Thursday 21 March 2013

Feb Half Term 2013

Bit behind with the blog writing again.. We spent out Feb half term staying at Mikes house so all of our walks were day trips from Northwich. The weather was pretty horrendous so we didn't bother to try to go up anything too high.

On our first day we headed off to the Peak District. We had been planning n starting the walk at the Cat and Fiddle pub which is the 2nd highest Pub in England. at 515m . We checked the webcam and the road was covered in snow, with more forecast during the day we decided to park low down and ascend up to it.

Our first hill of the day was Shutlingsloe,- what a great name for a hill. 


We ascended it quickly and stopped for lunch on the top behind a rock. As we'd set off quite late the refuel was somewhat necessary! Luckily despite the bleak appearance of the day the air temp wasn't that cold. The top was quite rocky and had a trig point which pleased Emma. 




We took quite a slippery path down it, and crossed the valley to head back up again to the Cat and Fiddle. The track seemed to go on forever and none of us particularly enjoyed it. When it rains the track must become a stream bed as it was full of rock debry which moved under foot. Once the track finally flattened out we followed it along the top towards the road. The wind had picked up quite allot and it felt very bleak. 



At the pub we stopped behind a power station to eat some more food and have some hot drink, then we headed up Shining Tor, it was bitter on the top and we didn't stop for long.

Playing in the drifts


 It didn't take us long at all and we were soon back at the pub. We could not resist going in for a hot drink. They had an open fire and did us hot chocolate and marshmallows, despite the fact we were dropping snow everywhere they didn't bat an eyelid. 


Wind howling up the road

We then followed the road back down before coming off it to cross some fields to take us back to the car. Emma enjoyed seeing a field of deer on our route back down - can't wait to hopefully see lots in Scotland for Easter. We've seen wild deer on walks before but never a big herd.


Our next day was Emma's 9th birthday. The plan was to have cake on the top of the mountain. Met office forecast  fairly light winds, low windchill, good visability. As we'd knew there would have been snow we didn't aim too high. The plan was to park at Pistyll Rhaeadr (waterfall) and to ascend up Moel Sych (827m) heading on to the other Berwyn tops if time permitted. The outside air temp was probably somewhere around the region of -5/6 when we arrived and getting kitted up was frrrreeezing! The waterfall looked very impressive in the snow. If you visit there you can either park in the parking area just beneath the falls for a charge or in the lower parking layby for free. We did start off in the upper car park but could find no-one to pay (cafe closed) and as it had a lockable gate we didn't want to get back after they had locked it up so we left it in the layby which is a few minutes walk from the upper one.



As we headed up we were surprised by the level of snow, we'd looked at more Northern webcams and there wasn't nearly as much as there was in the Berwyns (even driving there had been quite hairy as the lower areas had it too).

It was so cold outside our gate onto the hill had frozen up and no amount of pushing could dislodge it, so it was a climb up and over for us to pass through. No-one else had been that way already that day.


Our nice easy track to begin with

As we got higher the temp dropped and the wind started to pick up. It was the sheer meaning of the word bitter! Emma loved all the ice formations we were seeing. She did incredibly well considering the snow was starting to reach waist deep on her. Our nice track had gone and we were following a very faint path to the lake.


The viability was very low by the lake (I've lightened up this picture so you can actually see it) Emma had fun chucking bits of broken ice at it and hearing them click across


We left the lake to ascend up the mountain. As the temp dropped even more the wind picked up to roughly 40mph ish. We checked the map and GPS and we were about 100m from the summit, the wind was ever increasing every step we took. I made the call that we should head off the hill, I was worried that if one of us were to have an accident/slip or trip the conditions were so severe it would be dangerous. It was disappointing not to reach the top, but what is actually gained in saying you have reached the top when it is so bitter and cold and you can see nothing? What is more important a tick in a box or everyone's safety? We headed across the hillside to meet the fence which reassuringly takes you all the way back down.


 On our way back down Mike and I fell victim to the Berwyn bogs - both of us plunging deep into one (me two times!). The trick of getting stuck a bog I've found is to go town onto your tummy as soon as you can taking you weight off your leg - that way the bog can't suck you in any deeper and you can shuffle forward on your tummy to get out again.

