Those of you who sponsored me for this gruelling 2.5k walk will be pleased to know that I completed the course around Bramhall Park today and Geoff probably walked even further as he followed us around taking photos.

SWOG members raised £75 for the "Feet for Purpose" campaign which will go directly to podiatry equipment to set up foot care clinics in Stockport.

thankyou

Sue T

 

Thursday 26th November

I drew back the curtains and thought "well it is dry now but looking at those clouds we will get wet today!"

But we had offered to lead a walk so Geoff & I set off along the canal from Romiley to meet the group at Woodley. Eleven of us, including a visitor (Vivien) from Sussex, then set off towards the Tame valley, across the M60 and through Brinnington to Reddish Vale before heading up for a bit of road-walking to The Windmill.

I handed out charity collection bags for everyone to carry their muddy boots inside the building - possibly a bit of a risk as I may have run off to sell them all in St Ann's Charity shop!

The Windmill is a Crown Carvery and at £3.50 for a roast dinner is very popular but we found a corner in the bar area where we dined on gammon, turkey and beef with as many vegetables as we could fit onto our plates. As ever Ken went for seconds (veg only) and was joined in his "Oliver" routine by John H.

Suitably refreshed we headed out to try and find our way to the Tame Valley Trail. It is possible that we would have been better to have armed ourselves with an A-Z rather than a 20 year old map, but with the help of an amused friendly taxi driver we negotiated our way around a new industrial estate (not even on our newer map) and faced with a choice of two paths took the one that led us in a circular around an old landfill area judging by the venting pipes above the ground.

Back where we had started we took the other path and before long Geoff & I recognised where we were and we were soon crossing fields to reach the Tame Valley. From there it was an easy stroll alongside the river and back up to the cars. Four of us declined offers of lifts and continued up the hill to Romiley, reaching home just as it was getting dark.

It did not rain after all although it was very muddy in places

Thankyou to everyone who joined us for a pleasant autumn walk.

 

 

Eleven keen members  braved the early morning strong southerly  winds and rain to make a fairly short but steep ascent of Mam Tor. We continued along the ridge to Hollins Cross where we lost Colin and Helen either lured by beer in The Cheshire Cheese or thwarted by Colin's injury.  The rest of us continued along the ridge to Back Tor and Lose Hill with views of the pinnacle of Win Hill in the distance and the mist clearing over Kinder. Those doing the shorter walk ( nicknamed The Gossips by Howard )  left in Hope to return via the river to Castleton.  A break in the weather allowed the main party to climb up to the summit of Win Hill to be afforded views of Ladybower , Bamford and The Derwent Edges before joining the others to return to the cars.  Joan told our reporter ," I had a very enjoyable time on the walk.' 

It's still work in progress but the group is now on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace!

 

 

SueT

23 swogs and 2 dogs set off from the lovely Hartington village (after a short visit to the cheese shop) heading off into Beresford Dale through the mud but bathed in sunshine. On reaching Beresford Lane two of the party took a different route for convalescence of a previous ankle injury (we met back in the pub later).

The main group then walked through the farm and over the shoulder of Narrowdale Hill where we stopped and had coffee with splended views over Gratton and Wolfescote hills. We continued accross fields and wandered into Alstonfield, where the local produce shop was visited by some of the group.

Then from Alstonfield we carried on to the lunch stop just above Coldeaton Bridge and looking onto the beautiful Wolfscote Dale and the distant Tissington trail. We then ventured downhill to meet the river Dove and follow it back towards Hartington taking in the magnificent limestone rock turrets of the Wolfescote dale returning around 14.55 to the Pub.
A nice walk in mainly sunshine with terrific people, a great way to fill a Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Helen & Steve for the photos

Wendy & Chris