St Christophers Trust

Archive for the ‘News from the Walking Group’ Category

We walked up to Rockhall Cottage beneath the cliffs and had a picnic.
Eric and Margaret were waiting for us at the parking place beneath the Roaches.

We walked up to Rockhall Cottage beneath the cliffs and had our picnic. In the afternoon we climbed the steep steps up through the cliffs, this was very difficult for us.

We came a different way down through the woods. There had been a lot of damage to the trees because of high winds and recent heavy snow. Sonia cleared some branches off the path and we picked up some litter.

We had tea and biscuits back at Rockhall Cottage before going home.

Today we met up with the Rangers from The Peak District National Park at Millersdale Station.  The railway was the first London to Manchester railway line but was closed 40 years ago.  Now it provides an easy walking surface suitable for people with limited mobility.

The Rangers had arranged a special treat for us today, to walk through a “closed” railway tunnel not open to the general public.  From there we could access Chee Dale and the stepping stones in the River Wye which would normally be too far for us to walk in the time available.
The tunnel was gated, once in it was very dark.  It was also quite cold inside.  At one point we all turned our lights off and it was totally dark!!

As we came out the other end, it felt very warm as we stepped out into the sunshine.  Like walking out from a fridge.

From the tunnel we descended down steep steps to the river, crossed a bridge and walked along the stepping stones above the water.  We then turned around and went the same way back.  A great experience.

Today we walked from Monks Road up onto Cowan Edge with the Rangers, Jane and Keith.  It was a hard pull up onto the moor and the going was rough.

Once up the views were great.  We could see Kinder Scout and Bleaklow in the distance and look down on Glossop.  The descent was steep and rocky with an awkward style.  We had a good afternoon.

Today we met Gill on the edge of Glossop.  She led us on a hard walk up “Moorside” past some plantations and down to finish by Shire Hill Hospital.

The going was quite tough but we had a great sense of achievement.

Bretton Edge and the Foolow Village Well Dressing

Today we enjoyed a walk along rough lanes around Bretton. Catherine Wardle joined us and enjoyed the walk. Bretton is high up and has amazing views.

After the walk we visited the well dressings in Foolow.

Maxine Baker joined us this week after a break of a year! We parked at Yorkshire Bridge and walked up the track to Ladybower Dam. There is now a path that crosses the dam past the giant plug holes!

We then followed the footpath back to Yorkshire Bridge. It rained all the time we were out walking but it was fun in the rain! After our walk we went to Fairholmes for an ice cream.

From Hayfield, we followed the route of the Mass Trespass towards Kinder Scout.

Keith and Ian (Peak Park Rangers) met us at Bowden Bridge car park near Hayfield. We followed the route of the Mass Trespass towards Kinder Scout.

We found some pygamy goats and slowly plucked up courage to stroke them. Ian showed us the sheep wash enclosure that has been restored by the National Park.

On the way back there were some Kestrels on the ground behaving strangely. Perhaps they were disputing each others territary.

It was a steep decent down to the River Goyt and took some of us a long time.

Once down we followed the Goyt downstream. We had to walk beneath a waterfall!

The Rangers helping us were Jane and Terry.