Sunday 1 November 2015

Shutlingsloe

Another new walk, but starting from an old walk, heading round to Shutlingsloe but starting at Tegg's Nose again to add on some extra climbing to make a full day of it. Shutlingsloe can easily be seen from Tegg's Nose, a sharp bump in the otherwise rolling countryside, called the Cheshire Matterhorn due to its shape.

Very foggy on the way there, seeing lots of early sun beaming through misty forests, until we gained altitude near Macclesfield. This revealed a completely empty sky, far too bright, and very warm both from the mild air and the relentless sun. It's November, how can it be this warm? The fog in the distance just turned the horizon into a dirty, murky smudge.

Yet another day of meeting people who think it's "glorious" while we're spending most of the day blinded, sweating and with awful light for photography with boring, featureless skies all day long. Glorious if you're sat in your back garden sipping a Pimms, not glorious when overheating up the side of a hill.

Whinging over, on with the show.

Shutlingsloe elevation

Shutlingsloe route


Hazy sun over a reservoir

Blazing sun through the trees in Macclesfield Forest

Finally some trees with autumn colours

Featureless, alien planetscape from Shutlingsloe

Path to Shutlingsloe cutting across the moors

Stream in Wildboarclough

Trees on the hills above Wildboarclough

Trees in afternoon light

Setting sun over the reservoir

Setting sun over the reservoir

The fog we'd left behind in the morning came back on the way home, very thick and making driving quite difficult, not helped by idiots who think fog lights and full beams are compulsory.

Sunday 25 October 2015

White Nancy

From Black Crag in Cumbria, to White Nancy in Cheshire. Our second (or maybe third, we can't remember) visit, a lot easier this time on fitter legs. Starting from our old favourite Tegg's Nose.

White Nancy elevation

White Nancy route

Very dull and cloudy, and still very little in the way of autumn colours. A few interesting mushrooms but they'd either been eaten away by slugs or otherwise destroyed by animals/people.


Reservoirs at the base of Tegg's Nose

The one interesting tree by the reservoir

Trees just starting to change in Bollington

White Nancy

White Nancy and Bollington on the distance

Murky sky at the end of the day

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Chapel Stile

A wander around the 'back' of Chapel Stile, going past the old slate mine spoil heaps, to round off the holiday before the torrential rain starts up.

Mossy wall

Slate

Lone red rock

Lone autumnal tree

Autumnal tree

Bizarre caterpillar (Pale Tussock moth)

Bizarre caterpillar (Pale Tussock moth)

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Black Crag


Still a little tired from climbing the Pikes, but the weather's about to turn so it's today or never. A long walk over to Black Crag from Chapel Stile.

Black Crag elevation

Black Crag route

The day started off very foggy, which eventually cleared leaving very bright skies. Almost nobody around until we reached the edge of Iron Keld.

Foggy valley

Fog and cloud

Last wisps of mist around the hills

Calf in a stream

View from near Black Crag

Sheep with Tarn Hows in the background

More views from near Black Crag

Bare tree with Black Crag in the far background

Langdale Pikes in the distance (we were there 2 days ago!)

Gill on a rock surrounded by boggy ground

View from Black Crag summit

Gill and John at the summit of Black Crag

View from the west side of Black Crag
On the way back down a family asked if we'd seen their dog. We hadn't so carried on but keeping an eye out. A long way down we saw a sheep fighting off a dog. We ran after and found the dog had cornered the sheep and was standing on its back. After driving it off we found it had been savaging the sheep, with blood all round its neck and flanks. While Gill chased the dog back to the family the sheep recovered and ran off up the path so it wasn't too badly injured.

Keep your dogs on a lead if you can't control them! We eventually found it again safe up the hill.

Bleeding sheep

Gill on a rock (again)

Lone mushroom

Sudden flock of sheep

Rushing down the road

Autumn leaves over a waterfall

Monday 19 October 2015

Chapel Stile

A wander around Chapel Stile to stretch our legs. Great Langdale Beck still very low, exposing lots of the mossy rocks.

Trees

Mossy rocks

Lots of mossy rocks

Autumn leaves on moss

Fallen leaves in a smooth rock

Gill relaxing on a convenient arm-rock

Gill