Saturday 27 November 2010

Cheshire Ring part 3 27th November

27th Cheshire Ring part 3

Cheshire Ring canal walk, stage 3, Saturday 27 November
Macclesfield to Hyde
For stage 3 of our Cheshire Ring canal walk, in addition to our usual crew of Tracy, Linda, Sue and myself; we were honoured to be joined by Joan and Margaret, a new member. So, with the exception of yours truly, it really was a case of ‘here come the girls’.
We alighted at Macclesfield and started the walk by following the Middlewood trail out of town. Yes, I know that the Middlewood trail follows the course of the old railway line, but it sort of cuts a corner off, if that’s not cheating. Linda set out at an express pace but did eventually slow down a bit, so the rest of us were able to get our breath back.
At Bollington, the aroma of coffee wafting from the Mill shop was too much to resist and we stopped for refreshments. By the time we resumed our walk, the sun had come out; and this made for a lovely day for walking, if on the cold side.
We pushed on to Marple where we were due to rendezvous with Philomena by the locks at lunch time. Unfortunately we never did meet up because Phil had missed her train at Hyde owing to the fact that she had been waiting on the wrong platform; enough said……..
We pushed on to Romiley and did make our next meeting at John Gregory’s. We resisted the temptation to shin over John’s back wall and went the front way. John very kindly plied us with mulled wine, tea and biscuits before we made our way towards Hyde as it was beginning to get dark, including going through Woodley tunnel, the stygian gloom relieved by Tracy’s head torch.
Thanks to all who came along, and hopefully Margaret has not been put off for ever. And yes, a blog from yours truly without a single reference to a hostelry, what is the world coming to ?
Our next leg is planned to cover Hyde to Sale by way of Manchester including going underground at Piccadily, rumoured to be scene of the strangest of goings on, not that I’d know about that….
John H