A walk around Middlewich

Saturday 4 February 8 miles
Hilary, Jane, Carol.

Brrrrr - cold, cold, cold!!! The forecast was for cold weather and it was very cold. It also forecast snow so we didn't want to go too far away and get stuck somewhere.

We set off from Hilary's house, down to Coalpit Lane, along to the canal and across the fields to Wimboldsley and up Sutton Lane.

An icy wind blew across the fields making our faces very cold.
Carol was hoping that the snow would come as Tracey had said, certainly it was showing signs of snow - very small flakes as we passed Tracey's house, but what came was icy rain.

Get Together

Saturday 28 January

Meal and Quiz with contribution supper and Jubilee Quiz.
Lovely food

Dunham Massey + Planning

Saturday 14 January 5.5 Miles +
Hilary, Carol, Tracey, Jane, Donna

We parked at Dunham Massey, good job Jane had a NT card so we didn't have to pay for the car park.

How lucky are we with the weather? Cold and frosty, but the sun was shining.
The hedges along Brick Kiln Lane were white as we started the walk.
As we came across the white gate back into Dunham Massey the walk suggested that rather than walking down the Main Drive that we went off to the left and through the trees. We found a big log to sit on to have lunch, except Hilary she sat on the grassy knowl!
We walked long and into the fenced off deer park area. Then we turned down an avenue back towards the House, there were lots of deer under the trees with a couple of males crossing the path in front of us!

As the sun was shining so there were plenty of people around. The car park was full and people were queuing to get in!

At the end of the walk we went to a cafe that we had passed near the beginning of the walk but it was only a small place and quite busy, and as we wanted to do a planning meeting we thought we should find somewhere else.

Fortunately Hilary knew of Red House Farm so she rang ahead to book a table, we had tea and cake. The table wasn't quite ready so we had a look in the shop, where they had painted furniture.

Get Together

Saturday 10 December

Christmas Meal

We wanted somewhere close to home so the Sandhurst Hotel provides a reasonable meal - still one gravy boat though!

We did get coffee/tea this time.

The entertainment was a singer, Rowena sang later - she was better than the man!!!

Rawhead to Larkton Hill

Saturday 3 December 5.25 miles
Jane, John

I chose a shorter walk as the forecast was for blustery and wet weather, but it turned out to be sunshine, blue sky and some cloud. There was a cold wind blowing, but once on the move we soon warmed up.

Even though this was a short walk there were quite a few hills to climb. It was lovely with the winter sun shining through the trees.

I had forgotten about the great views from Rawhead, right across to Chester, Liverpool and the Hills of Wales. We could see that rain was passing over the Queensferry Bridge as it disappeared from sight. Liverpool was harder to see due to the rain showers as well. Walking along this section of the Sandstone trail gives good views to the south. It is interesting trying to work out what you can actually see, as we had the Crewe and Nantwich map we had no map to find out, plus it was too windy to be getting a map out! We could pick some land marks towards Chester.

The winter light as we got nearer to the car was beautiful, making the landscape really green, and shone on the golden leaves that remained on the trees

Appleton Reservoir and Grappenhall

Saturday 5 November 8.5 miles

Tracey, Jane, Donna, Hilary and Carol (all 5 of us!)

We had good weather, and the sun even came out, the rain of the previous days meant it was a bit muddy underfoot.

We started at the reservoir walking around it, we followed the path, there was a field with some donkeys in it, the looked well looked after. Then we walked passed the cemetery and some large, expensive houses.

We walked through woods even though we were in the town. The autumn colours were beautiful and the sun came out at times showing off the colours. We meandered through The Lumb Brook Valley, the Woodland Trust owns this woodland.

We joined the Bridgewater Canal and there were two benches so we sat and had some lunch. The ducks came by very quickly to see if there were any scraps to eat but they soon lost interest and went away. There was a man fishing and he managed to catch fish!

We passed under the London Road Bridge and just along the path there are some Victorian Houses across the road and they looked very well kept with some nice window details.

There were horses in the fields along from Red Lane.

The Hollies Concept Cafe in Lower Stretton was very busy but we did manage to find a table, and drink cups of tea and share some cake - Victoria sponge, carrot cake and Bakewell tart. We could not decide why it was called the 'Concept Cafe'?
Hi Ian I am glad to hear that someone is reading this blog!

Get Together

Friday 29 October 

Wedding Anniversary Meal

Donna and Martin's house. 20 years of marriage! Lots of lovely food as usual.  

Lots of chatting, e.g. the hen on the road to work.