back out after nearly three weeks off

No walk this week :(

Due to working all week (7 shifts in 5 days) and doing a family visit at weekend I will not have time for a walk.  So that's one weeks walk to make up.
Damn that missed lottery win.

Let me think, have I done anything worth posting up this week.....

.......

...

..

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Errr My car passed it's MOT first time.

"At the end of everyday you should look for one good thing that happened that day", Hard to do some days, even if it's I did not get hit by lighting in the thunder storm. Here's a pic to make you smile. Enjoy.

Combs Moss

This walk was done on 07 July 2011
Distance: 7.69 Miles
Time 3.11 hours
Weather: Wet, very wet


View Combs Moss in a larger map. Walked in a anti clockwise direction

I was glad I only got a little car as I drove to find somewhere to park

Once I stated up the path onto the moor I got a good view of Combs reservoir and of the climbers playground

The reason I picked this one was the Iron age fort in one corner of the moor,  I did not know really what to expect.

Nothing to see here, please move along.

Looks to me like it's man made.

I was a little confused as to why there was a ditch and two ramparts but the above article states that there were 3 phases of build, my money goes on the medieval build.

If you wondering why the man made defences only run down one side of the fort it's because mother nature has helped on the other two sides.

This walk is a very easy one with very little need to navigate, It's basically keep the wall to one side and the drop to the other

It's the first time I came across a moor that is totally walled in, more on this later. As I was snapping away with my camera I saw this

 I think this is a great visualisation of the translation from moorland to farmland.

A bit futher along I cam across some grouse huts.

Common enough on moor land  but heaven forbid the local gentry have to walk up to them, when they can charge their 4x4 up there

A poor picture showing the track up to the huts

Walk you buggers is what I say.

 Even though I said this walk was an easy one, you still could not drift off into cloud cuckoo land. At times one miss placed step would lead to a rapid decent for quite a few metres. A couple of examples:

A vertical 20metres here

Above Flint Clough

Next up was my lunch stop, time to get out of the wind, This will do.

Did I say it was a wet day? oh yes it was. It was good to finally walk over soggy wet peat moor why?
one all the rain will do the fauna and flora good but it will also help to stop this

This must have been either very early this year or more likely last year but as you can see green shoots are taking over again, funny how you can still smell the burn.

Next point to note was Flint clough The picture above shows how close you get to the edge, this next one is looking back across it.

The central rock face is the drop off the path

I did spend some time trying to get the beauty of this clough on film but did not manage it, I could not get the steepness of it or catch the character of the stream, best of the bunch

I did come across one example of when you set your mind to a job nothing can stop you.

This web stretched across a pool, which I just could not see how the spider had put the first thread there without swimming like a fish, the position of it also looks like it would be washed away with the next big surge and the way it was raining it would be along soon. But it was there and it did look good, again photo did not catch it to well.

The walk across this side of the moor was to be honest boring, once I got to the trig point I had a coffee and a look around. From that point I could see four major quarries.

 I know some people moan about the quarrying that happends around here but if you look in this picture:

You can see it's been going on in this area for quite a few years. I dont mind it so much ( my first Job was working in a quarry) because of my  view of the environment (and one day when I'm really bored I will post that up).

A final km back to the fort with its ramparts

 

Just when I thought I had done I came across

Now I know farmers and some of them can be pedantic buggers but really was there a need to fence over this rock? could not the rock be an obstacle in its self?

And finally did I say it was a wet day?

This was dry when I set off three hours earlier

I did enjoy this walk but I found it boring apart from the fort and flint clough. there was no navigation issues all you had to do was follow the wall and mostly that was of an even contour, none the less it's always good to get out.

Oh did I say it was a wet day.