10 of us set out this morning to undertake a 6.5 mile hike ( according to Phil) in the village of Mow Cop. This is an isolated village which straddles the Cheshire–Staffordshire border, and is divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England. Atop the hill is a folly, which was the subject of a bitter dispute between two rival land owners several hundred years ago. From the NT car park we followed part of the Gritstone trail, and sampled some of the finest walking in Cheshire. Had it been a clear day we would have had stunning views in all directions from the gritstone ridges abutting the Cheshire plain. Sadly the heat haze obscured many distant landmarks but we were able to see the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank very clearly.From Mow Cop village we descended through woodland and joined the banks of the Macclesfield canal. Although very murky it is obviously well used as we saw several barges making their way along at a sedate pace, whilst we sweltered in the heat of the unusually hot summer weather. Although the route was hilly, but not mountainous,we had several long steep climbs, and some short steep ascents and descents. Some of the surfaces were very gritty ( hence the name of the trail ) and even boggy in places in spite of the heat and sun.
A few well placed logs and nice shade made a good lunch stop about a third of the way around, and joy of joys…we then stumbled upon a very strategically placed pub with a shady beer garden which we felt compelled to visit.! But we had the rest of the route to continue, so aided by GPS and map reading we went the wrong way…down when we should have been going up..and added an extra mile onto the walk! Phil cheerfully kept telling us to head for the radio masts but at one point we were convinced someone was moving them! However having crossed the last long field in blazing sun with no shade and a steady steep climb we finally came to the road leading back to the folly, only to find there was no stile and we had to climb up and over a 6 bar gate! Here we witnessed some very interesting gate climbing techniques!
And so back to Mow Cop, with air conditioned cars in sight….only to be told by our illustrious leader that we had to climb up to the folly to enjoy the views! In truth we had a great day…the walk was as hard as we had expected, but everyone made it. I think everyone enjoyed it and we lived to tell the tale. There will be some sound sleepers tonight! Thanks Phil and Colin for doing the recce, and to Phil for leading us ( sometimes astray). The next walk is on Thursday 2nd August when we will be visiting Hurst Green (hopefully led by someone who knows the way! 🙂
Beautifully written.