Saturday 13 April 6 miles
Tracey, Jane and Carol
What do you wear on a day in April that has been cold overnight and yet the sun is shining? It is difficult to decide. You don't want to have too many layers, but you certainly don't want to be cold. We decided on layers so that we could take a layer off if necessary. We didn't take a layer off, the sun did shine but the wind was cold.
The B5392 at Lower Withington is a busy road so we parked in a lay-by on the main after having a look to see if we could park anywhere around the triangle to park off the road, but there was nowhere obvious to park. We walked along the road a little, crossed the road when we saw the footpath sign. The path led us behind the houses, then opened out to fields that had been split up into smaller areas which fenced off the horses. We had to walk across one field with horses in it but they didn't pay us too much attention. We crossed another field and joined a lane. A couple of cyclists passed us, we continued along the lane which became a track going passed a farm and onto Catchpenny Lane.
It was such a pretty day, some of the trees were beginning to bud, whist some were still bare so they looked amazing against the bright blue sky. There were plenty more cyclists out and about. Tracey had told us to look out for a stile in the hedge but we were too busy talking so it wasn't until the road we were on was passing a lake that Tracey realised we had gone too far. We returned along the road and found the stile in the hedge, and followed the path alongside a wood. A stream was flowing beside the path and when we got to the bottom it was flowing over the footpath, we looked at the possibility of walking around into the field but it all looked too wet, plus there was barbed wire fencing. We managed to cross the stream of water by standing on the clumps of grass and jumping across as fast as possible.
Our boots were a bit wet, we continued on up the path and onto the track around the field, then joining the road and looking out for a stile - much more closely this time, but this stile was quite obvious. The footpath followed a couple of field edges and we came to a wooden bridge which crossed the sand quarry conveyor, it was all very quiet as it was the weekend. The walk continued around a wood, across an open area where we met a women with a couple of large dogs, she kept tight hold of them whilst we passed by, and then we went around another wood. There was an open track that we followed along the edge of the quarry, then we kept on the track which went beside a hedge towards the houses. The path led past the house with a very nice garden.
As we continued we became aware of a buzzard being chased by some birds, possibly crows. We watched the buzzard flying over the woods and our heads, then it came back to hover over the sand quarry. We continued on our way, it was very pretty along this path as the white blossom was out on the trees and the white stems of the birch trees shone in the sunlight.
We realised we had somehow gone the wrong way when the path followed a busy road. Carol checked on her phone to see where we were, and we were no where near the footpath we should have been on. We decided it was best to stop for lunch as it was about 12 o'clock. We were sheltered on one side by the trees and on the other side by a bank on the edge of the quarry. We could have retraced our steps but decided that was better to join the nearby road and find a different route back to the car. There were a couple of locked five bar gates that we negotiated and then we were able to walk along a wide grass verge of the A535 Holmes Chapel Road. We continued past the gate to Withington Hall and its sweeping drive to another gate with a track to a house, it was a public footpath that lead around the house, then went beside the wood and led to the end of Withington pool where we got a good view of the Hall in its picturesque setting. Having said that we were soon back to the quarry again, it made wonder how noisy the conveyor is when it is moving?
From the end of the lake we passed through a short field where there was new fencing and a new bridge that had been built over the conveyor, fortunately for us as this was our cut through from the main road. From here we could see the big machines that dig the sand out of the quarry all parked up. We continued past Dairy House Farm and then back to familiar territory. As we came down the hill we met the water coming over the path again. It was not as easy to cross the water this time, perhaps more people had walked that way and squashed the grass we had balanced on previously. We ended up having to go through the water, Tracey managed to slip and ended up with her boots in the water but the water didn't go over the top of her boots.
From here we were not too far from the car, we followed the track and then the fields behind the houses where there was now a horse that was much more lively and interested in us. There was a fence between us fortunately as it was a bit too lively, and some of the other horses were paying us more attention. We walked quickly through this field and back to the car.
We visited Goostrey Home and Leisure where we had tea and cake, with each of us choosing a different cake - lemon and coconut, raspberry and coconut and Victoria Sponge. We then had a wander about.
