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Showing posts from May, 2025

266 Saturday 3 May 2025 Walk : Littleborough to Denshaw

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 This  was  my  choice, a  continuation  of our  walk between the Greater Manchester stations. Ostensibly we  were  walking to Greenfield although we were always  likely to finish in Denshaw. We  caught  the train to Littleborough where I saw  my old friend Dave Grayson  outside  the  local history centre and  we  had  a  quick chat. We  then went  to  the  Co-Op for  some  provisions. We went  up  the  Ealees Valley and on towards Whittaker  where  I  pointed out the view towards Hollingworth Lake.  We  went  past  the  now derelict and  crumbling St Hilda's Chapel and looked back to the lake and Knowl Hill We  dropped down to the road at Rakewood  and  proceeded up  the  Longden End valley under  the  M62 viaduct. We  made  the  rough  passage...

265 Saturday 26th April 2025 Hollingworth Lake

 We were pretty constrained by football and other commitments for  this  day so decided to do  a country park video at  Hollingworth Lake, have  another boat ride on  the  lake then  go to Rochdale's  last  home  game  of  the EFL season against Hartlepool. The  video we  filmed will  appear here in due course. Rochdale won 5-1  and  guaranteed our place in the play-offs.

264 Saturday 19 April 2025 The Bridgewater Canal : Stretford to Timperley

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 For  my  next  trip, I opted  to  return to the Bridgewater Canal. We drove to Radcliffe and caught the Metrolink to Stretford.  We  soon  saw  a  barge heading northwards We  passed the Watch House Cruising Club Just  after  that , we crossed the aqueduct over the river Mersey At  Sale, we  had a break where Simon devoured an  apple  and I  made  arrangements  to meet with our  friend Aamir  for  lunch. We  had a brief stop at the barge cafe outside Walton Park and  then concluded the walk at Timperley.  We  left  the  canal and walked on to The Moss  Trooper  where we met up with Aamir and  had  a  good lunch. Aamir  then  dropped us  off  at  the  tram stop  for  returning to Radcliffe

263 Friday 11 - Sunday 13 April 2025 Kendal Weekend

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 We  returned to  using airbandb for  this  one, finding a place in Kendal, just outside the town centre. Andy the host was a nice old guy. We  arrived there aound 7.30pm and  went to the Miles Thompson for something to eat. We then stocked up at Tesco Express for  the  walk the next day, We  had a  rudimentary  breakfast provided by our host. The plan was to walk the next stage of the Westmorland Heritage Walk from Sedbergh to Ravestonedale , a stage which  required complicated use of public transport. We  drove to Oxenholme in the morning, parked up  then caught a bus to Sedbergh from there. It was while on the bus that I realised I'd left the guidebook in the car.  We  therefore went  round a couple of second hand bookshops in Sedbergh hoping to find another copy.  We  couldn't find one so I  bought a  map instead. Fortunately,I'd read the relevant chapter the night before so...

262 Sunday 6th April 2025 Bolton trigs

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 Now that we were happy that the drone was  functioning, we decided to devote a trip to our new YouTube playlist- All The Trigs  where we  visit triangulation stations in good  weather  and record the views from them. We started on the previous  Friday  night  but on this  day  went  to  three triangulation stations to the  west of  Bolton.  The  first is  called Whinberrry Hill , though  it's  near to rather than on the hill. The footage we shot can be  viewed here After  that. we went  for  lunch at the snack hut on Walker Fold  car  park but it wasn't serving much food . We then drove to Smithills Hall where we  had a good lunch. We then drove  up to Matchmoor Lane to find the trig at Old Harpers. The  footage will appear here in due course. We  then drove to Wingates to find the trig at Moor Field. The  footage will appear here in...

261 Sunday 30th March 2025 Hardcastle Crags

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This was  my  choice, a short-ish  circular  walk at  the  top  end  of  Hardcastle Crags. We drove  there stopping  off  at  Nutty's Butty's for  our  lunch. We  parked  at  Clough Hole car park where I paid for 4 hours .  From  the  car  park, we took  the  path  dropping into the woods. We took the steep path  down  the  steps to Gibson Mill We  moved  north up the  valley, for  some  of  the  time  accompanied by a Rambler's group from Liverpool. Towards the  end  of the valley  there's  a  steep path climbing out of  it. We  had  to  have  a  rest  on the bench at the top. Just  beyond there we  went  to a  reptile  refuge I  remebered from a previous walk but  there  was  nothing to see  undernea...

260 Saturday 22nd March 2025 Medlock Culvert

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 This  was  a  special trip. Following  a  recent  video posting, famed Manchester Youtuber Martin Zero offered  to  take  us into a culvert of  the  Medlock near Manchester City's stadium. The  video we shot with him can be seen here.

259 Sunday 16th March 2025 Clitheroe

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 With our time somewhat squeezed this weekend, we went to Clitheroe  again with a specific purpose. Our drone  had just been returned repaired  following a disastrous maiden flight  and  we needed  to  test  it out, We took the train/replacement bus  to Clitheroe and went to Bowland Food Court for lunch. Simon made the wrong choice of sandwich and didn't enjoy his very much. We  then went  into the  park by Clitheroe Castle to fly  the  drone.    There was a good view of Longridge Fell We found a good quiet spot near the bowling green looking towards the castle. Simon soon got it airborne. Simon flew it above the  trees  and  got  it  to land  safely. We  moved to a second spot , lower down on an empty playing field wherte I had a brief go. Simon thought I was  flying too close to the trees. We  then put  the  drone away and had a quick visit to the...