The pinnacles on Hen Cloud, but not to be visited on the walk today.
A Kestrel hunting on the fields next to Windygates farm.
Amongst the rocks at the Southern end of the Roaches.
A plaque to commemorate the visit of royalty.
Apparently he was part of German nobility and the the father of Queen Mary.
Doxy Pool on the Roaches.
At the trig point on the Roaches.
At the trig point on the Roaches.
Bosley Cloud framed by Gritstone pinnacles on the Roaches.
The Hanging Stone seen from the Northern end of the Roaches.
The Northern entrance to Lud's Church, now with a boardwalk.
The Black Brook Valley from South east of the Roaches School near Roach End.
The final approach towards the Roaches at the end of the walk.
Walk stats: Distance: 9.6 miles. Climb: 1507'.(Wind assisted GPS reading 2194')
Time: 6 hours 11 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.0 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 1.5 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn. Mike and Celia.
It looked like being a good day for walking, except the predicted gusts of up to 40 m.p.h. were a little worrying. Thankfully they never did get that strong, although around mid-day they could be described as on the strong side. Temperatures were pleasantly warm, even the wind and views in all directions were really good.
Like the Prince and Princess of Teck, we too visited Doxy Pool and Lud's Church, Mike even sat in the "Queen's Chair", shaped out of the rock adjacent to the commemorative plaque.
Walking along the ridge of the Roaches is always good, where you feel on top of the world, especially as you can clearly see the valleys on each side as we could today.
All of the Cheshire Plain with Bosley Cloud and Shutlingsloe standing proud highlighted our view from the trig point on the Roaches.
Lunch was taken, near the junction of paths, one leading to Gradbach and the other to Lud's Church, where an a small outcrop of Gritstone provided us with suitable resting places. This outcrop is apparently called Castle Rock. This is a location that we have used before as a lunch spot.
On this occasion, we decided to miss out the path through Lud's Church and instead took the path its Northern side, leading Gradbach Wood.
This was only the third time that we have done this walk that descended in to the Black Brook Valley on the Eastern side of the Roaches, a valley that appears like a hidden valley, the more
you descend down to the river.
On reaching the road near Hazel Barrow Farm, the route back seems a long way away, especially as the Roaches and Hen Cloud cannot bee seen.
On following the track to Well Farm the Roaches soon come into view after leaving the track on to the moorland path. The last half a mile now seemed much shorter and we would soon be able to sample that perfect pint at the Wilkes Head, Leek - pint of Hartington Bitter, the best bitter in the world.
Birds seen or heard today included: Common kestrel, Meadow pipit, Carrion crow, Winter wren, Raven and Barn swallow.
No comments:
Post a Comment