Avoiding the bogs


Rime ice

We arrived at the top of the waterfall and stopped to have birthday cake and candles - it took about ten attempts to get the candles lit due to the wind but we eventually sang happy birthday very quickly! As we got back to the car the fog cleared from the hills and they looked down at us looking all innocent as if it wasn't wild at all up there and the joke was on us! It was interesting to note that the Met Office forecast was quite far out from what we experienced. The trouble with the mountain forecast is that it is for Snowdonia and the Berwyns are not in the National Park. I will be trying out the new leisure forecast next time we go there and will see if the Summit Forecast is more accurate. 


Looking down the falls (Mike took this as I was not brave enough to go that near)




Mike had a scramble up to the side of the falls to take this photo whilst we sat at the bottom and watched


For our next walk we planned a local walk in Delamere Forest - the weather as if following us from Wales started to snow on our way there. Whilst we ate our lunch in the Forestry Commission cafe (a welcome treat after the recent chilly lunch stops) a fair amount of snow came down.

We came upon a tree hanging with rubbish at the start of the walk, it had a rather nice sentiment on it, although I'm not sure I agree with litter being tied to a tree..

It was nice to stop and build a snowman the air temps having gone up a bit from the previous days adventure!

More snowball fights were had

We walked up a small hill called Old Pale Hill and unexpectedly came upon a sculpture. Each rock appeared to made out of the specific stone for the area it represented. The plaques looked like they'd make good brass rubbing material on a warmer day.


A plaque for where we had been earlier in the week


Slate rock

We went off path to visit a hill fort, although on open access land we couldn't find any points to pass through the frequent electric fences so we took turns in making sure we didn't catch ourselves on it as we squeezed under it!


It had become quite slippery underfoot as it had started to sleet, Emma and Mike took a slip!

Map case sledging!

The next day I wasn't feeling too well so we had a lazy day at Mikes house. We did head out to catch the sunset though to Pickmere lake. The OS map shows you can only walk round one side of it but when we got there we saw they had negotiated access round the other side too, so you can do a full circular. Well.. you could if they hadn't closed off the public footpath. Over the footpath was metal fencing with a closure notice on it - as it had no official notice on it from the council we chose to ignore it and clambered round. We emailed the council about the unofficial closure when we got back and were told it had been closed because it was a danger due to how slippery it was (it wasn't that slippery when we were on it). The told us an order would go up in a few weeks. I always thought an order needed to be obtained before a path was closed..
Anyway enough ramble, more info here if you are interested: potentially 6 month wait for it to be fixed
I want to return to the lake to swim in the summer as it looked lovely and clear.
We had no sunset as it clouded over and rained as soon as we arrived having been sunny all day!

Here is the sky just starting to lighten again after the rain

We were heading home the next day so did another walk close to Mikes house. We started out walk just outside of Frodsham. On the OS map it marked an arboretum, parking area and little blue foot symbol which I think means walking trails. We arrived at the parking area which was not signposted from the road, but it had picnic tables, bins and footpath esq signs pointing the route. We had a lovelly walk though the arboretum and exited it onto a public footpath. On looking it up where we got home it's owned by a Christian retreat and you are supposed to either arrange a visit or go at the weekend, there is also a small charge. They should probably put a sign up in the parking area as there was nothing to indicate we couldn't walk there!



The retreat

The sun came out and it was like a spring day, what a contrast to a few days prior! 

Our route once we'd joined onto the footpath followed the Sandstone trail. Emma loved this walk as it was full of really interesting sandstone formations all over the place


We detoured off the path to have a look at another hill fort



Mike scrambled up whilst we took the longer stepped path round. It contained metal steps which felt a bit out of place in such a rural wild environment. I guess something had to be put in due to the level of erosion. We met a chap on the path who pointed out a huge boulder which had recently fallen - it was big enough that it would have killed someone had it fallen onto a walker.

We soon arrived at the top of Frodsham hill with views over to Liverpool



We dropped down into the woodland which was full of mushrooms we could use our recently acquired knowledge on to try and identify (we've been doing walks with a chap called Steve England in our local woodland where he runs nature walks which tell you all about what you can find)

This is Birch Polypore - you can use it to sharpen your knives with (it really does work!)

This tree got so rotted by fungi it fell down

Fungi on top of fungi!

We then went on to head up Helsby Hill - although the Cheshire hills are small they still feel grand with their rock formations

Top of Helsby Hill

Views back to the war memorial of Frodsham Hill

All in all a fantastic week with a real contrast of weathers and conditions. Roll on spring time!

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