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