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311 Saturday 28th March 2026 Strines to Middlewood

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 Despite a  dodgy  weather forecast, I managed to persuade Simon to continue our station to station walk for a third successive walk. We took the train back to Strines. We  walked out of the station past Strines Hall. Just  behind it was this impressive ornamental lake. From the edge of the village we went up a lane  and under the Peak Forest Canal. On reaching a lane above, we were hit by a hailstorm and had to shelter  against a wall and hope the umbrella held up. When it subsided, there was a walk through the fields which gave a good view of Manchester. At Marpleridge, we dropped down to the Macclesfield Canal and followed it north back towards Marple. We  waited out another shower under one of  the  bridges. Before reaching Marple we took a footpath across a golf course to reach the Middlewood  Trail. We  turned right to follow it north to take in Rose Hill station then went  looking for something to eat. We  went...
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310 Saturday 21st March 2026 Marple to Strines

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 Simon enjoyed the walk the previous  Saturday so much that he  wanted to do the next stage for his choice of trip.. We took the  train to Manchester then got on the Sheffield train at Piccadilly which got very crowded. We squeezed out of the train at Marple. We  walked through the village of Marple. Back in the old days of the LTS, Simon had suggested visiting Marple but we never got round to it. We  crossed the river Goyt then took a lane alongside it. We  had a potter round the extensive industrial remains of Oldknow's Mill. We  then came to the local beauty spot of Roman Lakes. We  went  past this amusing sign. We  then climbed up alongside Linnet Clough with good views out to Mellor. After resting by the entrance to a scout camp, we  crossed Mellor golf course. from here, we enjoyed a high level traverse above the Goyt Valley  enjoying the sights ( including a sacantily-clad young runner.) We  dropped down to Str...
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309 Saturday 14th March 2026 Broadbottom to Marple and Etherow Country Park

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 With  a  big  improvement in the weather, I  decided  to  continue  the  station to station walk onwards  from  Broadbottom but  because  we  needed  to  visit  a  country  park  for  our  YouTube  schedule, I  decided  to  divert  from  the  most  obvious  route to  take in  Etherow Country Park and  end the walk at  Marple  rather  than  Strines. We  caught  the  Hadfield  train from  Piccadilly. We  alighted at  Broadbottom noting some interesting displays in the station building that hadn't been accessible on our previous visit. The route became interesting and scenic almost straight away as we passed the  Hodge Lane Dye Vats. We  soon  made  the  acquaintance of the river Etherow. We  admired  seventeenth-century  Botham...
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308 Sunday 8th March 2026 Spies Lies and Deception exhibition (IWM North )

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 This  was Simon's choice, a visit to an  exhibition about spies and counter-intelligence  at  the  Imperial War Museum North, Salford Quays. Before taking the tram to the  Museum, we went  to  Riva  Blu  for lunch, The  video we filmed there can be seen here. First we had to work out how to get across to the Museum from the tram stop. We  identified the nearest bridge. This was the view back to Media City and the Lowry. We  watched  a  film  about  the  experience of World War One  in the trenches (not very enlightening) on  the  walls before going into the  exhibition.  Simon took a  quiz book from  the  nice  attendant  in  order  to  win  a  badge. He  also  did  some  dressing  up. This  is  some  sort  of  camouflage  suit. I  learned about  the...
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307 Saturday 28th February 2026 Peak Forest Canal : Ashton to Woodley

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 This  was  my  choice, a rainy forecast consigning us to start walking the Peak Forest Canal. We  drove  to Radcliffe then boarded the Metrolink to get to Ashton. From the tram stop we walked down to Portland Basin where we had a good lunch in the Museum cafe. We  commenced our walk by going over and under the bridge at the junction of the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals. We  looked  back at Portland Basin. We  soon passed under the main line between Stalybridge and Manchester. We  passed this swing bridge on the way to Hyde. We  were  intrigued by  these unusual "tree  walls" We  were  soon  passing  through Hyde The  towpath switched  sides  at  this  bridge. These two were guarding  the  towpath at the edge of the Haughton Vale Nature Reserve Soon  after that, we passed by the  huge Unity Mill. We admired this moth artwork. We  decided to com...
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306 Sunday 22nd February 2026 Salmesbury Hall

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 This  was  Simon's  choice. We  went to The  Fernhurst in Blackburn for lunch beforehand. I  had visited Salmesbury Hall in the late nineties when it seemed more like an antiques showroom than a museum so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Despite the signs for Reception, it wasn't clear where the main entrance was and there was certainly no one around to meet and greet. We  then came  across  a  dressed up tour guide and  her party and piggybacked on the tourfor a visit to a witchs room  which we probably weren't supposed to do.  We then found our  own way to the ghost room associated with the White Lady legend. We  completed our  look around the Hall on our  own.  I noted there is now an exhibit on the photographer and  conservationist Stanley Jeeves who  was  the  driving force behind  the  Hall's development as an attraction in the seventies which was good b...
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